CVE-2026-26312VulnerabilityPublished 19 Feb 2026

CVE-2026-26312: stalwartlabs stalwart · Unthrottled Resource Allocation

Affects stalwartlabs stalwartSource CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 6.5 Medium : upgrade to 0.15.5 when convenient.

Data as of 25 Oct 2026, 19:02 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

6.5Medium

How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.

EPSS: 0.4% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 34% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.
Patch: Available – fixed in 0.15.5

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Attack Vector: Network
Attack Complexity: Low
Privileges Required: Low
User Interaction: None
Scope: Unchanged
Confidentiality: None
Integrity: None
Availability: High

Bold values are the worst case: easiest to exploit or largest impact.

Attack Vector: Network: The vulnerable component is bound to the network stack and the set of possible attackers extends beyond the other options listed, up to and including the entire Internet. Such a vulnerability is often termed 'remotely exploitable' and can be thought of as an attack being exploitable at the protocol level one or more network hops away (e.g., across one or more routers).
Attack Complexity: Low: Specialized access conditions or extenuating circumstances do not exist. An attacker can expect repeatable success against the vulnerable component.
Privileges Required: Low: The attacker is authorized with (i.e., requires) privileges that provide basic user capabilities that could normally affect only settings and files owned by a user. Alternatively, an attacker with Low privileges may have the ability to cause an impact only to non-sensitive resources.
User Interaction: None: The vulnerable system can be exploited without any interaction from any user.
Scope: Unchanged: An exploited vulnerability can only affect resources managed by the same security authority. In this case, the vulnerable component and the impacted component are either the same, or both are managed by the same security authority.
Confidentiality: None: There is no loss of confidentiality within the impacted component.
Integrity: None: There is no loss of integrity within the impacted component.
Availability: High: There is total loss of availability, resulting in the attacker being able to fully deny access to resources in the impacted component; this loss is either sustained (while the attacker continues to deliver the attack) or persistent (the condition persists even after the attack has completed). Alternatively, the attacker has the ability to deny some availability, but the loss of availability presents a direct, serious consequence to the impacted component (e.g., the attacker cannot disrupt existing connections, but can prevent new connections; the attacker can repeatedly exploit a vulnerability that, in each instance of a successful attack, leaks a only small amount of memory, but after repeated exploitation causes a service to become completely unavailable).

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v3.1 specification.

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 19 Feb 2026
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponised: no evidence on record.
No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB
Exploited in the wildExploited: no evidence on record.
Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation
Observed by OffSeq MirageSeen by Mirage: no evidence on record.
No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors

A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 2026-10-25.

Disclosed: The CVE record is public on cve.org. Its publication is t = 0.
Detectable: A public nuclei template can find exposed instances, for defenders and attackers alike.
Weaponised: Public exploit code exists in Metasploit or Exploit-DB, or CISA SSVC reports a public proof of concept.
Exploited in the wild: CISA KEV lists it, CISA SSVC rates exploitation active, or a source reports attacks.
Observed by OffSeq Mirage: OffSeq Mirage honeypot sensors recorded attack traffic for this CVE, or found exposed hosts without attack traffic.

Moments are spaced evenly, not to scale; a dashed line marks a gap of six months or more. Deltas count from t = 0. Sources that give only a date (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, or a time of exactly 00:00Z) read “same day” rather than hours. Metasploit modules carry the flaw’s disclosure date, not their release date, and nuclei templates carry no date, so both appear above but not on the timeline.

What to do

Upgrade stalwartlabs stalwart to 0.15.5.

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
stalwartlabsstalwart	Affected >=0.13.0 <0.15.5	Fixed in 0.15.5

AI-suggested

To mitigate CVE-2026-26312, organizations should upgrade Stalwart Mail Server to version 0.15.5 or later, where the vulnerability is patched. If immediate upgrade is not feasible, implement strict access controls to limit authenticated user privileges and monitor for unusual IMAP or JMAP activity indicative of malformed email processing. Employ network segmentation and rate limiting on mail server interfaces to reduce exposure to malicious inputs. Administrators should enable detailed logging and alerting on resource usage spikes and mail parsing errors to detect potential exploitation attempts early. Consider deploying mail gateway filters that can detect and quarantine emails with suspicious nested MIME structures before they reach the Stalwart server. Regularly audit user accounts and enforce strong authentication to reduce the risk of compromised credentials being used to exploit this vulnerability. Finally, maintain an incident response plan to quickly recover from potential denial-of-service events.

Description

Stalwart is a mail and collaboration server. A denial-of-service vulnerability exists in Stalwart Mail Server versions 0.13.0 through 0.15.4 where accessing a specially crafted email containing malformed nested `message/rfc822` MIME parts via IMAP or JMAP causes excessive CPU and memory consumption, potentially leading to an out-of-memory condition and server crash. The malformed structure causes the `mail-parser` crate to produce cyclical references in its parsed representation, which Stalwart then follows indefinitely. Version 0.15.5 contains a patch.

Impact

The primary impact of CVE-2026-26312 is denial of service due to resource exhaustion, which can cause Stalwart Mail Servers to crash or become unresponsive. This disrupts email and collaboration services, potentially halting business communications and workflows. Organizations relying on Stalwart for critical mail infrastructure may face operational downtime, loss of productivity, and increased support costs. Since the vulnerability requires authenticated access, insider threats or compromised accounts could be leveraged to exploit it. The lack of confidentiality or integrity impact means data leakage or tampering is not a concern here, but availability loss can have significant operational consequences. In environments with high mail volumes or automated mail processing, the risk of accidental triggering or targeted attacks increases. The absence of known exploits reduces immediate risk, but the medium severity score and ease of exploitation warrant prompt remediation. Organizations with regulatory requirements for uptime or service availability may face compliance risks if exploited.

CWE-770Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling (opens in a new tab)
Base weaknessLikelihood of exploit: HighCWE Top 25 (2025): #25
The product allocates a reusable resource or group of resources on behalf of an actor without imposing any intended restrictions on the size or number of resources that can be allocated.
Requirements
Clearly specify the minimum and maximum expectations for capabilities, and dictate which behaviors are acceptable when resource allocation reaches limits.
Architecture and Design
Limit the amount of resources that are accessible to unprivileged users. Set per-user limits for resources. Allow the system administrator to define these limits. Be careful to avoid CWE-410.
Architecture and Design
Design throttling mechanisms into the system architecture. The best protection is to limit the amount of resources that an unauthorized user can cause to be expended.
OWASP Cheat Sheets
Abuse Case (opens in a new tab)
OWASP ASVS 4.0.3
V8.1.4 (opens in a new tab)
V13.4.1 (opens in a new tab)
V11.1.4 (opens in a new tab)
Attack patterns
XML Ping of the Death (opens in a new tab)
Exponential Data Expansion (opens in a new tab)
Serialized Data Parameter Blowup (opens in a new tab)
Serialized Data with Nested Payloads (opens in a new tab)
Oversized Serialized Data Payloads (opens in a new tab)
From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

References

github.com/stalwartlabs/stalwart/security/advisories/GHSA-jm95-876q-c9gw (opens in a new tab)

Community reviews

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 28 Feb 2026, 14:20 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-770

Technical details

References

Community reviews

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