zbateson/mail-mime-parser has uncontrolled resource consumption (CPU/memory DoS) parsing untrusted MIME
Key facts
- Attack vector
- Network
- Privileges required
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Impact type
- Denial of service
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- None · None · High
- Fix status
- Fixed
Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · CNA. Fix status from CNA and GitHub. Impact type from CWE-400.
Summary
zbateson/mail-mime-parser is a mail mime parser alternative to PHP's imap* functions and Pear libraries for reading messages in Internet Message Format RFC 822. Starting in version 2.0.0 and prior to version 3.0.6 and 4.0.2, an uncontrolled resource consumption / algorithmic complexity vulnerability (CWE-400) affects any application that parses untrusted email with this library. Three independent parsing paths are super-linear in cost, so a byte-size cap on the caller side does **not** bound the work done. A crafted message under 2 MB can consume seconds of CPU or hundreds of megabytes to multiple gigabytes of memory (leading to an out-of-memory kill), enabling denial of service. The parse is lazy, but the cost is paid on the first `getAllParts()` or content read. This is fxed in 4.0.2 and 3.0.6. The fixes add configurable limits on multipart nesting depth and on header count / total header size (recording a parse error past the threshold rather than throwing), and change sibling append to O(n). Users should upgrade to one of these (or later) versions. Versions 2.x are also affected but are end-of-life and will not receive patches; users on those lines should upgrade to a fixed release. (Versions prior to 2.0 used a different parser and are not affected by all three paths.) These costs are super-linear, so an input byte-size cap alone does not bound them. Until upgrading, restrict exposure of the parser to untrusted input, and run parsing under a constrained memory_limit and execution time limit so a malicious message fails its own request rather than exhausting the host.
Why it matters now
SSVC decision points
CISA ADP · SSVC 2.0.3
- Exploitation
- Poc
- Automatable
- Yes
- Technical impact
- Partial
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| zbateson | mail-mime-parser | 2.0.0 to before 3.0.6; 4.0.0 to before 4.0.2 | 3.0.6, 4.0.2 | Patch available | CNA |
| — | zbateson/mail-mime-parser (Packagist) | 2.0.0 to before 3.0.6 | 3.0.6 | Patch available | GHSA-f6v3-2qmr-vfjx |
| — | zbateson/mail-mime-parser (Packagist) | 4.0.0 to before 4.0.2 | 4.0.2 | Patch available | GHSA-f6v3-2qmr-vfjx |
- mail-mime-parser Vendorzbateson Affected 2.0.0 to before 3.0.6; 4.0.0 to before 4.0.2 Fixed in 3.0.6, 4.0.2 Patch available CNA
- zbateson/mail-mime-parser (Packagist) Vendor— Affected 2.0.0 to before 3.0.6 Fixed in 3.0.6 Patch available GHSA-f6v3-2qmr-vfjx
- zbateson/mail-mime-parser (Packagist) Vendor— Affected 4.0.0 to before 4.0.2 Fixed in 4.0.2 Patch available GHSA-f6v3-2qmr-vfjx
Remediation
- Fix · CNA mail-mime-parser (zbateson) Fixed in 3.0.6, 4.0.2
- Fix · GHSA-f6v3-2qmr-vfjx zbateson/mail-mime-parser (Packagist) Fixed in 3.0.6 Advisory →
- Fix · GHSA-f6v3-2qmr-vfjx zbateson/mail-mime-parser (Packagist) Fixed in 4.0.2 Advisory →
Timeline
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2026-61816
- 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-f6v3-2qmr-vfjx
References
Other 6
- https://github.com/zbateson/mail-mime-parser/security/advisories/GHSA-f6v3-2qmr-vfjx
- https://github.com/zbateson/mail-mime-parser/commit/1691e695821f70461f9554e9bb71be2859404a24
- https://github.com/zbateson/mail-mime-parser/commit/fa44823ba9dd651e0eecec7aa45ac8c8e6afcb78
- https://github.com/zbateson/mail-mime-parser
- https://github.com/zbateson/mail-mime-parser/releases/tag/3.0.7
- https://github.com/zbateson/mail-mime-parser/releases/tag/4.0.2
More zbateson vulnerabilities
- TI-2026-85057 CRLF header injection in zbateson mail-mime-parser message builders CVSS 4.0MEDIUM 6.9
- TI-2026-44240 zbateson/mail-mime-parser has CRLF header injection via attachment filename CVSS 3.1HIGH 7.2
Sources
- CVE-2026-61816 · CVE Program
- CVE-2026-61816 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-f6v3-2qmr-vfjx · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
This product uses the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD. Sources and licences