Inefficient Algorithmic Complexity in hMailServer

Inefficient algorithmic complexity in the JSON reader of Progressive Robot hMailServer allows a remote unauthenticated attacker to make the mail services unavailable. Reading a JSON object kept the first of each duplicated member name by searching the members already read, so an object of N distinct member names cost O(N^2): 1 MB took 8.9 seconds and 4 MB took 300 seconds against the affected code. A remote attacker reaches the reader without an account by mailing a crafted TLS-RPT report (up to 16 MB after decompression) to a hosted domain's published report mailbox, which is read on a delivery thread; a few such reports hold every delivery thread (ten by default), so the server delivers no mail, local or outbound, for over an hour per report. A signed-in account reaches the same 16 MB body through the webmail's own REST routes, holding the REST API's own worker threads. Where no report mailbox is configured, the unauthenticated REST sign-in routes that read a JSON body are capped at 64 KB and are not affected.

Source published

8 Oct 2026 11:46:26 UTC

Source modified

8 Oct 2026 14:15:58 UTC

Observed here

23 Oct 2026 15:48:27 UTC

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CVSS 3.1 · 7.5 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H