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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 4 Mar 2024.
Debian LinuxOperating system · Debian

CVE-2023-43770

MEDIUM · 6.1 CVSS v3.1 Published 2023-09-22
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 1.4.14 / 1.5.4 or later.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
In the wild High EPSS Remotely reachable No privileges 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
Roundcube before 1.4.14, 1.5.x before 1.5.4, and 1.6.x before 1.6.3 allows XSS via text/plain e-mail messages with crafted links because of program/lib/Roundcube/rcube_string_replacer.php behavior.

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

Roundcube before 1.4.14, 1.5.x before 1.5.4, and 1.6.x before 1.6.3 contains a cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability in the text/plain email rendering functionality. The rcube_string_replacer.php component improperly processes crafted links within plain text emails, allowing injection of malicious scripts that execute in the context of the victim's browser when viewing affected messages.

MitigationUpgrade Roundcube to version 1.4.14, 1.5.4, or 1.6.3 or later. As a temporary measure, configure mail servers to strip or sanitize potentially malicious link patterns in incoming plain text emails.

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
Debian LinuxOperating system
Affected:= 10.0
WebmailApplication
Affected:< 1.4.14>= 1.5.0, < 1.5.4>= 1.6.0, < 1.6.3

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
Required
Scope
Changed
Confidentiality
Low
Integrity
Low
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:L/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 Roundcube version
    Check the version file typically located at program/include/rcmail.php or look for a VERSION file in the Roundcube root directory. Search for a version constant or string like 'RCMAIL_VERSION' or '1.x.x'.
    Affected if The installed version is less than 1.4.14, OR between 1.5.0 and 1.5.4 (exclusive), OR between 1.6.0 and 1.6.3 (exclusive).
  2. Locate vulnerable file
    Find rcube_string_replacer.php in the program/include/ or program/lib/Roundcube/ directory of your Roundcube installation.
    Affected if The file exists in an affected Roundcube version installation.
  3. Confirm plain text email handling is in use
    This vulnerability affects text/plain email message processing. Check if users can or do view emails as plain text. This may be a user preference setting or a default configuration. Review the Roundcube configuration for 'preview_pane' or 'default_message' view settings.
    Affected if Plain text email viewing is enabled or users receive plain text emails, as the vulnerability exploits link processing in plain text messages.

Your environment is affected if Roundcube version is in the vulnerable ranges (less than 1.4.14, 1.5.0-1.5.4, or 1.6.0-1.6.3) and plain text email processing is used.

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 1.4.14 / 1.5.4 / 1.6.3 or later
Fixed in 1.4.141.5.41.6.3
Vendor patch github.com →
Interim mitigation

Upgrade Roundcube to version 1.4.14, 1.5.4, or 1.6.3 or later. As a temporary measure, configure mail servers to strip or sanitize potentially malicious link patterns in incoming plain text emails.

Recommended fix High confidence

Minimum fixed versions: 1.4.14, 1.5.4, or 1.6.3 (choose the appropriate branch based on current installation)

  1. 1. Identify the currently installed Roundcube version by checking the version file or admin interface
  2. 2. For Debian 10 (Buster) systems, check if the system uses the Roundcube package from Debian repos or a separate installation
  3. 3. For the 1.4.x branch, upgrade to version 1.4.14 or later
  4. 4. For the 1.5.x branch, upgrade to version 1.5.4 or later
  5. 5. For the 1.6.x branch, upgrade to version 1.6.3 or later
  6. 6. Apply the upgrade using the appropriate package manager or manual update method (e.g., apt-get update && apt-get install roundcube, or download from roundcube.net)
  7. 7. Clear any application caches if configured
  8. 8. Verify the new version is installed by checking the Roundcube about page or version file
Caveat Patch/minor version upgrades typically have no breaking changes; however, always review the release notes for any configuration or deprecation notices

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

Fix this in Debian Linux Exploited in the wild — priority engagement
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation1.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
8.0 hours of engineering $1,360
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Scan for this in your stack

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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-2023-43770 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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.

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