CVE-2017-14461

A specially crafted email delivered over SMTP and passed on to Dovecot by MTA can trigger an out of bounds read resulting in potential sensitive information disclosure and denial of service. In order to trigger this vulnerability, an attacker needs to send a specially crafted email message to the server.

Published: 2018-03-02 Last update: 2024-11-21 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2017-14461 is rated Moderate Risk (51.8/100): CVSS Medium severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 1.66%). 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-2017-14461

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 2026-03-12 2.16% 1.66% -0.50%
2 2026-03-11 1.75% 2.16% +0.42%
3 2025-11-22 — 1.75% —

Full EPSS history (17 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2017-14461

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:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:H 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:L)
A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
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:L)
Some sensitive info could get out, but not a total data dump.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
 1.6 4.2 [email protected]
7.1 3.0 HIGH
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:H 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:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:L)
A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
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:L)
Some sensitive info could get out, but not a total data dump.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
 2.8 4.2 [email protected]
5.5 2.0 MEDIUM
AV:N/AC:L/Au:S/C:P/I:N/A:P Click to expand
Access vector (AV:N)
Can be exploited remotely over network reachability.
Access complexity (AC:L)
Exploitation conditions are straightforward and predictable.
Authentication (AU:S)
A single authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:P)
Partial confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:N)
No integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:P)
Partial availability impact.
 8.0 4.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2017-14461

OS Trackers for CVE-2017-14461

vendor priority summary link
alpine — CVE-2017-14461: 1 source package rows (dovecot); 10 state rows across 10 repos (3.10-main, 3.11-main, 3.12-main, 3.17-main, 3.18-main, 3.19-main, 3.20-main, 3.21-main, 3.22-main, edge-main); fixed 10, open 0. https://security.alpinelinux.org/vuln/CVE-2017-14461
debian not yet assigned CVE-2017-14461 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (dovecot), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2017-14461
redhat medium — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2017-14461
suse high CVE-2017-14461 severity important: SUSE including 101 source package names (dovecot22-2.2.31-19.11.1, dovecot22-2.2.31-19.17.1, …), 133 product×package rows across 21 product lines (SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 12 SP5, SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15-LTSS, … (21 product lines)): Fixed 105, Known Not Affected 28. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2017-14461/
ubuntu medium CVE-2017-14461 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (dovecot), 4 status rows across 4 suites (artful, trusty, upstream, xenial): released 4. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2017-14461

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2017-14461

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
dovecot dovecot 2.2.33.2 cpe:2.3:a:dovecot:dovecot:2.2.33.2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
debian debian_linux 8.0 cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:8.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
debian debian_linux 9.0 cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:9.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
ubuntu ubuntu 14.04 cpe:2.3:o:ubuntu:ubuntu:14.04:*:*:*:lts:*:*:*
ubuntu ubuntu 16.04 cpe:2.3:o:ubuntu:ubuntu:16.04:*:*:*:lts:*:*:*
ubuntu ubuntu 17.10 cpe:2.3:o:ubuntu:ubuntu:17.10:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2017-14461

cvelogic Threat Intelligence