CVE-2026-33263

dovecot: Dovecot: Denial of Service and potential message duplication via connection limit exhaustion

Published Aug 28, 2026 CVSS 3.1 · 4.3 Medium EPSS < 1% KEV · Not listed
Description
When mail_max_userip_connections is set (default 10) and reached, submission-login can crash with epoll() panic caused by file descriptor handling issues. If running in high-security mode (default for community releases), only the new submission connection gets terminated. If running in high-performance mode (default for Pro releases), all connections handled by the submission-login process will be terminated. The crashes can cause failure for user to send a message, or it can cause duplicate messages to be sent. If TLS is not used (in the backend server processing the submission), duplicate deliveries cannot happen, because the crash can only happen at AUTH stage. Limit the number of connections handled by single submission-login process. This has a performance impact though. Update to non-vulnerable version. No publicly available exploits are known.

Remediation

No solution or workaround provided in the CVE record

Tracking

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Advisories

Source ID Title
Debian DLA Debian DLA DLA-4873-1 dovecot security update
Debian DSA Debian DSA DSA-6526-1 dovecot security update
History
Type Values Removed Values Added
First Time appeared Open-xchange
Open-xchange ox Dovecot Ce
Open-xchange ox Dovecot Pro
Vendors & Products Open-xchange
Open-xchange ox Dovecot Ce
Open-xchange ox Dovecot Pro
Type Values Removed Values Added
Title Dovecot Submission‑Login Process Crash from Connection Limit Exceeded dovecot: Dovecot: Denial of Service and potential message duplication via connection limit exhaustion
Weaknesses CWE-910
References
Metrics threat_severity

None

threat_severity

Important

Type Values Removed Values Added
Metrics ssvc

{'options': {'Automatable': 'no', 'Exploitation': 'none', 'Technical Impact': 'partial'}, 'version': '2.0.3'}

Type Values Removed Values Added
Title Dovecot Submission‑Login Process Crash from Connection Limit Exceeded
Type Values Removed Values Added
Description When mail_max_userip_connections is set (default 10) and reached, submission-login can crash with epoll() panic caused by file descriptor handling issues. If running in high-security mode (default for community releases), only the new submission connection gets terminated. If running in high-performance mode (default for Pro releases), all connections handled by the submission-login process will be terminated. The crashes can cause failure for user to send a message, or it can cause duplicate messages to be sent. If TLS is not used (in the backend server processing the submission), duplicate deliveries cannot happen, because the crash can only happen at AUTH stage. Limit the number of connections handled by single submission-login process. This has a performance impact though. Update to non-vulnerable version. No publicly available exploits are known.
Weaknesses CWE-403
References
Metrics cvssV3_1

{'score': 4.3, 'vector': 'CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L'}

Weaknesses

Sources

Status
PUBLISHED
Assigner
OX
Published
Updated
Aug 28, 2026, 3:55 PM
Reserved
Mar 18, 2026, 10:06 AM
Status
Deferred
Published
Aug 28, 2026, 12:16 PM
Modified
Sep 3, 2026, 6:13 PM
Severity
Important
Public date
Aug 28, 2026, 10:12 AM