TI-2022-11006 Aliases CVE-2022-28220 GHSA-w45j-f5g5-w94x

STARTTLS command injection in Apache JAMES

LOW 37CWE-77Published 2022-09-08 · Updated 2024-08-03

Key facts

Attack vector: Network
Privileges required: None
User interaction: None
Attack complexity: Low
Impact type: Code execution
Confidentiality · integrity · availability: None · None · High
Fix status: Fixed

Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · NVD. Fix status from CNA and GitHub. Impact type from CWE-77.

Summary

Apache James prior to release 3.6.3 and 3.7.1 is vulnerable to a buffering attack relying on the use of the STARTTLS command. Fix of CVE-2021-38542, which solved similar problem fron Apache James 3.6.1, is subject to a parser differential and do not take into account concurrent requests.

Why it matters now

EPSS 0.02032 81st percentileScored 2026-11-07

Fix Fixed org.apache.james:james-server (Maven): 3.6.3, 3.7.1

SSVC decision points

Not available: CISA has not published SSVC decision points for this record.

Affected products

Vendor	Product	Affected versions	Fixed in	Status	Source
Apache	Apache James	Apache James – 3.6.2	—	No fix listed	CNA
—	org.apache.james:james-server (Maven)	before 3.6.3	3.6.3	Patch available	GHSA-w45j-f5g5-w94x
—	org.apache.james:james-server (Maven)	3.7.0 to before 3.7.1	3.7.1	Patch available	GHSA-w45j-f5g5-w94x

Apache James VendorApache Affected Apache James – 3.6.2 Fixed in — No fix listed CNA
org.apache.james:james-server (Maven) Vendor— Affected before 3.6.3 Fixed in 3.6.3 Patch available GHSA-w45j-f5g5-w94x
org.apache.james:james-server (Maven) Vendor— Affected 3.7.0 to before 3.7.1 Fixed in 3.7.1 Patch available GHSA-w45j-f5g5-w94x

CPE configurations NVD · 2

CPE	Versions	Role	Vendor
cpe:2.3:a:apache:james::::::::	up to 3.6.2	Vulnerable	Apache
cpe:2.3:a:apache:james:3.7.0:::::::*	3.7.0	Vulnerable	Apache

cpe:2.3:a:apache:james:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions up to 3.6.2 Vulnerable ·Apache
cpe:2.3:a:apache:james:3.7.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 3.7.0 Vulnerable ·Apache

Remediation

Fix · GHSA-w45j-f5g5-w94x org.apache.james:james-server (Maven) Fixed in 3.6.3 Advisory →
Fix · GHSA-w45j-f5g5-w94x org.apache.james:james-server (Maven) Fixed in 3.7.1 Advisory →

Timeline

2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2022-28220
2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-w45j-f5g5-w94x

References

Patch 1

https://james.apache.org/james/update/2022/08/26/james-3.7.1.html

Advisory 2

Other 1

https://github.com/apache/james-project

TI-2019-00201 XML external entity injection in Apache PDFBox CVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.8
TI-2023-28170 Apache James server: Privilege escalation via JMX pre-authentication deserialisation CVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.8
TI-2021-17565 Sieve file storage vulnerable to path traversal attacks CVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.1
TI-2006-02714 The SMTP server in Apache Java Mail Enterprise Server (aka Apache James) 2.2.0 allows… CVSS 2.0HIGH 7.8
TI-2021-17305 Apache James IMAP vulnerable to a ReDoS CVSS 3.1HIGH 7.5
TI-2023-11431 Apache James server: Privilege escalation through unauthenticated JMX CVSS 3.1HIGH 7.8

See all 13 →

Sources

This product uses the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD. Sources and licences