CVE-2014-8563
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 · uneditedSynacor Zimbra Collaboration before 8.0.9 allows plaintext command injection during STARTTLS.
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 confidenceZimbra Collaboration email server versions before 8.0.9 contain a command injection vulnerability in the STARTTLS upgrade process. The issue allows attackers to inject plaintext commands during the TLS negotiation, potentially executing arbitrary commands on the server.
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< 8.0.9CVSS 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
- Privileges
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
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.
-
Identify Zimbra installation and versionRun 'zmcontrol -v' or 'zmversion' command as the zimbra user to determine the installed Zimbra Collaboration Server versionAffected if The version displayed is earlier than 8.0.9 (e.g., 8.0.8, 8.0.7, 8.0.6, etc.)
-
Confirm STARTTLS is enabled in MTACheck the Postfix main.cf configuration file (typically at /opt/zimbra/postfix/conf/main.cf) for the 'smtpd_tls_security_level' setting or related STARTTLS parametersAffected if STARTTLS is enabled (value is 'encrypt', 'verify', or 'may' rather than 'none')
-
Verify the MTA service is exposedConfirm the Zimbra MTA service is running and listening on SMTP ports (25, 465, 587) using commands like 'netstat -tlnp' or 'ss -tlnp'Affected if The MTA is running and accepting connections on any of these ports, meaning STARTTLS negotiation can be attempted
You are affected if Zimbra Collaboration Server version is earlier than 8.0.9 AND STARTTLS is enabled in your MTA configuration, allowing external parties to trigger the TLS upgrade negotiation.
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.
dbcve · scoped8.0.9
Upgrade Zimbra Collaboration to version 8.0.9 or later. If immediate patching is not possible, consider disabling STARTTLS or implementing additional network-level controls to mitigate man-in-the-middle attacks.
8.0.9
- Schedule a maintenance window for the upgrade
- Backup the current Zimbra Collaboration Server configuration and mail data
- Review Zimbra upgrade documentation for your current version
- Download Zimbra Collaboration Server 8.0.9 or later from official Zimbra repositories
- Stop all Zimbra services before upgrading
- Execute the Zimbra upgrade installer following official documentation
- Verify all services start correctly after upgrade
- Confirm the STARTTLS configuration is working properly
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation8.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing8.0 h
- Review / QA4.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $6,784.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2014-8563 — 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-2014-8563 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
Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.
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.
- 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