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ZnunyApplication

CVE-2024-48938

HIGH · 7.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2024-10-11
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 6.1.0 or later.
See remediation →
84/100
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
Znuny before LTS 6.5.1 through 6.5.10 and 7.0.1 through 7.0.16 allows DoS/ReDos via email. Parsing the content of emails where HTML code is copied from Microsoft Word could lead to high CPU usage and block the parsing process.

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

Znuny LTS before 6.5.1/7.0.16 contains a ReDoS vulnerability in its email parsing component. When parsing emails containing HTML code copied from Microsoft Word, certain regex patterns used in the parser can cause excessive CPU consumption due to catastrophic backtracking, leading to denial of service.

MitigationUpgrade Znuny to LTS 6.5.11+ or 7.0.17+ to receive the patch. If immediate upgrade is not feasible, consider rate-limiting or queuing email processing to mitigate CPU exhaustion attacks.

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
ZnunyApplication
Affected:>= 6.0.0, < 6.1.0>= 6.5.1, <= 6.5.10>= 7.0.1, <= 7.0.16

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
None
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/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. Verify Znuny is installed
    Check for Znuny help desk software in your environment. Look for Znuny-related processes, web application files, or the product in your software inventory.
    Affected if Znuny is not present in the environment.
  2. Determine installed Znuny version
    Locate the Znuny version information. This is typically accessible via the Znuny admin interface (Admin > System Administration > System Information), or check version files in the Znuny installation directory.
    Affected if Unable to retrieve version information.
  3. Compare version to affected ranges
    If you have version 6.0.x, 6.5.1-6.5.10, or 7.0.1-7.0.16, you are in an affected range. Also flag if version is less than 6.1.0 (6.0.x versions).
    Affected if Version matches: 6.0.x, 6.5.1-6.5.10, or 7.0.1-7.0.16.
  4. Confirm email processing is enabled
    Verify that the Znuny email parsing feature is active. Check if incoming email tickets or email notifications are configured in your Znuny system (PostMaster Master::PostMasterFilter or similar email handling modules).
    Affected if Email parsing component is not configured or in use.
  5. Identify CPU consumption patterns
    Monitor CPU usage on the server hosting Znuny, particularly during email processing operations. Look for unusual spikes when processing emails with HTML content copied from Microsoft Word.
    Affected if High CPU usage occurs specifically when processing Word-originated HTML emails.

You are affected if Znuny is installed with a version in 6.0.x, 6.5.1-6.5.10, or 7.0.1-7.0.16 AND the email parsing feature is enabled and processing incoming emails.

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 6.1.0 or later
Fixed in 6.1.0
Interim mitigation

Upgrade Znuny to LTS 6.5.11+ or 7.0.17+ to receive the patch. If immediate upgrade is not feasible, consider rate-limiting or queuing email processing to mitigate CPU exhaustion attacks.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

Znuny 6.5.11 or later for 6.x branch; Znuny 7.0.17 or later for 7.x branch

  1. 1. Identify the currently installed Znuny version using the admin interface or system package manager
  2. 2. For Znuny 6.x branch: Upgrade to version 6.5.11 or later
  3. 3. For Znuny 7.x branch: Upgrade to version 7.0.17 or later
  4. 4. Verify the upgrade was successful by checking the system version
  5. 5. Test email parsing functionality with HTML content to confirm the ReDoS vulnerability is remediated
  6. 6. Monitor system performance during email processing to ensure normal CPU usage
Caveat Review Znuny release notes for the target version for any configuration or compatibility changes

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

Fix this in Znuny Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
18.0 hours of engineering $3,100
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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-2024-48938 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