CVE-2020-5239 | Unspecified vulnerability in the fetchmail script in Mailu

In Mailu before version 1.7, an authenticated user can exploit a vulnerability in Mailu fetchmail script and gain full access to a Mailu instance. Mailu servers that have open registration or untrusted users are most impacted. The master and 1.7 branches are patched on our git repository. All Docker images published on docker.io/mailu for tags 1.5, 1.6, 1.7 and master are patched. For detailed instructions about patching and securing the server afterwards, see https://github.com/Mailu/Mailu/issues/1354

Published: 2020-02-12 Last update: 2026-06-16 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2020-5239 is rated Moderate Risk (54.4/100): CVSS High severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.89%). 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.

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2020-5239

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 0.42% 0.89% +0.47%
2 2025-03-30 0.81% 0.42% -0.39%
3 2025-03-29 0.81%

Full EPSS history (9 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2020-5239

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
8.7 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/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: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:R)
A real person has to do something—click, install, enable—otherwise it doesn’t land.
Scope (S:C)
Breaking this can reach past the original component and bite other resources—bigger blast radius.
Confidentiality (C:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
2.3 5.8 [email protected]
8.8 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/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:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
2.8 5.9 [email protected]
6.5 2.0 MEDIUM
AV:N/AC:L/Au:S/C:P/I:P/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:P)
Partial integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:P)
Partial availability impact.
8.0 6.4 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2020-5239

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2020-5239

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
mailu mailu < 1.7 cpe:2.3:a:mailu:mailu:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2020-5239

cvelogic Threat Intelligence