Vulnerability in SquirrelMail (CVE-2017-7692)
Summary
Vulnerability in SquirrelMail (CVE-2017-7692). Successful exploitation can lead to full system takeover.
Original description
The description as published by the source.
SquirrelMail 1.4.22 (and other versions before 20170427_0200-SVN) allows post-authentication remote code execution via a sendmail.cf file that is mishandled in a popen call. It's possible to exploit this vulnerability to execute arbitrary shell commands on the remote server. The problem is in the Deliver_SendMail.class.php with the initStream function that uses escapeshellcmd() to sanitize the sendmail command before executing it. The use of escapeshellcmd() is not correct in this case since it doesn't escape whitespaces, allowing the injection of arbitrary command parameters. The problem is in -f$envelopefrom within the sendmail command line. Hence, if the target server uses sendmail and SquirrelMail is configured to use it as a command-line program, it's possible to trick sendmail into using an attacker-provided configuration file that triggers the execution of an arbitrary command. For exploitation, the attacker must upload a sendmail.cf file as an email attachment, and inject the sendmail.cf filename with the -C option within the "Options > Personal Informations > Email Address" setting.
Source: NIST National Vulnerability Database NVD
Auto-generated summary
Assembled by SecPulse from the source data (CVSS, CWE, affected versions) using templates — no AI involved. Check the original description and references below for exact details.
A vulnerability tracked as CVE-2017-7692 has been found in SquirrelMail.
Successful exploitation can lead to full system takeover. CVSS score: 8.8/10.
What to do: apply the vendor's official patched release.
If unsure, ask your IT team or search "SquirrelMail CVE-2017-7692" on the vendor's site.
CVE-2017-7692 (SquirrelMail) — CWE-20 / CVSS v3 8.8
Attack vector: remote (network-reachable) / no user interaction
Plan: 1) Audit SBOM/dependencies, 2) Stage→prod upgrade, 3) Add WAF/proxy monitoring on affected endpoints, 4) Hunt IOCs in logs.
Refs: see the GHSA / vendor advisory / patched release linked on this page.
A vulnerability (CWE-20) exists in SquirrelMail.
Check the vendor advisory for the affected versions of SquirrelMail.
Severity: High (CVSS 8.8/10). Successful exploitation can lead to full system takeover.
Update to the patched release per vendor advisory.
Until the patch is applied: disable the affected feature, apply WAF rules, or restrict access via network ACLs.
Search webserver/proxy logs for unusual request patterns matching this CVE's known IOCs. Run grep -r 'SquirrelMail' . against your dependency files (package-lock.json, requirements.txt, go.sum) to find affected services.
Response actions
Concrete steps and command examples for SOC/SRE teams to execute in order
-
1Identify exposure identify
grep -r 'SquirrelMail' . | grep -v node_modulesリポジトリと本番環境の依存ファイル (package-lock.json / requirements.txt / go.sum / Gemfile.lock 等) で
SquirrelMailを grep し、稼働しているサービス・バージョンを把握する。 -
2Post-deployment verification verify
Confirm patched version is live in productionパッチ適用後、ステージングで PoC または同等の悪用パターンを再現して脆弱性が閉じたことを確認。本番ではアクセスログ・WAF でアラート再発が無いか継続監視。
References
- advisory openwall.com
- exploit legalhackers.com
- web openwall.com
- web debian.org
- web securityfocus.com
- web securitytracker.com
- web security.gentoo.org
- web exploit-db.com