Off-by-one error in the rfc822_output_char function in the RFC822BUFFER routines in the University of Washington (UW) c-client library, as used by the UW IMAP toolkit before imap-2007e and other applications, allows context-dependent attackers to cause a denial of service (crash) via an e-mail message that triggers a buffer overflow.
Conclusion & alert: CVE-2008-5514 is rated Moderate Risk (44.4/100): CVSS Medium severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 1.76%). Mandatory action: Review affected assets and schedule remediation.
Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.
EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).
| # | Date | Old EPSS score | New EPSS score | Delta (New - Old) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2026-06-15 | 0.81% | 1.76% | +0.95% |
| 2 | 2026-02-12 | 1.07% | 0.81% | -0.26% |
| 3 | 2025-03-30 | — | 1.07% | — |
Full EPSS history (9 records total)
CVSS metrics for this CVE.
| Base score | Version | Severity | Vector | Exploitability | Impact | Score source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4.3 | 2.0 | MEDIUM |
|
8.6 | 2.9 | [email protected] |
| vendor | priority | summary | link |
|---|---|---|---|
debian
|
medium | CVE-2008-5514 medium priority: Debian including 2 source packages (alpine, uw-imap), 7 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 7. | https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2008-5514 |
gentoo
|
high | CVE-2008-5514: 2 GLSA(s) (200911-03, 201001-03), 3 atom(s) (dev-lang/php, net-libs/c-client, net-mail/uw-imap); latest impact high. | https://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=CVE-2008-5514 |
redhat
|
medium | — | https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2008-5514 |
ubuntu
|
medium | CVE-2008-5514 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (uw-imap), 11 status rows across 11 suites (dapper, gutsy, hardy, intrepid, jaunty, karmic, lucid, maverick, natty, oneiric, upstream): not-affected 6, ignored 4, released 1. | https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2008-5514 |
Not vulnerable. This issue did not affect the versions of imap as shipped with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 2.1 and 3, and the versions of libc-client as shipped with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 and 5.
| Vendor | Product | Version | Raw CPE |
|---|---|---|---|
| university_of_washington | imap | <= 2007d | cpe:2.3:a:university_of_washington:imap:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| university_of_washington | imap | 2000 | cpe:2.3:a:university_of_washington:imap:2000:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| university_of_washington | imap | 2000a | cpe:2.3:a:university_of_washington:imap:2000a:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| university_of_washington | imap | 2000b | cpe:2.3:a:university_of_washington:imap:2000b:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| university_of_washington | imap | 2000c | cpe:2.3:a:university_of_washington:imap:2000c:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| university_of_washington | imap | 2001 | cpe:2.3:a:university_of_washington:imap:2001:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| university_of_washington | imap | 2001a | cpe:2.3:a:university_of_washington:imap:2001a:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| university_of_washington | imap | 2002 | cpe:2.3:a:university_of_washington:imap:2002:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| university_of_washington | imap | 2002a | cpe:2.3:a:university_of_washington:imap:2002a:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| university_of_washington | imap | 2002b | cpe:2.3:a:university_of_washington:imap:2002b:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| university_of_washington | imap | 2002c | cpe:2.3:a:university_of_washington:imap:2002c:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| university_of_washington | imap | 2002d | cpe:2.3:a:university_of_washington:imap:2002d:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| university_of_washington | imap | 2002e | cpe:2.3:a:university_of_washington:imap:2002e:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| university_of_washington | imap | 2002f | cpe:2.3:a:university_of_washington:imap:2002f:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| university_of_washington | imap | 2004 | cpe:2.3:a:university_of_washington:imap:2004:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| university_of_washington | imap | 2004a | cpe:2.3:a:university_of_washington:imap:2004a:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| university_of_washington | imap | 2004b | cpe:2.3:a:university_of_washington:imap:2004b:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| university_of_washington | imap | 2004c | cpe:2.3:a:university_of_washington:imap:2004c:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| university_of_washington | imap | 2004d | cpe:2.3:a:university_of_washington:imap:2004d:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| university_of_washington | imap | 2004e | cpe:2.3:a:university_of_washington:imap:2004e:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| university_of_washington | imap | 2004f | cpe:2.3:a:university_of_washington:imap:2004f:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| university_of_washington | imap | 2004g | cpe:2.3:a:university_of_washington:imap:2004g:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| university_of_washington | imap | 2006 | cpe:2.3:a:university_of_washington:imap:2006:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| university_of_washington | imap | 2006a | cpe:2.3:a:university_of_washington:imap:2006a:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| university_of_washington | imap | 2006b | cpe:2.3:a:university_of_washington:imap:2006b:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| university_of_washington | imap | 2006c | cpe:2.3:a:university_of_washington:imap:2006c:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| university_of_washington | imap | 2006d | cpe:2.3:a:university_of_washington:imap:2006d:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| university_of_washington | imap | 2006e | cpe:2.3:a:university_of_washington:imap:2006e:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| university_of_washington | imap | 2006f | cpe:2.3:a:university_of_washington:imap:2006f:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| university_of_washington | imap | 2006g | cpe:2.3:a:university_of_washington:imap:2006g:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| university_of_washington | imap | 2006h | cpe:2.3:a:university_of_washington:imap:2006h:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| university_of_washington | imap | 2006i | cpe:2.3:a:university_of_washington:imap:2006i:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| university_of_washington | imap | 2006j | cpe:2.3:a:university_of_washington:imap:2006j:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| university_of_washington | imap | 2006k | cpe:2.3:a:university_of_washington:imap:2006k:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| university_of_washington | imap | 2007 | cpe:2.3:a:university_of_washington:imap:2007:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| university_of_washington | imap | 2007a | cpe:2.3:a:university_of_washington:imap:2007a:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| university_of_washington | imap | 2007b | cpe:2.3:a:university_of_washington:imap:2007b:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |