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MozillaApplication

CVE-2003-0298

HIGH · 7.5 CVSS v2.0 Published 2003-06-16
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
84/100
Remediation priority · High
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
The IMAP Client for Mozilla 1.3 and 1.4a allows remote malicious IMAP servers to cause a denial of service and possibly execute arbitrary code via certain large (1) literal and possibly (2) mailbox size values that cause either integer signedness errors or integer overflow errors.

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 · high confidence

The IMAP client in Mozilla 1.3 and 1.4a contains integer signedness and overflow errors when parsing large literal sizes and mailbox size values from IMAP server responses. A malicious IMAP server can send specially crafted responses triggering these integer errors, potentially enabling arbitrary code execution or denial of service.

MitigationUpgrade to a patched Mozilla version. Until then, avoid connecting to untrusted or unknown IMAP servers, as the vulnerability is triggered by server responses.

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
MozillaApplication
Affected:= 1.3= 1.4

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
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 checks

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

  1. Determine installed Mozilla version
    Open Mozilla, navigate to Help > About Mozilla, or check the application's version information through the command line if available
    Affected if The version displayed is 1.3 or 1.4 (or 1.4a)
  2. Check for configured IMAP accounts
    In Mozilla Mail, go to Edit > Accounts > Add Account, or inspect the local configuration files for IMAP account settings
    Affected if An IMAP mail account is configured and enabled in Mozilla
  3. Verify IMAP server connectivity
    Review saved IMAP server settings in the account configuration to identify which IMAP servers the client connects to
    Affected if The client is configured to connect to any IMAP server, particularly untrusted or unknown ones

You are affected if you are running Mozilla version 1.3 or 1.4 and have an IMAP account configured, especially if connecting to untrusted IMAP servers.

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 patched Mozilla version. Until then, avoid connecting to untrusted or unknown IMAP servers, as the vulnerability is triggered by server responses.

Fix this in Mozilla Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
20.0 hours of engineering $3,460
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Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
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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-2003-0298 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