An updated squirrelmail package that fixes one security issue and several bugs is now available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.

The Red Hat Security Response Team has rated this update as having low security impact. A Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) base score, which gives a detailed severity rating, is available from the CVE link in the References section.

SquirrelMail is a standards-based webmail package written in PHP.

The SquirrelMail security update RHSA-2012:0103 did not, unlike the erratum text stated, correct the CVE-2010-2813 issue, a flaw in the way SquirrelMail handled failed log in attempts. A user preference file was created when attempting to log in with a password containing an 8-bit character, even if the username was not valid. A remote attacker could use this flaw to eventually consume all hard disk space on the target SquirrelMail server. (CVE-2012-2124)

This update also fixes the following bugs :

* Prior to this update, SquirrelMail could not decode multi-line subjects properly. Consequently, the decode header internationalization option did not properly handle new lines or tabs at the beginning of the lines. This bug has been fixed and SquirrelMail now works correctly in the described scenario.
(BZ#241861)

* Due to a bug, attachments written in HTML code on the Windows operating system were not displayed properly when accessed with SquirrelMail; the '!=null' string was trimmed to '!ull'. This bug has been fixed and the attachments are now displayed correctly in such a case. (BZ#359791)

* Previously, e-mail messages with a Unique Identifier (UID) larger than 2^31 bytes were unreadable when using the squirrelmail package.
With this patch the squirrelmail package is able to read all messages regardless of the UIDs size. (BZ#450780)

* Due to a bug, a PHP script did not assign the proper character set to requested variables. Consequently, SquirrelMail could not display any e-mails. The underlying source code has been modified and now the squirrelmail package assigns the correct character set. (BZ#475188)

* Due to the incorrect internationalization option located at the i18n.php file, the squirrelmail package could not use the GB 2312 character set. The i18n.php file has been fixed and the GB 2312 character set works correctly in the described scenario. (BZ#508686)

* Previously, the preg_split() function contained a misspelled constant, PREG_SPLIT_NI_EMPTY, which could cause SquirrelMail to produce error messages. The name of the constant has been corrected to PREG_SPLIT_NO_EMPTY, and SquirrelMail no longer produces error messages in this scenario. (BZ#528758)

* Due to Security-Enhanced Linux (SELinux) settings, sending e-mails from the SquirrelMail web interface was blocked. This update adds a note to the SquirrelMail documentation that describes how to set the SELinux options to allow sending e-mails from the SquirrelMail web interface. (BZ#745380)

* Previously, the squirrelmail package did not comply with the RFC 2822 specification about line length limits. Consequently, attachments with lines longer than 998 characters could not be forwarded using SquirrelMail. This patch modifies the underlying source code and now SquirrelMail complies with the RFC 2822 specification as expected.
(BZ#745469)

* Prior to this update, the squirrelmail package required the php-common script instead of the mod_php script during installation or upgrade of the package, which led to a dependency error. As a result, attempting to install or upgrade the squirrelmail package failed on systems using the php53 packages. With this update, the dependencies of the squirrelmail package were changed and the installation or upgrade now works correctly in the described scenario. (BZ#789353)

All users of SquirrelMail are advised to upgrade to this updated package, which contains backported patches to correct these issues.

The remote Oracle Linux 5 host has a package installed that is affected by a vulnerability as referenced in the ELSA-2013-0126 advisory.

    - patch for CVE-2010-2813 modified wrong file (#808598)

Tenable has extracted the preceding description block directly from the Oracle Linux security advisory.

Note that Nessus has not tested for this issue but has instead relied only on the application's self-reported version number.

The remote MiracleLinux 3 host has a package installed that is affected by a vulnerability as referenced in the AXSA:2013-274:01 advisory.

    SquirrelMail is a standards-based webmail package written in PHP4. It includes built-in pure PHP support     for the IMAP and SMTP protocols, and all pages render in pure HTML 4.0 (with no Javascript) for maximum     compatibility across browsers. It has very few requirements and is very easy to configure and install.
    SquirrelMail has all the functionality you would want from an email client, including strong MIME support,     address books, and folder manipulation.
    Security issues fixed with this release:
     CVE-2012-2124     functions/imap_general.php in SquirrelMail, as used in Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 4 and 5, does not     properly handle 8-bit characters in passwords, which allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service     (disk consumption) by making many IMAP login attempts with different usernames, leading to the creation of     many preference files. NOTE: this issue exists because of an incorrect fix for CVE-2010-2813.
    Fixed bugs:
     SquirrelMail now handles multi-line subjects properly.
     Attachments written in HTML on windows now display correctly.
     Previously e-mail messages with a UID larger than 2^31 bytes were unreadable. This has been fixed.
     A PHP script failed to assign the proper character set to requested variables and SquirrelMail could not     display any e-mails. This has been fixed.
     Fixed the incorrect internationalization option located at the i18n.php file so that the GB 2312     character set works correctly.
     Fixed the spelling of the PREG_SPLIT_NI_EMPTY constant: its correct name is PREG_SPLIT_NO_EMPTY. This     fixes some error messages.
     Added a note to the SquirrelMail documentation on how to set SELinux options to allow sending emails from     the SquirrelMail web interface.
     SquirrelMail now complies with the RFC 2822 specification and attachments with lines longer than 998     characters can now be forwarded.
     Changed the dependencies on the php-common script so that it is now possible to install or upgrade     SquirrelMail on systems using php53.

