php-imap vulnerable to RCE through a directory traversal vulnerability
Key facts
- Attack vector
- Network
- Privileges required
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Impact type
- —
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- High · High · High
- Fix status
- Fixed
Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · NVD. Fix status from CNA and GitHub.
Summary
PHP-IMAP is a wrapper for common IMAP communication without the need to have the php-imap module installed / enabled. Prior to version 5.3.0, an unsanitized attachment filename allows any unauthenticated user to leverage a directory traversal vulnerability, which results in a remote code execution vulnerability. Every application that stores attachments with `Attachment::save()` without providing a `$filename` or passing unsanitized user input is affected by this attack. An attacker can send an email with a malicious attachment to the inbox, which gets crawled with `webklex/php-imap` or `webklex/laravel-imap`. Prerequisite for the vulnerability is that the script stores the attachments without providing a `$filename`, or providing an unsanitized `$filename`, in `src/Attachment::save(string $path, string $filename = null)`. In this case, where no `$filename` gets passed into the `Attachment::save()` method, the package would use a series of unsanitized and insecure input values from the mail as fallback. Even if a developer passes a `$filename` into the `Attachment::save()` method, e.g. by passing the name or filename of the mail attachment itself (from email headers), the input values never get sanitized by the package. There is also no restriction about the file extension (e.g. ".php") or the contents of a file. This allows an attacker to upload malicious code of any type and content at any location where the underlying user has write permissions. The attacker can also overwrite existing files and inject malicious code into files that, e.g. get executed by the system via cron or requests. Version 5.3.0 contains a patch for this issue.
Why it matters now
SSVC decision points
CISA ADP · SSVC 2.0.3
- Exploitation
- Poc
- Automatable
- No
- Technical impact
- Total
The decision (Track, Attend, Act) also depends on your mission and well-being impact; see CISA's SSVC guide.
Affected products
| Vendor | Product | Affected versions | Fixed in | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Webklex | php-imap | before 5.3.0 | 5.3.0 | Patch available | CNA |
| — | webklex/php-imap (Packagist) | before 5.3.0 | 5.3.0 | Patch available | GHSA-47p7-xfcc-4pv9 |
| — | webklex/laravel-imap (Packagist) | before 5.3.0 | 5.3.0 | Patch available | GHSA-47p7-xfcc-4pv9 |
- php-imap VendorWebklex Affected before 5.3.0 Fixed in 5.3.0 Patch available CNA
- webklex/php-imap (Packagist) Vendor— Affected before 5.3.0 Fixed in 5.3.0 Patch available GHSA-47p7-xfcc-4pv9
- webklex/laravel-imap (Packagist) Vendor— Affected before 5.3.0 Fixed in 5.3.0 Patch available GHSA-47p7-xfcc-4pv9
Remediation
- Fix · CNA php-imap (Webklex) Fixed in 5.3.0
- Fix · GHSA-47p7-xfcc-4pv9 webklex/php-imap (Packagist) Fixed in 5.3.0 Advisory →
- Fix · GHSA-47p7-xfcc-4pv9 webklex/laravel-imap (Packagist) Fixed in 5.3.0 Advisory →
Timeline
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2023-35169
- 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-47p7-xfcc-4pv9
References
Sources
- CVE-2023-35169 · CVE Program
- CVE-2023-35169 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-47p7-xfcc-4pv9 · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
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