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MailApplication · Nextcloud

CVE-2023-25160

MEDIUM · 5.3 CVSS v3.1 Published 2023-02-13
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 1.11.8 / 1.12.9 or later.
See remediation →
62/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
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
Nextcloud Mail is an email app for the Nextcloud home server platform. Prior to versions 2.2.1, 1.14.5, 1.12.9, and 1.11.8, an attacker can access the mail box by ID getting the subjects and the first characters of the emails. Users should upgrade to Mail 2.2.1 for Nextcloud 25, Mail 1.14.5 for Nextcloud 22-24, Mail 1.12.9 for Nextcloud 21, or Mail 1.11.8 for Nextcloud 20 to receive a patch. No known workarounds are available.

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
How this class of weakness works · CWE-639

The application uses a user-supplied identifier to look up a record without checking that the requester actually owns it, so changing the identifier in a request returns someone else's data. This is the classic insecure-direct-object-reference — the change-the-ID-in-the-URL bug. Remediation is authorizing every object access against the acting user, not merely confirming they are logged in.

General guidance for the authorization bypass (idor) class — the official description and references above are authoritative for this specific CVE. Want a bespoke review and a reviewed fix? Ask our team →

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
MailApplication
Affected:< 1.11.8>= 1.12.0, < 1.12.9>= 1.13.0, < 1.14.5>= 2.0.0, < 2.2.1

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
None
Availability
None

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

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 1.11.8 / 1.12.9 / 1.14.5 or later
Fixed in 1.11.81.12.91.14.5
Vendor patch github.com →
Recommended fix High confidence

Mail 2.2.1 (for Nextcloud 25), Mail 1.14.5 (for Nextcloud 22-24), Mail 1.12.9 (for Nextcloud 21), or Mail 1.11.8 (for Nextcloud 20)

  1. 1. Determine the current Nextcloud version by navigating to the Nextcloud administrator settings or checking the version.php file
  2. 2. Identify the corresponding Nextcloud Mail version needed based on the Nextcloud release: Nextcloud 25 → Mail 2.2.1, Nextcloud 22-24 → Mail 1.14.5, Nextcloud 21 → Mail 1.12.9, Nextcloud 20 → Mail 1.11.8
  3. 3. Access the Nextcloud server via SSH or file manager with administrative access
  4. 4. Navigate to the Nextcloud apps directory (usually /var/www/nextcloud/apps or /nextcloud/apps)
  5. 5. Locate the mail app directory
  6. 6. Either use the Nextcloud web interface to update the Mail app via the Apps management page, or manually replace the mail app directory with the new version from the Nextcloud Mail GitHub releases page
  7. 7. Verify the update was successful by checking the installed Mail app version in Nextcloud settings
  8. 8. Test that the Mail application functions correctly with the new version
Caveat Ensure compatibility between the Nextcloud server version and the Mail app version before upgrading; upgrading the Mail app to a version designed for a newer Nextcloud release may cause compatibility issues

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

We can perform the upgrade in your staging environment and verify nothing breaks — typical engagement from $1,600. Get the upgrade done

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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-2023-25160 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

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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