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7.2
HIGH CVSS 3.1
CVE-2026-40871
mailcow: dockerized vulnerable to Second Order SQL Injection in quarantine category via API
Overview
Description

mailcow: dockerized is an open source groupware/email suite based on docker. Versions prior to 2026-03b have a second-order SQL injection vulnerability in the quarantine_category field via the Mailcow API. The /api/v1/add/mailbox endpoint stores quarantine_category without validation or sanitization. This value is later used by quarantine_notify.py, which constructs SQL queries using unsafe % string formatting instead of parameterized queries. This results in a delayed (second-order) SQL injection when the quarantine notification job executes, allowing an attacker to inject arbitrary SQL. Using a UNION SELECT, sensitive data (e.g., admin credentials) can be exfiltrated and rendered inside quarantine notification emails. Version 2026-03b fixes the vulnerability.

Details
INFO

Published Date :

April 21, 2026, 8:17 p.m.

Last Modified :

Oct. 26, 2026, 10:10 p.m.

Remotely Exploit :

Yes !

Source :

[email protected]
Impact
Affected Products

The following products are affected by CVE-2026-40871 vulnerability. Even if cvefeed.io is aware of the exact versions of the products that are affected, the information is not represented in the table below.

ID Vendor Product Action
1 Mailcow mailcow\
: Total Affected Vendor : 1 | Products : 1
Scoring
CVSS Scores
The Common Vulnerability Scoring System is a standardized framework for assessing the severity of vulnerabilities in software and systems. We collect and displays CVSS scores from various sources for each CVE.
Score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Score Impact Score Source
CVSS 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0
CVSS 3.1 HIGH [email protected]
Solution
Update mailcow to version 2026-03b to fix SQL injection via API.
  • Update mailcow to version 2026-03b.
  • Apply security patches provided by the vendor.
  • Sanitize all user inputs.
References
References to Advisories, Solutions, and Tools

Here, you will find a curated list of external links that provide in-depth information, practical solutions, and valuable tools related to CVE-2026-40871.

URL Resource
https://github.com/mailcow/mailcow-dockerized/security/advisories/GHSA-r8fq-wrfm-cj2q
https://github.com/mailcow/mailcow-dockerized/security/advisories/GHSA-r8fq-wrfm-cj2q
CWE - Common Weakness Enumeration

While CVE identifies specific instances of vulnerabilities, CWE categorizes the common flaws or weaknesses that can lead to vulnerabilities. CVE-2026-40871 is associated with the following CWEs:

Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification (CAPEC)

Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification (CAPEC) stores attack patterns, which are descriptions of the common attributes and approaches employed by adversaries to exploit the CVE-2026-40871 weaknesses.

