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EvolutionApplication · Gnome

CVE-2008-1108

HIGH · 7.6 CVSS v2.0 Published 2008-06-04
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
85/100
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
Buffer overflow in Evolution 2.22.1, when the ITip Formatter plugin is disabled, allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via a long timezone string in an iCalendar attachment.

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

Buffer overflow in Evolution 2.22.1 email client allows remote code execution via a specially crafted iCalendar attachment containing an excessively long timezone string, but only when the ITip Formatter plugin is disabled.

MitigationUpgrade Evolution to a patched version (2.22.2 or later), or enable the ITip Formatter plugin as a workaround to prevent exploitation.

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
EvolutionApplication
Affected:= 2.2.1

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
High
Authentication
None
Confidentiality
Complete
Integrity
Complete
Availability
Complete

AV:N/AC:H/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C

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. Verify Evolution is installed
    Run 'evolution --version' or check for the evolution package using your system package manager (e.g., 'rpm -q evolution' or 'dpkg -l evolution')
    Affected if Evolution is not installed on the system
  2. Check Evolution version
    Run 'evolution --version' to confirm the installed version is exactly 2.22.1
    Affected if Installed version equals 2.22.1
  3. Determine if ITip Formatter plugin is disabled
    In Evolution, go to Edit > Plugins (or 'evolution-plugin' command) and verify whether the ITip Formatter plugin is unchecked or disabled. On systems using GConf, check: gconftool-2 --get /apps/evolution/plugins/enable_itip_formatter
    Affected if ITip Formatter plugin is disabled (unchecked)
  4. Identify if iCalendar attachments are processed
    Check whether Evolution processes iCalendar attachments by reviewing email handling behavior or examining recent email messages with .ics attachments in the mail store
    Affected if iCalendar attachments are received and processed by Evolution

A user is affected only if Evolution version 2.22.1 is installed AND the ITip Formatter plugin is disabled, making the system vulnerable to specially crafted iCalendar attachments.

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 Evolution to a patched version (2.22.2 or later), or enable the ITip Formatter plugin as a workaround to prevent exploitation.

Fix this in Evolution Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
7.0 hours of engineering $1,240
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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-2008-1108 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