# CVE-2008-4907: Denial of service in n/a

> Remote attackers can crash the Dovecot IMAP server by sending an email with a malformed From address, causing a denial of service.

- **Severity:** Medium 4.3 (`AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:P`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 4 Nov 2008
- **Updated:** 7 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2008-4907, GHSA-cfr9-jq6w-r8wj

## What is CVE-2008-4907?

CVE-2008-4907 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Dovecot Dovecot, published on 4 Nov 2008. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

The message parsing feature in Dovecot 1.1.4 and 1.1.5, when using the FETCH ENVELOPE command in the IMAP client, allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (persistent crash) via an email with a malformed From address, which triggers an assertion error, aka "invalid message address parsing bug."

Weakness: CWE-20 (Improper Input Validation)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2008-4907?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Dovecot Dovecot.

## How do I fix CVE-2008-4907?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

## Is CVE-2008-4907 being exploited?

It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2008-4907 exists.

Public exploit code:

- Dovecot 1.1.x - Invalid Message Address Parsing Denial of Service (exploitdb)

## Other vulnerabilities in Dovecot Dovecot

- [CVE-2026-24031](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-24031/): Auth bypass in OX Dovecot Pro (high 7.7)
- [CVE-2025-59032](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-59032/): Denial of service in OX Dovecot Pro (high 7.5)
- [CVE-2026-27858](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-27858/): Denial of service in OX Dovecot Pro (high 7.5)
- [CVE-2021-29157](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-29157/): Path traversal in n/a (high 7.5)
- [CVE-2020-10957](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-10957/): Null dereference in n/a (high 7.5)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2008-4907 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2008-4907 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Dovecot Dovecot, published on 4 Nov 2008. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2008-4907 exists.

Affected product: Dovecot Dovecot. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2008-4907/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2008-4907/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2008-4907
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2008-4907
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2008-4907

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2008-4907/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.