Go-Guerrilla SMTP Daemon allows the PROXY command to be sent multiple times

Description

Summary

The PROXY command is accepted multiple times, allowing a client to spoof its IP address when the proxy protocol is being used.

Details

When ProxyOn is enabled, it looks like the PROXY command will be accepted multiple times, with later invocations overriding earlier ones. The proxy protocol only supports one initial PROXY header; anything after that is considered part of the exchange between client and server, so the client is free to send further PROXY commands with whatever data it pleases. go-guerrilla will treat these as coming from the reverse proxy, allowing a client to spoof its IP address.

Note that the format of the PROXY header is well-defined. It probably shouldn't be treated as an SMTP command; parsing it the same way is likely to result in odd behavior and could lead to other vulnerabilities.

PoC

I'm working on writing a PR to fix this vulnerability. It'll include a unit test that will serve as a PoC on the current version.

Impact

Any instance with ProxyOn enabled (proxyon in the JSON config) is affected.

As far as I'm able to tell, the impact is limited to spoofing the RemoteIP field. This isn't ideal, but it probably has less practical impact on an MTA than, say, a web server.

Basic information

Type
reviewed
Severity
medium
Advisory on GitHub
Open advisory ↗
Repository advisory
Open repository advisory ↗
Source code
Browse source ↗
Published (advisory)
2025-04-01 22:23:49 UTC
Updated
2026-06-08 15:57:50 UTC
GitHub reviewed
2025-04-01 22:23:49 UTC
NVD published
2025-04-01

EPSS Score

Score Percentile
0.08% 23.84%

CVSS Scores

Base score Version Severity Vector
5.3 3.1
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/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:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
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:N)
Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way.
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.

Identifiers

CWEs

CWE id Name
CWE-20 Improper Input Validation

Credits

  • Zenexer (reporter)
  • cookesan (analyst)

Affected packages (1)

Vulnerable version ranges and first patched releases as published by GitHub.

Ecosystem Package Vulnerable range First patched Vulnerable functions
go github.com/phires/go-guerrilla < 1.6.7 1.6.7

References

cvelogic Threat Intelligence