Fetchmail: fetchmail: stack-based buffer overflow in ntlm authentication (fetchmail-sa-2026-01)
A stack-based buffer overflow flaw was found in fetchmail when built with NTLM support. A malicious or compromised mail server advertising NTLM authentication can send a crafted Type 2 challenge that causes fetchmail to write past a fixed stack buffer while building the NTLM authenticate response. This may lead to remote code execution depending on stack-frame layout, or to authentication failure or process termination under memory hardening.
report_vbuild in report.c in Fetchmail before 6.4.20 sometimes omits initialization of the vsnprintf va_list argument, which might allow mail servers to cause a denial of service or possibly have unspecified other impact via long error messages. NOTE: it is unclear whether use of Fetchmail on any realistic platform results in an impact beyond an inconvenience to the client user.
Fetchmail 5.0.8 through 6.3.21, when using NTLM authentication in debug mode, allows remote NTLM servers to (1) cause a denial of service (crash and delayed delivery of inbound mail) via a crafted NTLM response that triggers an out-of-bounds read in the base64 decoder, or (2) obtain sensitive information from memory via an NTLM Type 2 message with a crafted Target Name structure, which triggers an out-of-bounds read.
fetchmail 5.9.9 through 6.3.19 does not properly limit the wait time after issuing a (1) STARTTLS or (2) STLS request, which allows remote servers to cause a denial of service (application hang) by acknowledging the request but not sending additional packets.
fetchmail 4.6.3 through 6.3.16, when debug mode is enabled, does not properly handle invalid characters in a multi-character locale, which allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (memory consumption and application crash) via a crafted (1) message header or (2) POP3 UIDL list.
The sdump function in sdump.c in fetchmail 6.3.11, 6.3.12, and 6.3.13, when running in verbose mode on platforms for which char is signed, allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (application crash) or possibly execute arbitrary code via an SSL X.509 certificate containing non-printable characters with the high bit set, which triggers a heap-based buffer overflow during escaping.
socket.c in fetchmail before 6.3.11 does not properly handle a '\0' character in a domain name in the subject's Common Name (CN) field of an X.509 certificate, which allows man-in-the-middle attackers to spoof arbitrary SSL servers via a crafted certificate issued by a legitimate Certification Authority, a related issue to CVE-2009-2408.
fetchmail 6.3.8 and earlier, when running in -v -v (aka verbose) mode, allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (crash and persistent mail failure) via a malformed mail message with long headers, which triggers an erroneous dereference when using vsnprintf to format log messages.
sink.c in fetchmail before 6.3.9 allows context-dependent attackers to cause a denial of service (NULL dereference and application crash) by refusing certain warning messages that are sent over SMTP.
The APOP protocol allows remote attackers to guess the first 3 characters of a password via man-in-the-middle (MITM) attacks that use crafted message IDs and MD5 collisions. NOTE: this design-level issue potentially affects all products that use APOP, including (1) Thunderbird 1.x before 1.5.0.12 and 2.x before 2.0.0.4, (2) Evolution, (3) mutt, (4) fetchmail before 6.3.8, (5) SeaMonkey 1.0.x before 1.0.9 and 1.1.x before 1.1.2, (6) Balsa 2.3.16 and earlier, (7) Mailfilter before 0.8.2, and possibly other products.
fetchmail 6.3.5 and 6.3.6 before 6.3.6-rc4, when refusing a message delivered via the mda option, allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (crash) via unknown vectors that trigger a NULL pointer dereference when calling the (1) ferror or (2) fflush functions.
fetchmail before 6.3.6-rc4 does not properly enforce TLS and may transmit cleartext passwords over unsecured links if certain circumstances occur, which allows remote attackers to obtain sensitive information via man-in-the-middle (MITM) attacks.
fetchmail 6.3.0 and other versions before 6.3.2 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (crash) via crafted e-mail messages that cause a free of an invalid pointer when fetchmail bounces the message to the originator or local postmaster.
fetchmail before 6.3.1 and before 6.2.5.5, when configured for multidrop mode, allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (application crash) by sending messages without headers from upstream mail servers.
fetchmailconf before 1.49 in fetchmail 6.2.0, 6.2.5 and 6.2.5.2 creates configuration files with insecure world-readable permissions, which allows local users to obtain sensitive information such as passwords.
Buffer overflow in the POP3 client in Fetchmail before 6.2.5.2 allows remote POP3 servers to cause a denial of service and possibly execute arbitrary code via long UIDL responses. NOTE: a typo in an advisory accidentally used the wrong CVE identifier for the Fetchmail issue. This is the correct identifier.
Heap-based buffer overflow in Fetchmail 6.1.3 and earlier does not account for the "@" character when determining buffer lengths for local addresses, which allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via a header with a large number of local addresses.
Fetchmail 6.2.4 and earlier does not properly allocate memory for long lines, which allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (crash) via a certain email.