Dovecot OTP Replay via Auth Caching
CVE-2026-27855 Published on March 27, 2026
Dovecot OTP authentication is vulnerable to replay attack under specific conditions. If auth cache is enabled, and username is altered in passdb, then OTP credentials can be cached so that same OTP reply is valid. An attacker able to observe an OTP exchange is able to log in as the user. If authentication happens over unsecure connection, switch to SCRAM protocol. Alternatively ensure the communcations are secured, and if possible switch to OAUTH2 or SCRAM. No publicly available exploits are known.
Vulnerability Analysis
CVE-2026-27855 can be exploited with network access, requires user interaction. This vulnerability is consided to have a high level of attack complexity. The potential impact of an exploit of this vulnerability is considered to have a high impact on confidentiality and integrity, and no impact on availability.
Weakness Type
Authentication Bypass by Capture-replay
A capture-replay flaw exists when the design of the software makes it possible for a malicious user to sniff network traffic and bypass authentication by replaying it to the server in question to the same effect as the original message (or with minor changes). Capture-replay attacks are common and can be difficult to defeat without cryptography. They are a subset of network injection attacks that rely on observing previously-sent valid commands, then changing them slightly if necessary and resending the same commands to the server.
Products Associated with CVE-2026-27855
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Affected Versions
Open-Xchange GmbH OX Dovecot Pro:- Before and including 2.3.0 is affected.
Exploit Probability
EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) scores estimate the probability that a vulnerability will be exploited in the wild within the next 30 days. The percentile shows you how this score compares to all other vulnerabilities.