CVE-2026-40017: open-xchange gmbh ox dovecot ce Uncontrolled Resource Consumption
Vulnerability summary
CVE-2026-40017 is a medium (CVSS 6.5) Uncontrolled Resource Consumption vulnerability in open-xchange gmbh ox dovecot ce. EPSS estimates a 0.33% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 25.5% of scored vulnerabilities.
Advisory lineage
Upstream 0 · Downstream 4 · Related 3Timeline
- 28-08-2026PublishedVulnerability first disclosed.
- 28-08-2026Last modifiedVulnerability information updated.
Description
An attacker that can send mail to a user can craft a message header whose values are chosen to collide in an internal hash table, which makes the IMAP THREAD command consume CPU disproportionate to the size of the message. This is a separate issue from CVE-2026-40014 and is not addressed by that fix. Whenever a mail client issues a THREAD command on the affected mailbox, this can cause degradation or denial of service for IMAP. Monitor system for abnormal CPU usage, kill the offending process and remove the offending message from the affected mailbox. Update to non-vulnerable version. No publicly available exploits are known.
CVSS metrics
5 scores · 5 sources · 1 version- OSV · AlpineEcosystem advisory · calculated6.5MediumCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
- OSV · UbuntuEcosystem advisory · calculated6.5MediumCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
- OSV · DebianEcosystem advisory · calculated6.5MediumCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
- NVDNIST6.5MediumCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
EPSS trend
Probability
0.33%
Chance of exploitation in the next 30 days
Percentile
26%
Versus all other CVEs
30-day change
+0.06 pp
From 0.27% on 21-09-2026
Known exploited
Compare KEV catalogsNot in any of the 3 tracked catalogs.
Public exploits
0 foundNo public exploits indexed.
Weaknesses
CWE · root causeAffected systems
Open-xchange gmbh2 products
- ox dovecot ce≥ 2.3.0, < 2.4.5
- ox dovecot pro≥ 2.3.0, < 2.3.22.2 | ≥ 3.0.0, < 3.0.7 | ≥ 3.1.0, < 3.1.6
Alpine1 product
- dovecot< 2.4.5-r0
Debian1 product
- dovecotAll versions (No fix recorded) | < 1:2.4.1+dfsg1-6+deb13u7 | < 1:2.4.5+dfsg1-1
Ubuntu1 product
- dovecotAll versions (No fix recorded)
4 vendors · 5 products