CAPEC-3: Using Leading 'Ghost' Character Sequences to Bypass Input Filters Using Leading 'Ghost' Character Sequences to Bypass Input Filters CAPEC-7: Blind SQL Injection Blind SQL Injection CAPEC-8: Buffer Overflow in an API Call Buffer Overflow in an API Call CAPEC-9: Buffer Overflow in Local Command-Line Utilities Buffer Overflow in Local Command-Line Utilities CAPEC-10: Buffer Overflow via Environment Variables Buffer Overflow via Environment Variables CAPEC-13: Subverting Environment Variable Values Subverting Environment Variable Values CAPEC-14: Client-side Injection-induced Buffer Overflow Client-side Injection-induced Buffer Overflow CAPEC-22: Exploiting Trust in Client Exploiting Trust in Client CAPEC-23: File Content Injection File Content Injection CAPEC-24: Filter Failure through Buffer Overflow Filter Failure through Buffer Overflow CAPEC-28: Fuzzing Fuzzing CAPEC-31: Accessing/Intercepting/Modifying HTTP Cookies Accessing/Intercepting/Modifying HTTP Cookies CAPEC-42: MIME Conversion MIME Conversion CAPEC-43: Exploiting Multiple Input Interpretation Layers Exploiting Multiple Input Interpretation Layers CAPEC-45: Buffer Overflow via Symbolic Links Buffer Overflow via Symbolic Links CAPEC-46: Overflow Variables and Tags Overflow Variables and Tags CAPEC-47: Buffer Overflow via Parameter Expansion Buffer Overflow via Parameter Expansion CAPEC-52: Embedding NULL Bytes Embedding NULL Bytes CAPEC-53: Postfix, Null Terminate, and Backslash Postfix, Null Terminate, and Backslash CAPEC-63: Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) CAPEC-64: Using Slashes and URL Encoding Combined to Bypass Validation Logic Using Slashes and URL Encoding Combined to Bypass Validation Logic CAPEC-67: String Format Overflow in syslog() String Format Overflow in syslog() CAPEC-71: Using Unicode Encoding to Bypass Validation Logic Using Unicode Encoding to Bypass Validation Logic CAPEC-72: URL Encoding URL Encoding CAPEC-73: User-Controlled Filename User-Controlled Filename CAPEC-78: Using Escaped Slashes in Alternate Encoding Using Escaped Slashes in Alternate Encoding CAPEC-79: Using Slashes in Alternate Encoding Using Slashes in Alternate Encoding CAPEC-80: Using UTF-8 Encoding to Bypass Validation Logic Using UTF-8 Encoding to Bypass Validation Logic CAPEC-81: Web Server Logs Tampering Web Server Logs Tampering CAPEC-83: XPath Injection XPath Injection CAPEC-85: AJAX Footprinting AJAX Footprinting CAPEC-88: OS Command Injection OS Command Injection CAPEC-101: Server Side Include (SSI) Injection Server Side Include (SSI) Injection CAPEC-104: Cross Zone Scripting Cross Zone Scripting CAPEC-108: Command Line Execution through SQL Injection Command Line Execution through SQL Injection CAPEC-109: Object Relational Mapping Injection Object Relational Mapping Injection CAPEC-110: SQL Injection through SOAP Parameter Tampering SQL Injection through SOAP Parameter Tampering CAPEC-120: Double Encoding Double Encoding CAPEC-135: Format String Injection Format String Injection CAPEC-136: LDAP Injection LDAP Injection CAPEC-153: Input Data Manipulation Input Data Manipulation CAPEC-182: Flash Injection Flash Injection CAPEC-209: XSS Using MIME Type Mismatch XSS Using MIME Type Mismatch CAPEC-230: Serialized Data with Nested Payloads Serialized Data with Nested Payloads CAPEC-231: Oversized Serialized Data Payloads Oversized Serialized Data Payloads CAPEC-250: XML Injection XML Injection CAPEC-261: Fuzzing for garnering other adjacent user/sensitive data Fuzzing for garnering other adjacent user/sensitive data CAPEC-267: Leverage Alternate Encoding Leverage Alternate Encoding CAPEC-473: Signature Spoof Signature Spoof CAPEC-588: DOM-Based XSS DOM-Based XSS CAPEC-664: Server Side Request Forgery Server Side Request Forgery CAPEC-7: Blind SQL Injection Blind SQL Injection CAPEC-66: SQL Injection SQL Injection CAPEC-108: Command Line Execution through SQL Injection Command Line Execution through SQL Injection CAPEC-109: Object Relational Mapping Injection Object Relational Mapping Injection CAPEC-110: SQL Injection through SOAP Parameter Tampering SQL Injection through SOAP Parameter Tampering CAPEC-470: Expanding Control over the Operating System from the Database Expanding Control over the Operating System from the Database CAPEC-73: User-Controlled Filename User-Controlled Filename CAPEC-81: Web Server Logs Tampering Web Server Logs Tampering CAPEC-85: AJAX Footprinting AJAX Footprinting CAPEC-104: Cross Zone Scripting Cross Zone Scripting CAPEC-109: Object Relational Mapping Injection Object Relational Mapping Injection

We scan GitHub repositories to detect new proof-of-concept exploits. Following list is a collection of public exploits and proof-of-concepts, which have been published on GitHub (sorted by the most recently updated).

