CVE-2023-3222
📋 TL;DR
This vulnerability allows remote attackers to reset any user's password in Roundcube's Password Recovery plugin version 1.2 by brute-forcing a 6-digit numeric token. Attackers can automate requests since there's no rate limiting, potentially compromising email accounts. All Roundcube installations using the vulnerable plugin version are affected.
💻 Affected Systems
- Roundcube Password Recovery plugin
📦 What is this software?
Password Recovery by Password Recovery Project
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
Complete account takeover of all email accounts, leading to data theft, privilege escalation, and lateral movement within the organization.
Likely Case
Targeted account compromise allowing email interception, password resets on other services, and potential business email compromise attacks.
If Mitigated
Limited impact with proper monitoring detecting brute-force attempts and immediate response to suspicious password resets.
🎯 Exploit Status
Simple brute-force attack against 1,000,000 possible combinations with no rate limiting makes exploitation trivial.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: Version 1.3 or later
Vendor Advisory: https://www.incibe.es/en/incibe-cert/notices/aviso/multiple-vulnerabilities-roundcube-password-recovery-plugin
Restart Required: No
Instructions:
1. Download latest Password Recovery plugin version from official Roundcube repository. 2. Replace existing plugin files. 3. Clear Roundcube cache if applicable.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Disable Password Recovery plugin
linuxTemporarily disable the vulnerable plugin until patching is possible
mv /path/to/roundcube/plugins/password /path/to/roundcube/plugins/password.disabled
Implement rate limiting
allAdd web server or application-level rate limiting to password recovery endpoints
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Implement strict rate limiting at web server level (e.g., nginx limit_req, Apache mod_evasive)
- Monitor for brute-force patterns in authentication logs and implement alerting
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check plugin version in Roundcube's plugin directory or configuration files for 'password' plugin version 1.2Check Version:
cat /path/to/roundcube/plugins/password/CHANGELOG.md | grep 'Version'Verify Fix Applied:
Verify plugin version is 1.3 or higher and test password recovery functionality with rate limiting📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Multiple failed password recovery attempts from single IP
- Successful password resets for multiple users from same source
Network Indicators:
- High volume of POST requests to /password/recovery endpoint
- Pattern of sequential numeric tokens in requests
SIEM Query:
source="roundcube.log" AND "password recovery" AND (status="200" OR status="403") | stats count by src_ip