CVE-2020-12618

eM Client before 7.2.33412.0 automatically imported S/MIME certificates and thereby silently replaced existing ones. This allowed a man-in-the-middle attacker to obtain an email-validated S/MIME certificate from a trusted CA and replace the public key of the entity to be impersonated. This enabled the attacker to decipher further communication. The entire attack could be accomplished by sending a single email.

Published: 2020-08-20 Last update: 2024-11-21 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2020-12618 is rated Low Risk (27.7/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.07%). Monitor for updates and reassess as exploit intelligence or EPSS changes.

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-2020-12618

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 2023-03-07 0.89% 0.07% -0.82%
2 2022-04-01 4.50% 0.89% -3.61%
3 2022-02-04 — 4.50% —

Full EPSS history (5 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2020-12618

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
4.8 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/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:L)
Some sensitive info could get out, but not a total data dump.
Integrity (I:L)
Attackers could change some data, but it’s limited—not everything goes.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
 2.2 2.5 [email protected]
5.8 2.0 MEDIUM
AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:P/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:P)
Partial integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:N)
No availability impact.
 8.6 4.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2020-12618

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2020-12618

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
emclient em_client < 7.2.33412.0 cpe:2.3:a:emclient:em_client:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2020-12618

cvelogic Threat Intelligence