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M FilterApplication · Daj

CVE-2023-22278

MEDIUM · 5.3 CVSS v3.1 Published 2023-01-17
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 4.87r04 / 5.70r01 or later.
See remediation →
62/100
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
m-FILTER prior to Ver.5.70R01 (Ver.5 Series) and m-FILTER prior to Ver.4.87R04 (Ver.4 Series) allows a remote unauthenticated attacker to bypass authentication and send users' unintended email when email is being sent under the certain conditions. The attacks exploiting this vulnerability have been observed.

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

m-FILTER mail filtering software contains an authentication bypass vulnerability in versions prior to Ver.5.70R01 (Ver.5 Series) and Ver.4.87R04 (Ver.4 Series). A remote unauthenticated attacker can bypass authentication mechanisms under certain conditions and send emails appearing to originate from legitimate users.

MitigationUpgrade m-FILTER to Ver.5.70R01 or later (Ver.5 Series) or Ver.4.87R04 or later (Ver.4 Series) to remediate this vulnerability.

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
M FilterApplication
Affected:>= 4.0, < 4.87r04>= 5.0, < 5.70r01

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
None
Integrity
Low
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N

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 installed m-FILTER version
    Locate the m-FILTER version information in the product interface, configuration files, or by running the product's version command. Typical locations include the admin console, about page, or version diagnostic command.
    Affected if The version displayed is below 4.87r04 for Ver.4 series or below 5.70r01 for Ver.5 series
  2. Determine the version series
    Confirm whether the installed product is the Ver.4 Series or Ver.5 Series based on the version number format. Ver.4 series versions start with 4.x, Ver.5 series versions start with 5.x.
    Affected if The version begins with 4.x or 5.x indicating it falls into one of the affected version ranges
  3. Compare version against affected ranges
    Check if the installed version falls within: >= 4.0 and < 4.87r04 for Ver.4 Series, or >= 5.0 and < 5.70r01 for Ver.5 Series.
    Affected if The installed version is within either of these two ranges (inclusive of the lower bound, exclusive of the upper bound)
  4. Verify authentication bypass conditions
    Examine m-FILTER authentication configuration settings to determine if the conditions that allow unauthenticated email submission are present. Review settings related to SMTP authentication, relay permissions, and external access controls.
    Affected if The authentication configuration allows external or unauthenticated connections that could permit email submission from arbitrary senders

A system is affected if it runs m-FILTER version 4.0 to 4.87r03 (Ver.4 series) or version 5.0 to 5.70r00 (Ver.5 series) AND the authentication bypass conditions are present in the configuration.

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
Upgrade available Upgrade to 4.87r04 / 5.70r01 or later
Fixed in 4.87r045.70r01
Interim mitigation

Upgrade m-FILTER to Ver.5.70R01 or later (Ver.5 Series) or Ver.4.87R04 or later (Ver.4 Series) to remediate this vulnerability.

Recommended fix High confidence

Ver.5 Series: upgrade to Ver.5.70R01 or later; Ver.4 Series: upgrade to Ver.4.87R04 or later

  1. Identify the current version of m-FILTER being used (Ver.4.x or Ver.5.x)
  2. If running Ver.5.x (>=5.0): upgrade to Ver.5.70R01 or later
  3. If running Ver.4.x (>=4.0, <4.87): upgrade to Ver.4.87R04 or later; consider migrating to Ver.5.70R01 for extended support
  4. After upgrading, verify that authentication is properly enforced for email sending
  5. Confirm that the authentication bypass vulnerability is no longer present
Caveat Minor: Review release notes for any configuration changes between versions; Ver.4 to Ver.5 migration may require configuration review

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

Fix this in M Filter Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
10.0 hours of engineering $1,750
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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-2023-22278 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