CVE-2019-11500
CriticalIn Dovecot before 2.2.36.4 and 2.3.x before 2.3.7.2 (and Pigeonhole before 0.5.7.2), protocol processing can fail for quoted strings.
Published Aug 29, 2019 · Updated Aug 4, 2026 · Also known as ALPINE-CVE-2019-11500, DEBIAN-CVE-2019-11500, DLA-1901-1, DSA-4510-1, SUSE-SU-2019:2454-1, UBUNTU-CVE-2019-11500, USN-4110-1, USN-4110-2, USN-4110-3, USN-4110-4
Key Facts
Patch immediately- CVE-2019-11500 is a critical-severity vulnerability (CVSS 9.8 v3.1) affecting Dovecot, Pigeonhole (Dovecot), Debian Linux and 22 more products.
- It is not listed in any known-exploited vulnerabilities catalog. No public exploit code is known.
- EPSS estimates a 62% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days.
- Fixed versions are available, including Dovecot 1:2.0.9-22.el6_10.1, Dovecot 1:2.2.13-12~deb8u7, Dovecot 1:2.2.22-1ubuntu2.11.
- Brandefense priority: patch immediately, because it is very likely to be exploited soon.
CVSS v3.1
9.8
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS (30-day exploit likelihood)
62%
Higher than 99.1% of all scored CVEs
Exploited in the wild
No known
Not in a known-exploited catalog
Public exploit code
None known
Get the full CVE-2019-11500 brief as a PDF
Every affected product and fixed release, exploitation status and a first 24 hours response checklist, emailed within minutes.
Description
In Dovecot before 2.2.36.4 and 2.3.x before 2.3.7.2 (and Pigeonhole before 0.5.7.2), protocol processing can fail for quoted strings. This occurs because '\0' characters are mishandled, and can lead to out-of-bounds writes and remote code execution.
Affected Products
204 affected entries in total| Product | Affected versions | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|
| DovecotDovecot | See advisory | 2.2.36.4 |
| PigeonholeDovecot | See advisory | 0.5.7.2 |
| Debian LinuxDebian | 8.0 | n/a |
| FedoraFedoraproject | 30 | n/a |
| dovecot-develamazon | See advisory | 1:2.2.36-3.amzn2.1 |
Patched Releases
Dovecot
1:2.0.9-22.el6_10.1, 1:2.2.13-12~deb8u7, 1:2.2.22-1ubuntu2.11, 1:2.2.22-1ubuntu2.12, 1:2.2.27-3+deb9u5, 1:2.2.33.2-1ubuntu4.4, 1:2.2.33.2-1ubuntu4.5, 1:2.2.36-3.amzn2.1, 1:2.2.36-3.el7_7.1, 1:2.2.36-5.el8_0.1, 1:2.2.9-1ubuntu2.6+esm1, 1:2.2.9-1ubuntu2.6+esm2, 1:2.3.4.1-5+deb10u1, 1:2.3.7.2-1, 2.2.36.4-r0, 2.3.7.2-1, 2.3.7.2-r0, 2.2.36.4
dovecot-pigeonhole
0.5.7.2, 1:2.0.9-22.el6_10.1, 1:2.2.36-3.amzn2.1, 1:2.2.36-3.el7_7.1
dovecot-devel
1:2.0.9-22.el6_10.1, 1:2.2.36-3.amzn2.1, 1:2.2.36-3.el7_7.1, 1:2.2.36-5.el8_0.1
dovecot-mysql
1:2.0.9-22.el6_10.1, 1:2.2.36-3.amzn2.1, 1:2.2.36-3.el7_7.1, 1:2.2.36-5.el8_0.1
dovecot-pgsql
1:2.0.9-22.el6_10.1, 1:2.2.36-3.amzn2.1, 1:2.2.36-3.el7_7.1, 1:2.2.36-5.el8_0.1
dovecot22
2.2.31-19.17.1
dovecot22-backend-mysql
2.2.31-19.17.1
dovecot22-backend-pgsql
2.2.31-19.17.1
dovecot22-backend-sqlite
2.2.31-19.17.1
dovecot22-devel
2.2.31-19.17.1
dovecot23
2.3.16-1.6, 2.3.3-8.1, 2.3.3-lp150.14.1, 2.3.3-lp151.2.6.1
dovecot23-backend-mysql
2.3.16-1.6, 2.3.3-8.1, 2.3.3-lp150.14.1, 2.3.3-lp151.2.6.1
dovecot23-backend-pgsql
2.3.16-1.6, 2.3.3-8.1, 2.3.3-lp150.14.1, 2.3.3-lp151.2.6.1
dovecot23-backend-sqlite
2.3.16-1.6, 2.3.3-8.1, 2.3.3-lp150.14.1, 2.3.3-lp151.2.6.1
dovecot23-devel
2.3.16-1.6, 2.3.3-8.1, 2.3.3-lp150.14.1, 2.3.3-lp151.2.6.1
dovecot23-fts
2.3.16-1.6, 2.3.3-8.1, 2.3.3-lp150.14.1, 2.3.3-lp151.2.6.1
dovecot23-fts-lucene
2.3.16-1.6, 2.3.3-8.1, 2.3.3-lp150.14.1, 2.3.3-lp151.2.6.1
dovecot23-fts-solr
2.3.16-1.6, 2.3.3-8.1, 2.3.3-lp150.14.1, 2.3.3-lp151.2.6.1
dovecot23-fts-squat
2.3.16-1.6, 2.3.3-8.1, 2.3.3-lp150.14.1, 2.3.3-lp151.2.6.1
dovecot24
2.4.0-1.1
dovecot24-backend-mysql
2.4.0-1.1
dovecot24-backend-pgsql
2.4.0-1.1
dovecot24-backend-sqlite
2.4.0-1.1
dovecot24-devel
2.4.0-1.1
dovecot24-fts
2.4.0-1.1
Timeline
Publicly disclosed
Aug 29, 2019
Last updated
Aug 4, 2026
Weakness Type
- CWE-20 Improper Input Validation
- CWE-787 Out-of-bounds Write
References
- advisoryhttps://bugzilla.suse.com/1133624
- advisoryhttps://bugzilla.suse.com/1133625
- advisoryhttps://bugzilla.suse.com/1145559
- advisory[debian-lts-announce] 20190829 [SECURITY] [DLA 1901-1] dovecot security update
- advisoryhttps://security.alpinelinux.org/vuln/CVE-2019-11500
FAQ
Common Questions.
In Dovecot before 2.2.36.4 and 2.3.x before 2.3.7.2 (and Pigeonhole before 0.5.7.2), protocol processing can fail for quoted strings.
Affected: Dovecot; Pigeonhole (Dovecot); Debian Linux versions 8.0, among others. The full list is in the CVE brief.
It is not listed in any known-exploited vulnerabilities catalog.
No, it is not currently listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog.
No public exploit code is known.
Fixed versions are available, including Dovecot 1:2.0.9-22.el6_10.1, Dovecot 1:2.2.13-12~deb8u7, Dovecot 1:2.2.22-1ubuntu2.11.
Brandefense priority: patch immediately, because it is very likely to be exploited soon.
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