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Cyrus Imap ServerApplication · Carnegie Mellon University

CVE-2001-1154

MEDIUM · 5.0 CVSS v2.0 Published 2001-08-30
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
59/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
Cyrus 2.0.15, 2.0.16, and 1.6.24 on BSDi 4.2, with IMAP enabled, allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (hang) using PHP IMAP clients.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · moderate confidence

Cyrus IMAP server versions 2.0.15, 2.0.16, and 1.6.24 on BSDi 4.2 contain a denial of service vulnerability when IMAP is enabled. Remote attackers can cause the server to hang by connecting using PHP IMAP clients.

MitigationUpgrade to a current supported version of Cyrus IMAP or migrate to a modern mail server solution, as BSDi 4.2 and these Cyrus versions are long obsolete.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
Cyrus Imap ServerApplication
Affected:= 1.6.24= 2.0.15= 2.0.16
Bsd OsOperating system
Affected:= 4.2

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Authentication
None
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
Partial

AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:P

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify Cyrus IMAP server version
    Run 'cyrus --version' or check the installed package version using the system package manager (e.g., 'rpm -q cyrus-imapd' or 'dpkg -l cyrus-imapd')
    Affected if The version is exactly 1.6.24, 2.0.15, or 2.0.16
  2. Verify the operating system
    Run 'uname -a' or check '/etc/os-release' to identify the BSD variant and version
    Affected if The system is BSDi 4.2 (BSDi BSD/OS 4.2)
  3. Confirm IMAP service is enabled
    Check if the IMAP daemon is running and accepting connections - look for 'imapd' or 'cyrus-imapd' processes (e.g., 'ps aux | grep imapd') and check configuration in '/etc/cyrus.conf' or '/etc/imapd.conf'
    Affected if IMAP is enabled and the service is running or configured to start
  4. Check for PHP IMAP extension presence
    If PHP is installed, verify whether the PHP IMAP extension is loaded by checking php.ini or running 'php -m | grep imap'
    Affected if PHP with the IMAP extension is installed and may be used to connect to the Cyrus IMAP server

You are affected if you are running any of the exact versions 1.6.24, 2.0.15, or 2.0.16 of Cyrus IMAP Server on BSDi 4.2 with IMAP enabled.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

From vendor data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Upgrade to a current supported version of Cyrus IMAP or migrate to a modern mail server solution, as BSDi 4.2 and these Cyrus versions are long obsolete.

Fix this in Cyrus Imap Server Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation8.0 h
  • Implementation24.0 h
  • Testing16.0 h
  • Review / QA8.0 h
56.0 hours of engineering $9,760
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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2001-1154 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data