CVE-2008-3663
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 · uneditedSquirrelmail 1.4.15 does not set the secure flag for the session cookie in an https session, which can cause the cookie to be sent in http requests and make it easier for remote attackers to capture this cookie.
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 confidenceSquirrelMail 1.4.15 does not set the 'Secure' flag on the session cookie during HTTPS sessions, allowing the cookie to be transmitted over unencrypted HTTP connections where it can be intercepted by attackers via man-in-the-middle attacks.
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= 1.4.15CVSS 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
- None
- Availability
- None
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:N/A:N
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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Confirm SquirrelMail versionLocate the VERSION file in the SquirrelMail installation directory (typically at /path/to/squirrelmail/VERSION) or check the version displayed in the SquirrelMail login page footerAffected if The installed version is exactly 1.4.15
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Check PHP session.cookie_secure settingRun phpinfo() and search for 'session.cookie_secure', or run 'php -i | grep session.cookie_secure' from command line, or check the php.ini file directlyAffected if session.cookie_secure is set to 0, Off, or is not explicitly set (default is 0)
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Inspect session cookie Secure flagLog into SquirrelMail over HTTPS and use browser developer tools (Network tab) to inspect the Set-Cookie header for the session cookie, or capture the response with a tool like curl and examine headers for the 'Secure' attributeAffected if The session cookie Set-Cookie header does not include the 'Secure' attribute
A user is affected if they are running SquirrelMail 1.4.15 AND the session.cookie_secure PHP setting is disabled/off, resulting in session cookies without the Secure flag being transmitted.
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 dataEnable the session.cookie_secure setting in php.ini or set it programmatically via session_set_cookie_params() to ensure the session cookie is only transmitted over encrypted HTTPS connections.
- Consultation1.0 h
- Implementation1.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2008-3663 — 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-2008-3663 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
- No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data