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Fencer Intel
high 8.8

CVE-2019-7524 json

In Dovecot before 2.2.36.3 and 2.3.x before 2.3.5.1, a local attacker can cause a buffer overflow in the indexer-worker process, which can…

published 7y ago modified 4mo ago also EUVD-2019-17066

cvss
8.8
version 3.0, CNA
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
1.2%
EPSS 1.2% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 67%
public exploits
0
none known

Summary

In Dovecot before 2.2.36.3 and 2.3.x before 2.3.5.1, a local attacker can cause a buffer overflow in the indexer-worker process, which can be used to elevate to root. This occurs because of missing checks in the fts and pop3-uidl components.

Patch / fix

  • dovecot dovecot 2.2.36.3, 2.3.5.1
  • dovecot Debian 14, Debian 13, Debian 12 1:2.3.4.1-3

debian advisories DEBIAN-CVE-2019-7524

  • dovecot Ubuntu 14.04 LTS 1:2.2.9-1ubuntu2.6
  • dovecot Ubuntu 16.04 LTS 1:2.2.22-1ubuntu2.10
  • dovecot Ubuntu 18.04 LTS 1:2.2.33.2-1ubuntu4.3

ubuntu advisories UBUNTU-CVE-2019-7524

Ubuntu security data © Canonical Ltd., from https://github.com/canonical/ubuntu-security-notices via OSV; changed: normalised to fixed package versions per release. CC BY-SA 4.0

  • dovecot RHEL 7 1:2.2.36-6.el7
  • dovecot-mysql RHEL 7 1:2.2.36-6.el7
  • dovecot-pgsql RHEL 7 1:2.2.36-6.el7
  • dovecot-pigeonhole RHEL 7 1:2.2.36-6.el7

red hat advisories RHSA-2020:1062

  • dovecot22 SLES for SAP 12 SP4, SLES for SAP 12 SP3, SLES for SAP 12 SP2 +11 more 2.2.31-19.14.2
  • dovecot23 SLE Module for Server Applications 15 2.3.3-4.10.1

suse advisories SUSE-SU-2019:0900-1SUSE-SU-2019:0876-1

  • dovecot24 openSUSE Tumbleweed 2.4.0-1.1
  • dovecot23 openSUSE Tumbleweed 2.3.16-1.6
  • dovecot23 openSUSE Leap 15.0 2.3.3-lp150.8.2

opensuse advisories openSUSE-SU-2025:14715-1openSUSE-SU-2024:10726-1openSUSE-SU-2019:1212-1

  • dovecot Alpine 3.24, Alpine 3.23, Alpine 3.22 +14 more 2.3.5.1-r0
  • dovecot Alpine 3.7, Alpine 3.6 2.2.36.3-r0

alpine advisories ALPINE-CVE-2019-7524

Alpine secdb © Alpine Linux, from https://secdb.alpinelinux.org via OSV; changed: normalised to fixed package versions per release. CC BY-SA 4.0

  • dovecot Arch Linux 2.3.5.1-1

arch linux advisories AVG-944

Is CVE-2019-7524 in your stack? Fencer shows which of your repositories are affected as soon as an advisory lands, and opens the fix as a pull request.

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Vendor advisories

What the vendors themselves say about their products: affected, fixed or not affected, and what to do.

red hat product security vex CVE-2019-7524 updated cvss 6.5

dovecot: Buffer overflow in indexer-worker process results in privilege escalation

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 dovecot Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 dovecot, dovecot-mysql, dovecot-pgsql, dovecot-pigeonhole
    affected: no fix planned “Will not fix”
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server (v. 7) dovecot 2.2.36-6.el7, dovecot-mysql 2.2.36-6.el7, dovecot-pgsql 2.2.36-6.el7, dovecot-pigeonhole 2.2.36-6.el7 Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server Optional (v. 7) dovecot-devel 2.2.36-6.el7, dovecot-debuginfo 2.2.36-6.el7 Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation (v. 7) dovecot 2.2.36-6.el7, dovecot-mysql 2.2.36-6.el7, dovecot-pgsql 2.2.36-6.el7, dovecot-pigeonhole 2.2.36-6.el7 Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation Optional (v. 7) dovecot-devel 2.2.36-6.el7, dovecot-debuginfo 2.2.36-6.el7
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2020:1062
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 dovecot, dovecot-mysql, dovecot-pgsql, dovecot-pigeonhole
    not affected: vulnerable code not present

Red Hat CSAF VEX © Red Hat, Inc., from https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/; changed: reduced to product statuses and remediations. CC BY 4.0 · csaf

Exploit prediction

1.18% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 67% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-09).

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
CNA 3.0 8.8 CVSS:3.0/AC:L/AV:L/A:H/C:H/I:H/PR:L/S:C/UI:N
CNA 3.0 8.8 CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
NVD 3.0 7.8 CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
NVD 2.0 7.2 AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C

Classification

Weakness
  • CWE-119 Improper Restriction of Operations within the Bounds of a Memory Buffer

References

Sources

Fencer Intel keeps one entry per vulnerability: the CVE id wins, then GHSA, and records that alias each other are merged, except that two CVEs always keep separate entries. The same data is available as JSON.