Becky\! Internet MailApplication · Rimarts

CVE-2009-0569

HIGH · 9.3 CVSS v2.0 Published 2009-02-13
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 2.48.02 or later.
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
Buffer overflow in Becky! Internet Mail 2.48.02 and earlier allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via a mail message with a crafted return receipt request.

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

A buffer overflow vulnerability exists in Becky! Internet Mail versions 2.48.02 and earlier, specifically in the return receipt request handling functionality. Attackers can exploit this by sending a specially crafted email with a malicious return receipt request, allowing arbitrary code execution on the victim's system.

MitigationUpgrade to a patched version of Becky! Internet Mail if available; otherwise implement email gateway filtering to block malformed return receipt requests or migrate to an actively supported email client.

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
Becky\! Internet MailApplication
Affected:<= 2.48.02= 1.26.3= 1.26.4= 1.26.5= 2.00.0= 2.00.01= 2.00.02= 2.00.03= 2.0.3= 2.00.04= 2.0.5= 2.00.05

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. Determine Becky! Internet Mail version
    Open the application, go to Help > About, or right-click the Bk.exe executable file in the installation directory and select Properties > Details to view the File Version
    Affected if The installed version is 2.48.02 or lower, or exactly matches one of these: 1.26.3, 1.26.4, 1.26.5, 2.00.0, 2.00.01, 2.00.02, 2.00.03, 2.0.3, 2.00.04, 2.0.5, or 2.00.05
  2. Verify return receipt request feature is enabled
    In Becky! Internet Mail, go to Tools > Options > Mailbox (or Preferences) and look for a Receipts or Return Receipt section; check if the option to request return receipts or handle receipt responses is turned on
    Affected if The return receipt request handling feature is enabled in the client settings
  3. Check for suspicious incoming emails with receipt requests
    Inspect the mailbox folders for incoming emails that contain Return-Receipt-To, Disposition-Notification-To, or MDN (Message Disposition Notification) headers, particularly from unknown senders
    Affected if Emails with malformed or unusually long return receipt request headers are present in the inbox

You are affected if Becky! Internet Mail is installed at a version listed as vulnerable AND the return receipt handling feature is enabled, allowing specially crafted receipt request emails to trigger the buffer overflow.

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.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to a release after 2.48.02
Interim mitigation

Upgrade to a patched version of Becky! Internet Mail if available; otherwise implement email gateway filtering to block malformed return receipt requests or migrate to an actively supported email client.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

Latest stable version from www.rimarts.jp (version > 2.48.02)

  1. 1. Visit the official Becky! Internet Mail website (www.rimarts.jp) to check for the latest version
  2. 2. Download the most recent stable release of Becky! Internet Mail
  3. 3. Uninstall the current vulnerable version (2.48.02 or earlier, or 1.26.x versions)
  4. 4. Install the latest available version which should contain the security fix for the return receipt buffer overflow

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Becky\! Internet Mail Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
10.0 hours of engineering $1,750
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,800.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2009-0569 — 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 sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2009-0569 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