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EvolutionApplication · Gnome

CVE-2008-1109

HIGH · 9.3 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 →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
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
Heap-based buffer overflow in Evolution 2.22.1 allows user-assisted remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via a long DESCRIPTION property in an iCalendar attachment, which is not properly handled during a reply in the calendar view (aka the Calendars window).

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

Heap-based buffer overflow in Evolution 2.22.1 when processing iCalendar attachments with an overly long DESCRIPTION property. The vulnerability is triggered during reply operations in the Calendars view where the DESCRIPTION field is not properly bounds-checked, leading to heap corruption and potential arbitrary code execution.

MitigationUpgrade Evolution to a patched version. Until then, avoid opening or responding to iCalendar attachments from untrusted sources.

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:= 2.22.1

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
M
Authentication
None
Confidentiality
Complete
Integrity
Complete
Availability
Complete

AV:N/AC:M/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. Check if Evolution is installed
    Run 'evolution --version' or check your package manager for the evolution package
    Affected if Evolution is installed and version is 2.22.1
  2. Confirm the exact Evolution version
    Run 'rpm -q evolution' (RPM-based) or 'dpkg -l evolution' (Debian-based) to get the precise version number
    Affected if Version returned is exactly 2.22.1
  3. Verify iCalendar support is enabled
    Check if Evolution's calendar component is loaded by opening Evolution and navigating to Calendar view, or check for libical/calendar-related modules
    Affected if Calendar module is accessible and iCalendar (.ics) files can be imported or received as attachments
  4. Inspect for iCalendar attachment handling
    Check email attachments or imported calendar files for .ics files with DESCRIPTION fields. Use a text editor to view the DESCRIPTION line length in any .ics file
    Affected if A .ics file contains a DESCRIPTION property with an excessively long value (typically thousands of characters)

You are affected if Evolution version is exactly 2.22.1 AND you process iCalendar attachments with oversized DESCRIPTION fields in the Calendar view during reply operations.

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. Until then, avoid opening or responding to iCalendar attachments from untrusted sources.

Fix this in Evolution Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation1.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
6.0 hours of engineering $1,060
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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-2008-1109 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