CVE-2014-8878

KDE KMail does not encrypt attachments in emails when "automatic encryption" is enabled, which allows remote attackers to obtain sensitive information by sniffing the network.

Published: 2017-09-28 Last update: 2026-05-13 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2014-8878 is rated Moderate Risk (41.8/100): CVSS Medium severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.30%). Review affected assets and schedule remediation.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2014-8878

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 2025-07-13 0.71% 0.30% -0.41%
2 2025-03-30 1.80% 0.71% -1.09%
3 2025-03-29 — 1.80% —

Full EPSS history (9 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2014-8878

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
5.9 3.0 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:H)
Even with access, the exploit needs extra luck, timing, or a fussy environment to actually work.
Privileges required (PR:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
 2.2 3.6 [email protected]
4.3 2.0 MEDIUM
AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:N/A:N Click to expand
Access vector (AV:N)
Can be exploited remotely over network reachability.
Access complexity (AC:M)
Exploitation needs some favorable conditions, but not exceptional ones.
Authentication (AU:N)
No authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:P)
Partial confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:N)
No integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:N)
No availability impact.
 8.6 2.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2014-8878

OS Trackers for CVE-2014-8878

vendor priority summary link
redhat medium — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2014-8878
ubuntu medium CVE-2014-8878 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (kdepim), 26 status rows across 26 suites (artful, bionic, cosmic, disco, eoan, focal, groovy, hirsute, impish, jammy, kinetic, lunar, mantic, noble, oracular, plucky, precise, questing, trusty, upstream, utopic, vivid, wily, xenial, yakkety, zesty): DNE 17, not-affected 6, ignored 1, needed 1, released 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2014-8878

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2014-8878

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
kde kmail 4.11.5 cpe:2.3:a:kde:kmail:4.11.5:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2014-8878

URL Tags
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2015/07/16/10 Mailing List Patch Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/75986 Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=340312 Issue Tracking Patch Vendor Advisory
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1243777 Issue Tracking Patch Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
cvelogic Threat Intelligence