Netscape Mail Notification sends usernames and passwords in plain text
| netscape-mail-notify-plaintext (4385) |  Medium Risk |
Description:
Netscape Communicator includes the Netscape Mail Notification utility, which transmits email usernames and passwords over the network in plain text. The utility is designed to check periodically if a user has new mail. Even if a user has selected to use IMAP over SSL in Netscape Messenger Preferences, the Netscape Mail Notification utility does not use SSL when sending the username and password. An attacker could sniff network traffic to obtain usernames and passwords for mail accounts.
Platforms Affected:
- Netscape, Communicator 4.7
Remedy:
No remedy available as of November 29, 2008.
Consequences:
Obtain Information
References:
- BugTraq Mailing List, Thu Jan 13 2000 - 13:15:40 CST, Misleading sense of security in Netscape at http://archives.neohapsis.com/archives/bugtraq/2000-01/0160.html.
- CVE-2000-0087: Netscape Mail Notification (nsnotify) utility in Netscape Communicator uses IMAP without SSL, even if the user has set a preference for Communicator to use an SSL connection, allowing a remote attacker to sniff usernames and passwords in plaintext.
Reported:
Jan 18, 2000
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