PPS/POD and Essentials Scanning Bypass with Multi-part Attachments, CVE-2020-14009
Advisory ID: PFPT-SA-2021-0006
Proofpoint Enterprise Protection (PPS / PoD) contains a vulnerability that could allow an attacker to deliver an email message with a malicious attachment that bypasses scanning and file blocking rules. The vulnerability exists because messages with certain specially crafted or malformed MIME structures are not properly handled. A successful attack may result in the attachments being delivered to end users, but end users would need to open the attachments in order to be impacted. Further, this vulnerability only bypasses file-based checks on attachments; other controls within Proofpoint Enterprise Protection and Targeted Attack Protection, such as spam and impostor filtering, Proofpoint Dynamic Reputation, URL rewriting and click-time protection are unaffected. All versions of Proofpoint Enterprise Protection prior to 8.16.4 are affected by this vulnerability; an update was also included in version 8.13.18. Proofpoint Enterprise Protection 8.17.0 includes the fix, so no action is required by customers already running that version. Otherwise, updating to a fixed version is highly recommended.
Vulnerability Information
This vulnerability is identified by CVE-2020-14009. Proofpoint has released fixes to address this issue.
This vulnerability has been assigned a CVSS score of 7.1:
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:L
Fixed Software
Proofpoint has released fixes in versions 8.13.18, 8.16.4, and 8.17.0.
Proofpoint on Demand Customers
No action is required. Applicable fixes have already been deployed by Proofpoint.
Proofpoint on-premises Customers
For on-premise environments that are configured to manually apply releases, install the applicable release as noted above.
No action is required for Enterprise Protection (PPS) Hardware and Virtual Appliance customers, running supported versions that are configured to deploy releases automatically. Applicable fixes have been automatically deployed.
No mail flow will be interrupted while updates are applied.
For any questions or concerns, please contact Proofpoint Support.
URL
https://www.proofpoint.com/us/security/security-advisories/pfpt-sa-2021-0006
Revision History
| Version | Description | Section | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1.0 | Initial release | May 5, 2021 | |
| 1.1 | Revised Article | May 12, 2021 | |
| 1.2 | Revised Article | July 22, 2021 |
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