GHSA-vcgp-9326-pqcp
net-imap vulnerable to STARTTLS stripping via invalid response timing
Details
### Summary
A man-in-the-middle attacker can cause `Net::IMAP#starttls` to return "successfully", without starting TLS.
### Details
When using `Net::IMAP#starttls` to upgrade a plaintext connection to use TLS, a man-in-the-middle attacker can inject a tagged `OK` response with an easily predictable tag. By sending the response before the client finishes sending the command, the command completes "successfully" before the response handler is registered. This allows `#starttls` to return without error, but the response handler is never invoked, the TLS connection is never established, and the socket remains unencrypted.
This allows man-in-the-middle attackers to perform a STARTTLS stripping attack, unless the client code explicitly checks `Net::IMAP#tls_verified?`.
### Impact
TLS bypass, leading to cleartext transmission of sensitive information.
### Mitigation
* Upgrade to a patched version of net-imap that raises an exception whenever `#starttls` does not establish TLS. * Connect to an implicit TLS port, rather than use `STARTTLS` with a cleartext port. This is strongly recommended anyway: * [RFC 8314](https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8314): Cleartext Considered Obsolete: Use of Transport Layer Security (TLS) for Email Submission and Access * [NO STARTTLS](https://nostarttls.secvuln.info/): Why TLS is better without STARTTLS, A Security Analysis of STARTTLS in the Email Context * Explicitly verify `Net::IMAP#tls_verified?` is `true`, before using the connection after `#starttls`.
Are you affected?
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Affected packages
References
- https://github.com/ruby/net-imap/security/advisories/GHSA-vcgp-9326-pqcp [WEB]
- https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-42246 [ADVISORY]
- https://github.com/ruby/net-imap/commit/0ede4c40b1523dfeaf95777b2678e54cc0fd9618 [WEB]
- https://github.com/ruby/net-imap/commit/24a4e770b43230286a05aa2a9746cdbb3eb8485e [WEB]
- https://github.com/ruby/net-imap/commit/97e2488fb5401a1783bddd959dde007d9fbce42c [WEB]
- https://github.com/ruby/net-imap/commit/f79d35bf5833f186e81044c57c843eda30c873da [WEB]
- https://github.com/ruby/net-imap [PACKAGE]
- https://github.com/ruby/net-imap/releases/tag/v0.3.10 [WEB]
- https://github.com/ruby/net-imap/releases/tag/v0.4.24 [WEB]
- https://github.com/ruby/net-imap/releases/tag/v0.5.14 [WEB]
- https://github.com/ruby/net-imap/releases/tag/v0.6.4 [WEB]
- https://github.com/rubysec/ruby-advisory-db/blob/master/gems/net-imap/CVE-2026-42246.yml [WEB]
- https://nostarttls.secvuln.info [WEB]
- https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8314 [WEB]