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Actively exploited in the wild. This CVE is on the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities list — treat remediation as urgent. Federal remediation due by 1 Sep 2022. Known ransomware use
Zimbra Collaboration SuiteApplication · Synacor

CVE-2022-37042

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2022-08-12
Patch available
A vendor patch is available. No clean upgrade release — apply the published patch.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
In the wild Ransomware High EPSS Public exploit Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click Patch available

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) 8.8.15 and 9.0 has mboximport functionality that receives a ZIP archive and extracts files from it. By bypassing authentication (i.e., not having an authtoken), an attacker can upload arbitrary files to the system, leading to directory traversal and remote code execution. NOTE: this issue exists because of an incomplete fix for CVE-2022-27925.

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

Zimbra Collaboration Suite mboximport functionality allows unauthenticated attackers to bypass authentication and upload arbitrary files via crafted ZIP archives. The vulnerability enables directory traversal, permitting files to be written outside the intended extraction path, ultimately leading to remote code execution. This issue stems from an incomplete fix for CVE-2022-27925.

MitigationApply Zimbra security patches for this vulnerability; if patches are unavailable, disable or restrict mboximport functionality at the network level and monitor for indicators of compromise.

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:= 8.8.15= 9.0.0

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
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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify ZCS version
    Run 'zmcontrol -v' as the zimbra user, or check /opt/zimbra/.git_description, or query the SOAP API endpoint /service/soap for version info
    Affected if Version is 8.8.15 or 9.0.0 (any patch level)
  2. Confirm mboximport endpoint is reachable
    Attempt a GET request to /service/boximport (no authentication required for the initial probe) from an untrusted network location, or check if port 7071 or 443 is exposed externally
    Affected if The endpoint responds without requiring authentication (this is the vulnerable configuration)
  3. Check zimbraAdminAuthEnabled
    Run 'zmprov gacf zimbraAdminAuthEnabled' as zimbra user; if set to FALSE, unauthenticated access to admin functions may be possible
    Affected if zimbraAdminAuthEnabled is FALSE or the admin service allows unauthenticated boximport requests
  4. Inspect HTTP access logs for boximport activity
    Review /opt/zimbra/log/mailbox.log and /opt/zimbra/log/nginx.access.log for patterns like 'POST /service/boximport' from unauthorized IPs
    Affected if Evidence exists of unauthenticated POST requests to /service/boximport with ZIP archives

If ZCS version is 8.8.15 or 9.0.0 AND the mboximport endpoint is accessible without authentication, the environment is vulnerable to CVE-2022-37042.

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
Patch available Apply the vendor patch
Vendor patch wiki.zimbra.com →
Interim mitigation

Apply Zimbra security patches for this vulnerability; if patches are unavailable, disable or restrict mboximport functionality at the network level and monitor for indicators of compromise.

Recommended fix High confidence

ZCS 8.8.15 Patch 33 or later, or ZCS 9.0.0 Patch 26 or later

  1. Identify your current ZCS version using 'zmcontrol -v' or the admin console
  2. Download Zimbra 8.8.15 Patch 33 or later from official Zimbra repositories
  3. Alternatively, upgrade to ZCS 9.0.0 Patch 26 or later
  4. Ensure you have a complete backup of the ZCS mailbox and configuration before upgrading
  5. Schedule a maintenance window as upgrade requires service downtime
  6. Stop ZCS services using 'zmcontrol stop'
  7. Apply the patch or upgrade following Zimbra's official upgrade documentation
  8. After upgrade, verify the mboximport functionality is patched by checking release notes
Caveat Standard ZCS patch upgrades typically preserve configuration but test in staging first; ensure mail flow is verified post-upgrade

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

Fix this in Zimbra Collaboration Suite Exploited in the wild — priority engagement
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
18.0 hours of engineering $3,200
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An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $5,120.

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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-2022-37042 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