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Smack allows the bypass of TLS protections

Moderate severity GitHub Reviewed Published May 13, 2022 to the GitHub Advisory Database • Updated Apr 21, 2025

Package

maven org.igniterealtime.smack:smack-core (Maven)

Affected versions

< 4.1.9

Patched versions

4.1.9

Description

Race condition in the XMPP library in Smack before 4.1.9, when the SecurityMode.required TLS setting has been set, allows man-in-the-middle attackers to bypass TLS protections and trigger use of cleartext for client authentication by stripping the "starttls" feature from a server response.

References

Published by the National Vulnerability Database Jan 12, 2017
Published to the GitHub Advisory Database May 13, 2022
Reviewed Apr 21, 2025
Last updated Apr 21, 2025

Severity

Moderate

CVSS overall score

This score calculates overall vulnerability severity from 0 to 10 and is based on the Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS).
/ 10

CVSS v3 base metrics

Attack vector
Network
Attack complexity
High
Privileges required
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
None
Availability
None

CVSS v3 base metrics

Attack vector: More severe the more the remote (logically and physically) an attacker can be in order to exploit the vulnerability.
Attack complexity: More severe for the least complex attacks.
Privileges required: More severe if no privileges are required.
User interaction: More severe when no user interaction is required.
Scope: More severe when a scope change occurs, e.g. one vulnerable component impacts resources in components beyond its security scope.
Confidentiality: More severe when loss of data confidentiality is highest, measuring the level of data access available to an unauthorized user.
Integrity: More severe when loss of data integrity is the highest, measuring the consequence of data modification possible by an unauthorized user.
Availability: More severe when the loss of impacted component availability is highest.
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N

EPSS score

Exploit Prediction Scoring System (EPSS)

This score estimates the probability of this vulnerability being exploited within the next 30 days. Data provided by FIRST.
(59th percentile)

Weaknesses

CVE ID

CVE-2016-10027

GHSA ID

GHSA-66pq-hqv5-228g

Source code

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