CVE-2001-1283
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 · uneditedThe webmail interface for Ipswitch IMail 7.04 and earlier allows remote authenticated users to cause a denial of service (crash) via a mailbox name that contains a large number of . (dot) or other characters to programs such as (1) readmail.cgi or (2) printmail.cgi, possibly due to a buffer overflow that may allow execution of arbitrary code.
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 confidenceIpswitch IMail 7.04 and earlier webmail interface contains a buffer overflow vulnerability in readmail.cgi and printmail.cgi. Remote authenticated users can trigger the vulnerability by supplying a mailbox name containing an excessive number of dot (.) characters or other characters, causing the service to crash. The vulnerability may potentially allow arbitrary code execution.
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= 6.0.2= 6.0.6= 7.0.4CVSS 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
- Partial
- Integrity
- Partial
- Availability
- Partial
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:P/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify IMail versionCheck the installed Ipswitch IMail version through the IMail Administrator interface, the Windows registry (HKLM\Software\Ipswitch\IMail\Version), or by querying the IMail service informationAffected if The installed version equals 6.0.2, 6.0.6, 7.04, or any earlier version (6.x or 7.x below 7.04)
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Verify webmail interface is enabledCheck if the IMail webmail component is active by examining the web server (typically IIS) configuration for IMail webmail virtual directories or by attempting to access the webmail login pageAffected if The webmail interface is accessible and the IMail version is within the affected range
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Confirm CGI scripts existLocate the readmail.cgi and printmail.cgi files in the IMail webmail directory (typically under the IMail installation path in a cgi or webmail subdirectory)Affected if Both readmail.cgi and printmail.cgi exist on the system and IMail version is in the affected range
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Check remote authentication configurationExamine the IMail webmail authentication settings to determine if remote user authentication is enabled for the webmail interfaceAffected if Remote authenticated users can access the webmail and the IMail version is affected
A system is affected if it runs Ipswitch IMail version 6.0.2, 6.0.6, 7.04, or earlier AND has the webmail interface with readmail.cgi and printmail.cgi enabled for remote authenticated users.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
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 dataUpgrade from IMail 7.04 to a current supported version, or if upgrade is not feasible, implement strict input validation on mailbox name parameters in the affected CGI scripts to limit character count and reject malformed input.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing4.0 h
- Review / QA3.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $5,408.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2001-1283 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2001-1283 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- 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
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