Skip to main content

Missing Release of Memory after Effective Lifetime

CVE-2021-3181

Medium
6.5/10

Summary

rfc822.c in Mutt through 2.0.4 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (mailbox unavailability) by sending email messages with sequences of semicolon characters in RFC822 address fields (aka terminators of empty groups). A small email message from the attacker can cause large memory consumption, and the victim may then be unable to see email messages from other persons.

  • LOW
  • NETWORK
  • NONE
  • UNCHANGED
  • REQUIRED
  • NONE
  • NONE
  • HIGH

CWE-401 - Missing release of memory after effective lifetime (memory leak)

'Missing release of memory after effective lifetime (memory leak)' is a weakness that occurs when software doesn't effectively release allocated memory after it is used. If not addressed, this enables attackers to launch denial of service attacks (by crashing or hanging the program) or take advantage of other unexpected behavior resulting from low memory conditions.

References

Advisory Timeline

  • Published