Claws MailApplication

CVE-2015-8708

HIGH · 7.3 CVSS v3.0 Published 2016-04-11
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
82/100
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
Stack-based buffer overflow in the conv_euctojis function in codeconv.c in Claws Mail 3.13.1 allows remote attackers to have unspecified impact via a crafted email, involving Japanese character set conversion. NOTE: this vulnerability exists because of an incomplete fix for CVE-2015-8614.

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

A stack-based buffer overflow in the conv_euctojis function in codeconv.c in Claws Mail 3.13.1 allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via crafted emails containing malicious Japanese character set conversion data. This vulnerability is a regression stemming from an incomplete fix for CVE-2015-8614.

MitigationUpdate Claws Mail to the latest version that includes the complete fix for both CVE-2015-8614 and CVE-2015-8708; exercise caution with untrusted emails until the patch is applied.

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
Claws MailApplication
Affected:= 3.13.1

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
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
Low
Integrity
Low
Availability
Low

CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:L

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 Claws Mail installation
    Run 'claws-mail --version' or check your package manager for installed claws-mail package
    Affected if Claws Mail is not installed or version cannot be determined
  2. Verify exact version number
    Compare installed version to 3.13.1 - check claws-mail --version output or dpkg/rpm query
    Affected if Version is exactly 3.13.1
  3. Check if Japanese character encoding support is enabled
    Look for libjconv, codeconv, or Japanese character set conversion modules in Claws Mail preferences or installed plugins
    Affected if Japanese encoding support or related conversion plugins are present and active
  4. Inspect codeconv.c for vulnerable function
    If Claws Mail source is available, verify the conv_euctojis function exists in codeconv.c and contains the unbounded buffer operation
    Affected if The conv_euctojis function with the overflow vulnerability is present in the installed binary

You are affected if Claws Mail version 3.13.1 is installed and Japanese character set conversion features are enabled, allowing crafted emails to trigger the buffer overflow in conv_euctojis.

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

Update Claws Mail to the latest version that includes the complete fix for both CVE-2015-8614 and CVE-2015-8708; exercise caution with untrusted emails until the patch is applied.

Fix this in Claws Mail Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation6.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
15.0 hours of engineering $2,640
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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-2015-8708 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