Security assessments indicate that CVE-2024-27938 presents a notable risk, potentially requiring prompt mitigation.
Status: Analyzed
Last updated: 🕕 10 Apr 2025, 18:15 UTC
Originally published on: 🕙 11 Mar 2024, 22:15 UTC
Time between publication and last update: 394 days
CVSS Release: version 3
security-advisories@github.com
Secondary
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N
CVE-2024-27938: Postal is an open source SMTP server. Postal versions less than 3.0.0 are vulnerable to SMTP Smuggling attacks which may allow incoming e-mails to be spoofed. This, in conjunction with a cooperative outgoing SMTP service, would allow for an incoming e-mail to be received by Postal addressed from a server that a user has 'authorised' to send mail on their behalf but were not the genuine author of the e-mail. Postal is not affected for sending outgoing e-mails as email is re-encoded with `<CR><LF>` line endings when transmitted over SMTP. This issue has been addressed and users should upgrade to Postal v3.0.0 or higher. Once upgraded, Postal will only accept End of DATA sequences which are explicitly `<CR><LF>.<CR><LF>`. If a non-compliant sequence is detected it will be logged to the SMTP server log. There are no workarounds for this issue.
The exploitability of CVE-2024-27938 depends on two key factors: attack complexity (the level of effort required to execute an exploit) and privileges required (the access level an attacker needs).
With low attack complexity and no required privileges, CVE-2024-27938 is an easy target for cybercriminals. Organizations should prioritize immediate mitigation measures to prevent unauthorized access and data breaches.
A lower complexity and fewer privilege requirements make exploitation easier. Security teams should evaluate these aspects to determine the urgency of mitigation strategies, such as patch management and access control policies.
Attack Complexity (AC) measures the difficulty in executing an exploit. A high AC means that specific conditions must be met, making an attack more challenging, while a low AC means the vulnerability can be exploited with minimal effort.
Privileges Required (PR) determine the level of system access necessary for an attack. Vulnerabilities requiring no privileges are more accessible to attackers, whereas high privilege requirements limit exploitation to authorized users with elevated access.
Above is the CVSS Sub-score Breakdown for CVE-2024-27938, illustrating how Base, Impact, and Exploitability factors combine to form the overall severity rating. A higher sub-score typically indicates a more severe or easier-to-exploit vulnerability.
Below is the Impact Analysis for CVE-2024-27938, showing how Confidentiality, Integrity, and Availability might be affected if the vulnerability is exploited. Higher values usually signal greater potential damage.
The EPSS score estimates the probability that this vulnerability will be exploited in the near future.
EPSS Score: 0.054% (probability of exploit)
EPSS Percentile: 25.85%
(lower percentile = lower relative risk)
This vulnerability is less risky than approximately 74.15% of others.
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