CVE-2023-34108

/// Technical description

mailcow is a mail server suite based on Dovecot, Postfix and other open source software, that provides a modern web UI for user/server administration. A vulnerability has been discovered in mailcow which allows an attacker to manipulate internal Dovecot variables by using specially crafted passwords during the authentication process. The issue arises from the behavior of the `passwd-verify.lua` script, which is responsible for verifying user passwords during login attempts. Upon a successful login, the script returns a response in the format of "password=<valid-password>", indicating the successful authentication. By crafting a password with additional key-value pairs appended to it, an attacker can manipulate the returned string and influence the internal behavior of Dovecot. For example, using the password "123 mail_crypt_save_version=0" would cause the `passwd-verify.lua` script to return the string "password=123 mail_crypt_save_version=0". Consequently, Dovecot will interpret this

/// Remediation

Check the references section for vendor advisories, patches, and mitigation guidance. If immediate patching is not possible, review the CVSS vector to understand the attack surface and apply compensating controls such as network segmentation or access restrictions.

/// References