Tenable has extracted the preceding description block directly from the MiracleLinux security advisory.

Note that Nessus has not tested for this issue but has instead relied only on the application's self-reported version number.

The Linux/Unix host has one or more packages installed that are impacted by a vulnerability without a vendor supplied patch available.

  - functions/imap_general.php in SquirrelMail, as used in Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 4 and 5, does not     properly handle 8-bit characters in passwords, which allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service     (disk consumption) by making many IMAP login attempts with different usernames, leading to the creation of     many preference files. NOTE: this issue exists because of an incorrect fix for CVE-2010-2813.
    (CVE-2012-2124)

Note that Nessus relies on the presence of the package as reported by the vendor.

The SquirrelMail security update SLSA-2012:0103 did not, unlike the erratum text stated, correct the CVE-2010-2813 issue, a flaw in the way SquirrelMail handled failed log in attempts. A user preference file was created when attempting to log in with a password containing an 8-bit character, even if the username was not valid. A remote attacker could use this flaw to eventually consume all hard disk space on the target SquirrelMail server. (CVE-2012-2124)

This update also fixes the following bugs :

  - Prior to this update, SquirrelMail could not decode     multi-line subjects properly. Consequently, the decode     header internationalization option did not properly     handle new lines or tabs at the beginning of the lines.
    This bug has been fixed and SquirrelMail now works     correctly in the described scenario.

  - Due to a bug, attachments written in HTML code on the     Windows operating system were not displayed properly     when accessed with SquirrelMail; the '!=null' string was     trimmed to '!ull'. This bug has been fixed and the     attachments are now displayed correctly in such a case.

  - Previously, e-mail messages with a Unique Identifier     (UID) larger than 2^31 bytes were unreadable when using     the squirrelmail package. With this patch the     squirrelmail package is able to read all messages     regardless of the UIDs size.

  - Due to a bug, a PHP script did not assign the proper     character set to requested variables. Consequently,     SquirrelMail could not display any e-mails. The     underlying source code has been modified and now the     squirrelmail package assigns the correct character set.

  - Due to the incorrect internationalization option located     at the i18n.php file, the squirrelmail package could not     use the GB 2312 character set. The i18n.php file has     been fixed and the GB 2312 character set works correctly     in the described scenario.

  - Previously, the preg_split() function contained a     misspelled constant, PREG_SPLIT_NI_EMPTY, which could     cause SquirrelMail to produce error messages. The name     of the constant has been corrected to     PREG_SPLIT_NO_EMPTY, and SquirrelMail no longer produces     error messages in this scenario.

  - Due to Security-Enhanced Linux (SELinux) settings,     sending e-mails from the SquirrelMail web interface was     blocked. This update adds a note to the SquirrelMail     documentation that describes how to set the SELinux     options to allow sending e-mails from the SquirrelMail     web interface.

  - Previously, the squirrelmail package did not comply with     the RFC 2822 specification about line length limits.
    Consequently, attachments with lines longer than 998     characters could not be forwarded using SquirrelMail.
    This patch modifies the underlying source code and now     SquirrelMail complies with the RFC 2822 specification as     expected.

  - Prior to this update, the squirrelmail package required     the php-common script instead of the mod_php script     during installation or upgrade of the package, which led     to a dependency error. As a result, attempting to     install or upgrade the squirrelmail package failed on     systems using the php53 packages. With this update, the     dependencies of the squirrelmail package were changed     and the installation or upgrade now works correctly in     the described scenario.

ID	Name	Product	Family	Published	Updated	Severity
63571	CentOS 5 : squirrelmail (CESA-2013:0126)	Nessus	CentOS Local Security Checks	1/17/2013	1/4/2021	medium
68697	Oracle Linux 5 : squirrelmail (ELSA-2013-0126)	Nessus	Oracle Linux Local Security Checks	7/12/2013	10/22/2024	high
63409	RHEL 5 : squirrelmail (RHSA-2013:0126)	Nessus	Red Hat Local Security Checks	1/8/2013	1/14/2021	medium
289181	MiracleLinux 3 : squirrelmail-1.4.8-21.AXS3 (AXSA:2013-274:01)	Nessus	Miracle Linux Local Security Checks	1/16/2026	1/16/2026	high
217662	Linux Distros Unpatched Vulnerability : CVE-2012-2124	Nessus	Misc.	3/4/2025	1/28/2026	critical
63604	Scientific Linux Security Update : squirrelmail on SL5.x (noarch) (20130108)	Nessus	Scientific Linux Local Security Checks	1/17/2013	1/14/2021	medium

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