Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
CVE-2024-49395 is a privacy leak in mutt and neomutt encrypted email handling. Bcc recipients may be inferable from cryptographic recipient information because hidden-recipient mode is not used. This is not a system takeover issue, but it can expose confidential recipient relationships.
Executive priority
Treat as a targeted privacy and confidentiality issue. Prioritize environments handling sensitive communications, legal matters, investigations, or confidential recipient lists. It is lower urgency than code execution flaws but important where Bcc secrecy is business-critical.
Technical view
Mutt/neomutt PGP encryption omits --hidden-recipient behavior, allowing Bcc header information to be indirectly leaked through recipient metadata. CVSS is 5.3 with low confidentiality impact and no integrity or availability impact. Red Hat lists mutt as affected for RHEL 8, 9, and 10; RHEL 7 status is unknown.
Likely exposure
Exposure is most relevant where mutt or neomutt sends PGP-encrypted email and users rely on Bcc to hide recipient identities. Red Hat package exposure is listed for RHEL 8, 9, and 10.
Exploitation context
No active exploitation is indicated in the provided sources, and the CVE is not listed as KEV. The risk is information disclosure to parties able to inspect encrypted message recipient metadata, not remote code execution.
Researcher notes
The public bundle does not provide exact fixed versions. Upstream NeoMutt issue and pull requests appear relevant, but validation should rely on vendor advisory status and package metadata. RHEL 7 status is listed as unknown in the provided data.
Mitigation direction
- Check Red Hat and upstream mutt/neomutt guidance for fixed packages or configuration changes.
- Avoid using Bcc for sensitive recipient privacy in PGP-encrypted messages until addressed.
- Prefer vendor-supported updates when available.
- Inform affected users about the Bcc privacy limitation.
Validation and detection
- Inventory mutt and neomutt installations across endpoints and servers.
- Identify systems running Red Hat mutt packages on RHEL 8, 9, or 10.
- Review encrypted mail workflows that depend on Bcc confidentiality.
- Compare installed versions and advisories against Red Hat and upstream references.
Public sources used
Generated from the cited source records. This long-tail analysis has not been individually reviewed by a named human.
Conservative CVE-to-ATT&CK context
These mappings and lookup hints may be relevant to the vulnerability behavior, CWE, affected product, or exposure path. Glexia-inferred context is not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, CWE, or CVE Program mapping.
ATT&CK lookup starting points
Use these exact CWE pages and searches to review the Glexia ATT&CK library from this CVE's weakness and description context.
CWE-1230: Exact CWE lookup
Use the exact CWE identifier as the starting point before reviewing related ATT&CK behavior. Open the exact CWE lookup page first, then review the ATT&CK searches from that MITRE weakness context. This is a Glexia lookup hint, not an official ATT&CK mapping.
Open ATT&CK lookupCVE-2024-49395 mapping review
Open the CVE-to-ATT&CK bridge for reviewed, inferred, or future official mappings tied to this CVE.
Open ATT&CK lookup- Severity
- Medium
- CVSS
- 5.3 (3.1)
- Known Exploited
- No
- Published
Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N
CNA and ADP enrichment extracted from CVE v5
These fields come from the CVE record and ADP containers, not from Glexia's Take. They preserve time-varying source decisions such as CISA SSVC, KEV status, CVSS metrics, and provider references.
SSVC decision data
CVSS vector scores
1 official scoreWe collect every scored CVSS vector available in the official CNA and ADP containers. When more than one version is present, the table keeps the source vectors side by side instead of collapsing them into the highest score.
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N3.91.4redhatVulnerability scoring details
Base CVSS 3.1 score
5.3MediumVector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N
Vulnerability timeline
Timeline events are normalized from CVE metadata, CNA source timelines, ADP timelines, and KEV metadata when present.
- CVE reservedCVE Program
The CVE ID was reserved by the assigning CNA.
- Source timelineredhat
Made public.
- Source timelineredhat
Reported to Red Hat.
- CVE publishedCVE Program
The CVE record was published.
- CVE updatedCVE Program
The CVE record metadata indicates this as the latest update time.
ADP provider summaries
Source materials
- CVE List V5 sourceCVE List V5
- https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2024-49395CVE reference, redhat · vdb-entry, x_refsource_REDHAT
- RHBZ#2325332CVE reference, redhat · issue-tracking, x_refsource_REDHAT
- https://github.com/neomutt/neomutt/issues/4223#issuecomment-2040209956CVE reference, redhat
- https://github.com/neomutt/neomutt/pull/4221CVE reference, redhat
- https://github.com/neomutt/neomutt/pull/4227CVE reference, redhat
Products and packages named in the record
CWE details
CWE links open Glexia weakness intelligence pages with official CWE context, developer remediation guidance, and related CVE mappings.
Exposure of Sensitive Information Through Metadata
Exposure of Sensitive Information Through Metadata represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.