Description
Inefficient algorithmic complexity in the REST API (6.3.3 through 6.3.5) and the IMAP PREVIEW response (6.2.22 through 6.3.5) of Progressive Robot hMailServer allows a remote unauthenticated attacker to make the webmail, the administration console and the REST API unavailable by sending a message. To show a snippet of each message in a folder's message list, the server decoded the character entity references of a message that has an HTML part and no text part with a string replacement whose work grew with the square of their number. A received HTML-only message holding a very large number of entity references therefore keeps one of the listener's four worker threads busy for minutes or longer each time the recipient's webmail lists the folder, without the message being opened, so that a few such listings leave the HTTP listener unable to answer anybody. The IMAP PREVIEW response read such text the same way, holding an IMAP thread for each client that asks for the preview of such a message. The flaw is in the server's shared string class, whose replace and remove both ran in quadratic time.
Published: 2026-10-08
Score: 6.5 Medium
EPSS: n/a
KEV: No
Impact: n/a
Action: n/a
AI Analysis

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Remediation

Vendor Solution

Upgrade to hMailServer 6.3.6, whose string replacement and removal write their result in one pass. Until then: lower the maximum message size, which bounds the cost (it grows with the square of the HTML's size); remove such a message over IMAP or POP3; or keep the REST listener off (RestApiPort 0, the default).

Tracking

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Advisories

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History

Thu, 08 Oct 2026 12:00:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
Description Inefficient algorithmic complexity in the REST API (6.3.3 through 6.3.5) and the IMAP PREVIEW response (6.2.22 through 6.3.5) of Progressive Robot hMailServer allows a remote unauthenticated attacker to make the webmail, the administration console and the REST API unavailable by sending a message. To show a snippet of each message in a folder's message list, the server decoded the character entity references of a message that has an HTML part and no text part with a string replacement whose work grew with the square of their number. A received HTML-only message holding a very large number of entity references therefore keeps one of the listener's four worker threads busy for minutes or longer each time the recipient's webmail lists the folder, without the message being opened, so that a few such listings leave the HTTP listener unable to answer anybody. The IMAP PREVIEW response read such text the same way, holding an IMAP thread for each client that asks for the preview of such a message. The flaw is in the server's shared string class, whose replace and remove both ran in quadratic time.
Title Inefficient Algorithmic Complexity in hMailServer
Weaknesses CWE-407
References
Metrics cvssV3_1

{'score': 6.5, 'vector': 'CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H'}


Subscriptions

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cve-icon MITRE

Status: PUBLISHED

Assigner: GitLab

Published:

Updated: 2026-10-08T11:48:26.083Z

Reserved: 2026-10-08T10:52:15.637Z

Link: CVE-2026-107582

cve-icon Vulnrichment

No data.

cve-icon NVD

Status : Received

Published: 2026-10-08T12:17:16.480

Modified: 2026-10-08T12:17:16.480

Link: CVE-2026-107582

cve-icon Redhat

No data.

cve-icon OpenCVE Enrichment

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Weaknesses