Users can send an email to the wrong recipient, or exploit a programming bug to send an email to everyone in the contact list.
In the enterprise, an attacker could send a malicious email to an employee and trick them into downloading a malicious file.
In the consumer market, an attacker could exploit a programming bug to send an email to everyone in the contact list.
CVE-2023-20439
Users can send an email to the wrong recipient, or exploit a programming bug to send an email to everyone in their address book.
In the enterprise, an attacker could send a malicious email to an employee and trick them into downloading a malicious file.
In the consumer market, an attacker could exploit a programming bug to send an email to everyone in their address book.
CVE-2023-2040: Denial of Service
Denial of Service (DoS) attacks cause a service to stop functioning as intended.
Attackers can use a number of different methods to send email, including exploiting programming bugs.
In the enterprise, an attacker could use email to trick employees into downloading a malicious file.
How do attachments and hyperlinks give an attacker access to a mailbox?
Attachment and hyperlink vulnerabilities let an attacker send a malicious email to the wrong recipient, or exploit a programming bug to send an email to everyone in the contact list.
In the enterprise, an attacker could send a malicious email to an employee and trick them into downloading a malicious file.
In the consumer market, an attacker could exploit a programming bug to send an email to everyone in the contact list.
An attachment vulnerability allows attackers to spread malware via attachments such as images or executables. A hyperlink vulnerability is when attackers can trick users into visiting websites outside of their intended destination and opening up their mailbox for attack. For example, if you were supposed to visit www.google.com but instead visited www.hackerattackershackmyemailboxandsendmalwareinstantly1123.com all while clicking on the links in your inbox, then this would be considered a hyperlink vulnerability that could get you infected with malware immediately (see attached screenshot).
How do S/MIME emails protect my data?
The encryption in S/MIME is not unbreakable, but it does provide an additional layer of security.
S/MIME uses a symmetric-key algorithm to encrypt messages. This means that the same key is used for both encrypting and decrypting messages. The only time the key changes is when email recipients are changed, which prevents attackers from intercepting messages.
When a message is sent and received, the key changes for each new person who has access to it. For example, if Alice sends Bob a Protected Email message, then sends that message to Charlie and Frank, Charlie will only have access to the decrypted copy of that message while Frank will only have access to the encrypted version of that message.
As long as you keep your keys in a safe place, no one can intercept or read your messages without knowing your passphrase.
How do I know if my email service is vulnerable?
First, confirm that the email has been sent.
Next, verify that within your organization that the email is being sent to the intended recipient.
The sender will know if they have made a mistake and will be able to correct it before sending again.
If you are unsure, contact your IT Department.
Timeline
Published on: 10/11/2022 20:15:00 UTC
Last modified on: 10/12/2022 20:31:00 UTC