Results are limited to the first 15 repositories due to potential performance issues.

The following list is the news that have been mention CVE-2026-40871 vulnerability anywhere in the article.

Results are limited to the first 20 news articles due to potential performance issues.

The following table lists the changes that have been made to the CVE-2026-40871 vulnerability over time.

Vulnerability history details can be useful for understanding the evolution of a vulnerability, and for identifying the most recent changes that may impact the vulnerability's severity, exploitability, or other characteristics.

  • CVE Translated by [email protected]

    Oct. 26, 2026

    Action Type Old Value New Value
    Added Translation Title: mailcow-dockerized de mailcow, Description: mailcow: dockerized es una suite de groupware/correo electrónico de código abierto basada en docker. Las versiones anteriores a 2026-03b tienen una vulnerabilidad de inyección SQL de segundo orden en el campo quarantine_category a través de la API de Mailcow. El endpoint /api/v1/add/mailbox almacena quarantine_category sin validación ni saneamiento. Este valor es utilizado posteriormente por quarantine_notify.py, que construye consultas SQL utilizando formato de cadena % inseguro en lugar de consultas parametrizadas. Esto resulta en una inyección SQL retrasada (de segundo orden) cuando se ejecuta el trabajo de notificación de cuarentena, permitiendo a un atacante inyectar SQL arbitrario. Usando un UNION SELECT, los datos sensibles (p. ej., credenciales de administrador) pueden ser exfiltrados y renderizados dentro de los correos electrónicos de notificación de cuarentena. La versión 2026-03b corrige la vulnerabilidad.
  • CVE Modified by [email protected]

    Jun. 17, 2026

    Action Type Old Value New Value
    Added Affected [{'vendor': 'mailcow', 'product': 'mailcow-dockerized', 'versions': [{'status': 'affected', 'version': '< 2026-03b'}]}]
  • CVE Modified by 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0

    Jun. 17, 2026

    Action Type Old Value New Value
    Added SSVC {'id': 'CVE-2026-40871', 'role': 'CISA Coordinator', 'options': [{'exploitation': 'poc'}, {'automatable': 'no'}, {'technicalImpact': 'total'}], 'version': '2.0.3', 'timestamp': '2026-04-21T19:53:34.653739Z'}
  • CVE Modified by 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0

    Apr. 21, 2026

    Action Type Old Value New Value
    Added Reference https://github.com/mailcow/mailcow-dockerized/security/advisories/GHSA-r8fq-wrfm-cj2q
  • New CVE Received by [email protected]

    Apr. 21, 2026

    Action Type Old Value New Value
    Added Description mailcow: dockerized is an open source groupware/email suite based on docker. Versions prior to 2026-03b have a second-order SQL injection vulnerability in the quarantine_category field via the Mailcow API. The /api/v1/add/mailbox endpoint stores quarantine_category without validation or sanitization. This value is later used by quarantine_notify.py, which constructs SQL queries using unsafe % string formatting instead of parameterized queries. This results in a delayed (second-order) SQL injection when the quarantine notification job executes, allowing an attacker to inject arbitrary SQL. Using a UNION SELECT, sensitive data (e.g., admin credentials) can be exfiltrated and rendered inside quarantine notification emails. Version 2026-03b fixes the vulnerability.
    Added CVSS V3.1 AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
    Added CWE CWE-20
    Added CWE CWE-89
    Added CWE CWE-116
    Added CWE CWE-564
    Added Reference https://github.com/mailcow/mailcow-dockerized/security/advisories/GHSA-r8fq-wrfm-cj2q
EPSS is a daily estimate of the probability of exploitation activity being observed over the next 30 days. Following chart shows the EPSS score history of the vulnerability.
CVSS
Vulnerability Scoring Details
Base CVSS Score: 7.2
Attack Vector
Attack Complexity
Privileges Required
User Interaction
Scope
Confidentiality Impact
Integrity Impact
Availability Impact