CVE-2026-42256

mediumpriority · track · 26EPSS 0.003 · 22 %ileDEEUUS
grimoire priorityP3 · Track
Exploitable?
—
no known exploitation
Likely / severe?
0.30% (22nd) EPSS
CVSS 6.5 · medium
Is it mine?
21 products
Check your exposure
Who says so?
5 sources
cnnvd · enisa_euvd · cert_bund · nvd

EPSS · scored 2026-10-27

Net::IMAP implements Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP) client functionality in Ruby. From versions 0.4.0 to before 0.4.24, 0.5.0 to before 0.5.14, and 0.6.0 to before 0.6.4, when authenticating a connection with SCRAM-SHA1 or SCRAM-SHA256, a hostile server can perform a computational denial-of-service attack on the client process by sending a big iteration count value. This issue has been patched in versions 0.4.24, 0.5.14, and 0.6.4.

01

cvss

Technical severity, 0–10. One row per scoring source.

6.5
010

base score 0–10 · higher = more severe · hover a vector to decode⚠ sources disagree · low–medium · 2.3–6.5

v3.16.5mediumCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:Hprimary · NVD / NIST USexploitability 2.8 · impact 3.6
v4.06mediumCVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:P/PR:N/UI:P/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:Nsecondary · ENISA EU
v4.06mediumCVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:P/PR:N/UI:P/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:Xsecondary · security-advisories@github.com
v4.02.3lowCVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:P/PR:N/UI:P/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:U/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:Xsecondary · CVSS-BT (t0sche)
02

ssvc

A stakeholder decision — act, attend, or track — from exploitation and impact.

Trackcoordinatorcisa_ssvcUS
03

weaknesses

The CWE weakness classes this flaw belongs to.

04

affected products (21)

Products and version ranges known to be affected.

showing 20 of 21
05

advisories (3)

Vendor and ecosystem advisories describing this.

  • WID-SEC-W-2026-2117HCL BigFix Compliance (Ruby): Mehrere SchwachstellenDeutsch2026-06-28csaf · cert_bundDE

    Ein Angreifer kann mehrere Schwachstellen in HCL BigFix Compliance ausnutzen, um beliebigen Code auszuführen, Sicherheitsmaßnahmen zu umgehen, Daten zu manipulieren, vertrauliche Informationen offenzulegen oder einen Denial-of-Service-Zustand herbeizuführen.

  • WID-SEC-W-2026-2379Ruby: Mehrere SchwachstellenDeutsch2026-07-15csaf · cert_bundDE

    Ein Angreifer kann mehrere Schwachstellen in Ruby ausnutzen, um Informationen offenzulegen, um einen Denial of Service Angriff durchzuführen, und um beliebigen Programmcode auszuführen.

  • GHSA-87pf-fpwv-p7m7net-imap vulnerable to denial of service via high iteration count for `SCRAM-*` authentication2026-05-04ghsa · osvUS

    ### Summary When authenticating a connection with `SCRAM-SHA1` or `SCRAM-SHA256`, a hostile server can perform a computational denial-of-service attack on the client process by sending a big iteration count value. ### Details A hostile IMAP server can send an arbitrarily large PBKDF2 iteration count in the SCRAM server-first-message, causing the client to perform an expensive `OpenSSL::KDF.pbkdf2_hmac` call. Because the PBKDF2 function is a blocking C extension and holds onto Ruby’s Global VM Lock, it can freeze the entire Ruby VM for the duration of the computation. OpenSSL enforces an effective maximum by using a 32-bit signed integer for the iteration count, Depending on hardware capabilities and OpenSSL version, this iteration count may be sufficient for to block all Ruby threads in the process for over seven minutes. This is listed as one of the "Security Considerations", in [RFC 7804](https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc7804.html#page-15): > A hostile server can perform a computational denial-of-service attack on clients by sending a big iteration count value. In order to defend against that, a client implementation can pick a maximum iteration count that it is willing to use and reject any values that exceed that threshold (in such cases, the client, of course, has to fail the authentication). ### Impact During SCRAM authentication to a hostile server, the entire Ruby VM will be locked for the duration of the computation. Depending on hardware capabilities and OpenSSL version, this may take many minutes. `OpenSSL::KDF.pbkdf2_hmac` is a blocking C function, so `Timeout` cannot be used to guard against this. And it retains the Global VM lock, so other ruby threads will also be unable to run. ### Mitigation * Upgrade to a patched version of `net-imap` that adds the `max_iterations` option to the `SASL-*` authenticators, and call `Net::IMAP#authenticate` with a `max_iterations` keyword argument. **NOTE:** The default `max_iterations` is `2³¹ - 1`, the maximum signed 32 bit integer, the maximum allowed by OpenSSL. _To prevent a denial of service attack,_ this must be set to a safe value, depending on hardware and version of OpenSSL. _It is the user's responsibility_ to enforce minimum and maximum iteration counts that are appropriate for their security context. * Alternatively, avoid `SCRAM-*` mechanisms when authenticating to untrusted servers.

06

also known as (3)

Other names and identifiers for this entity.

07

sources

Which sources assert this record, and when.

published 2026-05-09modified 2026-07-24
08

references (16)

External citations — patches, advisories, analysis.

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