# CVE-2020-24386: Information disclosure in n/a

> An authenticated attacker can access other users' emails and disclose paths via IMAP IDLE in Dovecot.

- **Severity:** Medium 6.8 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N`)
- **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 Jan 2021
- **Updated:** 4 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** ALPINE-CVE-2020-24386, DEBIAN-CVE-2020-24386, GHSA-jp3r-27f3-r855, SUSE-SU-2021:0018-1, UBUNTU-CVE-2020-24386

## What is CVE-2020-24386?

CVE-2020-24386 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Debian Debian Linux, published on 4 Jan 2021. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

An issue was discovered in Dovecot before 2.3.13. By using IMAP IDLE, an authenticated attacker can trigger unhibernation via attacker-controlled parameters, leading to access to other users' email messages (and path disclosure).

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2020-24386?

It affects 3 products.


| Package | Ecosystem | Affected | Fixed in |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `dovecot22` | SUSE:Enterprise Storage 5 | All versions | 2.2.31-19.25.1 |
| `dovecot22` | SUSE:HPE Helion OpenStack 8 | All versions | 2.2.31-19.25.1 |
| `dovecot22` | SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP2-BCL | All versions | 2.2.31-19.25.1 |
| `dovecot22` | SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP2-LTSS | All versions | 2.2.31-19.25.1 |
| `dovecot22` | SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP3-BCL | All versions | 2.2.31-19.25.1 |
| `dovecot22` | SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP3-LTSS | All versions | 2.2.31-19.25.1 |
| `dovecot22` | SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP4-LTSS | All versions | 2.2.31-19.25.1 |
| `dovecot22` | SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP5 | All versions | 2.2.31-19.25.1 |
| `dovecot22` | SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 12 SP2 | All versions | 2.2.31-19.25.1 |
| `dovecot22` | SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 12 SP3 | All versions | 2.2.31-19.25.1 |
| `dovecot22` | SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 12 SP4 | All versions | 2.2.31-19.25.1 |
| `dovecot22` | SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 12 SP5 | All versions | 2.2.31-19.25.1 |
| `dovecot22` | SUSE:Linux Enterprise Software Development Kit 12 SP5 | All versions | 2.2.31-19.25.1 |
| `dovecot22` | SUSE:OpenStack Cloud 7 | All versions | 2.2.31-19.25.1 |
| `dovecot22` | SUSE:OpenStack Cloud 8 | All versions | 2.2.31-19.25.1 |
| `dovecot22` | SUSE:OpenStack Cloud 9 | All versions | 2.2.31-19.25.1 |
| `dovecot22` | SUSE:OpenStack Cloud Crowbar 8 | All versions | 2.2.31-19.25.1 |
| `dovecot22` | SUSE:OpenStack Cloud Crowbar 9 | All versions | 2.2.31-19.25.1 |

Products: Debian Debian Linux, Dovecot Dovecot, Fedoraproject Fedora.

## How do I fix CVE-2020-24386?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

## Is CVE-2020-24386 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2020-24386 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Debian Debian Linux

- [CVE-2015-3306](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-3306/): ProFTPD Improper Access Control (critical 10.0, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2025-49113](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-49113/): RoundCube Webmail Deserialization of Untrusted Data (critical 9.9, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2026-24061](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-24061/): GNU InetUtils Argument Injection (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2025-39682](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-39682/): Linux Kernel Improper Check for Unusual or Exceptional Conditions (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2024-9680](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-9680/): Mozilla Firefox Use-After-Free (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2020-24386 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2020-24386 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Debian Debian Linux, published on 4 Jan 2021. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2020-24386 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Debian Debian Linux. 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-2020-24386/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-24386/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2020-24386
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2020-24386
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2020-24386

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-24386/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.