dbcve.org
Enterprise LinuxOperating system · Redhat

CVE-2012-2124

MEDIUM · 5.0 CVSS v2.0 Published 2013-01-18
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
59/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
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
functions/imap_general.php in SquirrelMail, as used in Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 4 and 5, does not properly handle 8-bit characters in passwords, which allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (disk consumption) by making many IMAP login attempts with different usernames, leading to the creation of many preference files. NOTE: this issue exists because of an incorrect fix for CVE-2010-2813.

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

SquirrelMail's functions/imap_general.php fails to properly sanitize 8-bit characters in passwords during IMAP authentication. This causes the application to create separate preference files for each unique username/password combination attempted, leading to unbounded disk consumption when attackers make repeated login attempts with varying usernames.

MitigationApply the corrected patch for this regression issue (CVE-2010-2813 was improperly fixed), ensuring 8-bit characters in passwords are properly handled without creating new preference files; additionally implement rate limiting on IMAP login endpoints to mitigate the DoS vector.

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
Enterprise LinuxOperating system
Affected:= 4= 5
SquirrelmailApplication
Affected:all versions

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
None
Integrity
None
Availability
Partial

AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/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. Identify SquirrelMail installation and version
    Locate the SquirrelMail installation directory (commonly /usr/share/squirrelmail or /var/www/html/squirrelmail) and check the version.php or config files. On RHEL systems, use 'rpm -qa | grep squirrelmail' to list installed packages.
    Affected if SquirrelMail is installed and the version cannot be confirmed as patched, or the imap_general.php file exists in the functions directory.
  2. Examine functions/imap_general.php for vulnerable code
    Inspect the functions/imap_general.php file in the SquirrelMail installation. Look for the imap_login function or authentication handling code. Check whether 8-bit characters in passwords are being passed directly to file creation routines without sanitization, representing a regression of CVE-2010-2813.
    Affected if The code does not properly sanitize 8-bit characters in passwords before using them in file/directory operations for preference files.
  3. Monitor for abnormal preference file creation
    Check the SquirrelMail data directory (typically data/ or var/data/squirrelmail/) for an unusually high number of preference files. Each unique username/password combination with 8-bit characters may create a separate file. Use 'ls -la' to count files and 'du -sh' to check disk usage in this directory.
    Affected if The data directory contains a large number of preference files that do not correspond to legitimate user accounts, indicating the vulnerability is being triggered.
  4. Verify IMAP authentication is exposed
    Confirm that the SquirrelMail server has IMAP authentication endpoints exposed and accessible. This vulnerability requires repeated login attempts with varying passwords to cause disk consumption.
    Affected if IMAP login through SquirrelMail is accessible and the server is processing authentication requests, allowing attackers to trigger the unbounded file creation.

A user is affected if SquirrelMail with the vulnerable imap_general.php is running and accessible, and either the code lacks proper 8-bit character sanitization or abnormal preference files are being created in the data directory.

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

Apply the corrected patch for this regression issue (CVE-2010-2813 was improperly fixed), ensuring 8-bit characters in passwords are properly handled without creating new preference files; additionally implement rate limiting on IMAP login endpoints to mitigate the DoS vector.

Fix this in Enterprise Linux Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation6.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
14.0 hours of engineering $2,490
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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-2012-2124 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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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
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