CVE-2026-73208

HIGHCVSS 7.4/10EPSS 0.26%

Last modified

CVE-2026-73208 is a high-severity vulnerability rated 7.4/10 on the CVSS scale. An attacker that holds a token intended for a different purpose can authenticate, because when an OAuth2 token response does not contain a scope claim, the audience claim is used in its place and checked against the configured required scopes. These are different concepts, and the audience claim does not describe what a token is allowed to do. EPSS estimates a 0.26% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days.

Description

An attacker that holds a token intended for a different purpose can authenticate, because when an OAuth2 token response does not contain a scope claim, the audience claim is used in its place and checked against the configured required scopes. These are different concepts, and the audience claim does not describe what a token is allowed to do. A token that grants no relevant permissions can be accepted because its intended recipient value happens to match a configured scope name, granting access that should have been denied. It also hides an identity provider misconfiguration where scopes are not being issued at all. Ensure the identity provider issues a scope claim for all tokens used with Dovecot, and that configured scope names do not match audience values. Update to non-vulnerable version. No publicly available exploits are known.

Metrics

EPSS Probability
0.26%

17.0th percentile

Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days. Learn more

Weakness Enumeration

Affected Software

Source: CNA advisory (CVE.org). NVD analysis pending.

VendorProductVersions
Open-Xchange GmbHOX Dovecot Pro>= 2.3.13, < 2.3.22.2; >= 3.0.0, < 3.0.7; >= 3.1.0, < 3.1.6
Open-Xchange GmbHOX Dovecot CE>= 2.3.13, < 2.4.5

References

Timeline

Published
Last Modified
Status
Deferred

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2026-73208?
An attacker that holds a token intended for a different purpose can authenticate, because when an OAuth2 token response does not contain a scope claim, the audience claim is used in its place and checked against the configured required scopes. These are different concepts, and the audience claim does not describe what a token is allowed to do. A token that grants no relevant permissions can be accepted because its intended recipient value happens to match a configured scope name, granting access that should have been denied. It also hides an identity provider misconfiguration where scopes are not being issued at all. Ensure the identity provider issues a scope claim for all tokens used with Dovecot, and that configured scope names do not match audience values. Update to non-vulnerable version. No publicly available exploits are known.
How severe is CVE-2026-73208?
CVE-2026-73208 has a CVSS score of 7.4/10 (HIGH severity). The EPSS model estimates a 0.26% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days.
How do I fix CVE-2026-73208?
Check the vendor references and advisories linked above for patched versions and mitigation guidance. You can also run a Strix scan to test if your systems are affected.

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Source: NVD / NIST