CVE-2026-42245 PUBLISHED

net-imap: Quadratic complexity when reading response literals

Assigner: GitHub_M
Reserved: 25.04.2026 Published: 09.05.2026 Updated: 09.05.2026

Net::IMAP implements Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP) client functionality in Ruby. Prior to versions 0.4.24, 0.5.14, and 0.6.4, Net::IMAP::ResponseReader has quadratic time complexity when reading large responses containing many string literals. A hostile server can send responses which are crafted to exhaust the client's CPU for a denial of service attack. This issue has been patched in versions 0.4.24, 0.5.14, and 0.6.4.

Metrics

CVSS 4.0

CVSS Vector: CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:P/PR:N/UI:P/VC:N/VI:N/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N
CVSS Score: 2.3

Exploitability Metrics		Vulnerable System Impact Metrics		Subsequent System Impact Metrics
Attack Vector	Network	Confidentiality	None	Confidentiality	None
Attack Complexity	Low	Integrity	None	Integrity	None
Attack Requirements	Present	Availability	Low	Availability	None
Privileges Required	None
User Interaction	Passive

CVSS 4.0

Product Status

Vendor	ruby
Product	net-imap
Versions	Version < 0.4.24 is affected Version >= 0.5.0, < 0.5.14 is affected Version >= 0.6.0, < 0.6.4 is affected

References

Problem Types

CWE-407: Inefficient Algorithmic Complexity CWE