Zimbra Collaboration SuiteApplication · Synacor

CVE-2013-5119

MEDIUM · 6.8 CVSS v2.0 Published 2013-09-23
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 6.0.16 or later.
See remediation →
77/100
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
Zimbra Collaboration Suite (ZCS) 6.0.16 and earlier allows man-in-the-middle attackers to obtain access by sniffing the network and replaying the ZM_AUTH_TOKEN token.

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 · moderate confidence

Zimbra Collaboration Suite 6.0.16 and earlier transmits the ZM_AUTH_TOKEN authentication token in cleartext or without adequate protection, allowing a man-in-the-middle attacker positioned on the network to sniff the token and replay it to gain unauthorized access to the system.

MitigationEnforce TLS/HTTPS for all ZCS web traffic and implement proper network segmentation or VPN access to prevent MITM attacks. Consider upgrading to a patched version if available.

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
Zimbra Collaboration SuiteApplication
Affected:<= 6.0.16= 6.0.0= 6.0.1= 6.0.2= 6.0.3= 6.0.4= 6.0.5= 6.0.6= 6.0.7= 6.0.8= 6.0.9= 6.0.10

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
Partial
Integrity
Partial
Availability
Partial

AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:P/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 Zimbra version
    Run 'zmcontrol -v' as the zimbra user or check the installed package version via 'rpm -q zimbra-common-core-jar' or dpkg query
    Affected if Version is 6.0.16 or earlier (6.0.0 through 6.0.10 are explicitly listed)
  2. Verify HTTPS enforcement for webmail
    Attempt to access the webmail interface via HTTP (port 80) and HTTPS (port 443). Check if HTTP redirects to HTTPS or is blocked. Also run 'zmprov gs $(hostname) zimbraMailMode' to check the configured mail mode
    Affected if HTTP (non-TLS) access is allowed or zimbraMailMode is set to 'http' or 'both' instead of 'https' or 'redirect'
  3. Verify HTTPS enforcement for admin interface
    Attempt to access the admin console via HTTP and HTTPS. Run 'zmprov gs $(hostname) zimbraAdminMailMode' to check admin interface configuration
    Affected if Admin console is accessible over HTTP without redirect to HTTPS
  4. Check SSL/TLS configuration
    Review Zimbra SSL configuration via 'zmlocalconfig -s ssl' or check the nginx proxy configuration if present. Verify that SSL is properly configured and enabled for all web services
    Affected if SSL is not properly configured or is disabled for critical web services
  5. Inspect network traffic (if possible)
    Use a network capture tool on the Zimbra server to observe if the ZM_AUTH_TOKEN cookie or parameter is transmitted over unencrypted HTTP during login or authenticated requests
    Affected if ZM_AUTH_TOKEN is observed in cleartext over HTTP

You are affected if your Zimbra version is 6.0.16 or earlier and HTTP (non-TLS) access is enabled for webmail or admin interfaces, allowing the authentication token to be transmitted in cleartext.

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
Upgrade available Upgrade to a release after 6.0.16
Interim mitigation

Enforce TLS/HTTPS for all ZCS web traffic and implement proper network segmentation or VPN access to prevent MITM attacks. Consider upgrading to a patched version if available.

Fix this in Zimbra Collaboration Suite Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
18.0 hours of engineering $3,200
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Scan for this in your stack

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dbcve dependency scanner

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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-2013-5119 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