Very large headers can cause resource exhaustion when parsing message. The message-parser normally reads reasonably sized chunks of the message. However, when it feeds them to message-header-parser, it starts building up "full_value" buffer out of the smaller chunks. The full_value buffer has no size limit, so large headers can cause large memory usage. It doesn't matter whether it's a single long header line, or a single header split into multiple lines. This bug exists in all Dovecot versions. Incoming mails typically have some size limits set by MTA, so even largest possible header size may still fit into Dovecot's vsz_limit. So attackers probably can't DoS a victim user this way. A user could APPEND larger mails though, allowing them to DoS themselves (although maybe cause some memory issues for the backend in general). One can implement restrictions on headers on MTA component preceding Dovecot. No publicly available exploits are known.
CVSS Details
- CVSS 3.1 Base Score: 7.5
- CVSS 3.1 Vector: (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H)
Covered by Rapid7
| Product | Vendor Advisory | Solution File | Added | Published |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alma_linux | alma-upgrade-dovecotalma-upgrade-dovecot-develalma-upgrade-dovecot-mysqlalma-upgrade-dovecot-pgsqlalma-upgrade-dovecot-pigeonhole | Sep 12, 2024 | Sep 10, 2024 | |
| Alpine Linux | alpine-linux-upgrade-dovecot | Aug 8, 2025 | Sep 10, 2024 | |
| Amazon Linux Ami 2 | amazon-linux-ami-2-upgrade-dovecotamazon-linux-ami-2-upgrade-dovecot-debuginfoamazon-linux-ami-2-upgrade-dovecot-develamazon-linux-ami-2-upgrade-dovecot-mysqlamazon-linux-ami-2-upgrade-dovecot-pgsqlamazon-linux-ami-2-upgrade-dovecot-pigeonhole | Dec 20, 2024 | Sep 10, 2024 | |
| Amazon_linux_2023 | amazon-linux-2023-upgrade-dovecotamazon-linux-2023-upgrade-dovecot-debuginfoamazon-linux-2023-upgrade-dovecot-debugsourceamazon-linux-2023-upgrade-dovecot-develamazon-linux-2023-upgrade-dovecot-mysqlamazon-linux-2023-upgrade-dovecot-mysql-debuginfoamazon-linux-2023-upgrade-dovecot-pgsqlamazon-linux-2023-upgrade-dovecot-pgsql-debuginfoamazon-linux-2023-upgrade-dovecot-pigeonholeamazon-linux-2023-upgrade-dovecot-pigeonhole-debuginfo | Feb 17, 2025 | Aug 15, 2024 | |
| Debian | debian-upgrade-dovecot | Aug 22, 2024 | Aug 22, 2024 | |
| Freebsd | freebsd-upgrade-package-dovecot | Dec 10, 2025 | Aug 16, 2024 | |
| Oracle_linux | — | oracle-linux-upgrade-dovecotoracle-linux-upgrade-dovecot-develoracle-linux-upgrade-dovecot-mysqloracle-linux-upgrade-dovecot-pgsqloracle-linux-upgrade-dovecot-pigeonhole | Oct 16, 2024 | Aug 15, 2024 |
| Redhat_linux | no-fix-redhat-rpm-packageredhat-upgrade-dovecotredhat-upgrade-dovecot-debuginforedhat-upgrade-dovecot-debugsourceredhat-upgrade-dovecot-develredhat-upgrade-dovecot-mysqlredhat-upgrade-dovecot-mysql-debuginforedhat-upgrade-dovecot-pgsqlredhat-upgrade-dovecot-pgsql-debuginforedhat-upgrade-dovecot-pigeonholeredhat-upgrade-dovecot-pigeonhole-debuginfo | Sep 10, 2024 | Aug 15, 2024 | |
| Rocky_linux | rocky-upgrade-dovecotrocky-upgrade-dovecot-debuginforocky-upgrade-dovecot-debugsourcerocky-upgrade-dovecot-develrocky-upgrade-dovecot-mysqlrocky-upgrade-dovecot-mysql-debuginforocky-upgrade-dovecot-pgsqlrocky-upgrade-dovecot-pgsql-debuginforocky-upgrade-dovecot-pigeonholerocky-upgrade-dovecot-pigeonhole-debuginfo | Sep 17, 2024 | Sep 10, 2024 | |
| Suse | — | suse-upgrade-dovecot23suse-upgrade-dovecot23-backend-mysqlsuse-upgrade-dovecot23-backend-pgsqlsuse-upgrade-dovecot23-backend-sqlitesuse-upgrade-dovecot23-develsuse-upgrade-dovecot23-ftssuse-upgrade-dovecot23-fts-lucenesuse-upgrade-dovecot23-fts-solrsuse-upgrade-dovecot23-fts-squatsuse-upgrade-dovecot24suse-upgrade-dovecot24-backend-mysqlsuse-upgrade-dovecot24-backend-pgsqlsuse-upgrade-dovecot24-backend-sqlitesuse-upgrade-dovecot24-develsuse-upgrade-dovecot24-ftssuse-upgrade-dovecot24-fts-solr | Dec 5, 2025 | Sep 12, 2024 |
| Ubuntu | ubuntu-upgrade-dovecot-core | Sep 3, 2024 | Sep 2, 2024 |
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