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Full vulnerability report · 2026
CVE-2026-93640High confidence

Zimbra Collaboration Suite Local Privilege Escalation via Unrestricted zmunbound Sudo Configuration

Zimbra · Zimbra Collaboration Suite

7.8HighCVSS 3.1
Recommended action
Within 7 days

High technical severity; prioritise exposed affected systems while verifying vendor guidance.

Fix not verified
R
Operational reassessment

Published severity in operational context

Open reassessment dashboard →
Published severityHighOperational priority:Medium, lowered one band.downgradedsince 23 Oct 2026

Evidence used

  • No CISA KEV confirmation is currently recorded.
  • Exploitation requires an existing local or physical foothold with privileges.

Compensating controls

  • Restrict local access and enforce least privilege on affected hosts.
  • Monitor vendor guidance and exploitation sources for a material change.

Verification

  1. Confirm that the asset runs Zimbra Zimbra Collaboration Suite and falls inside the recorded affected range.
  2. Recheck the vendor advisory before scheduling a change because no verified fixed version is currently retained.
  3. Validate exposure, authentication requirements and compensating controls in the actual environment.
  4. Reopen this reassessment when CVSS, KEV, EPSS, exploit evidence or remediation changes.
Mitigation target: As exposure requiresRemediation target: Within 365 days

This automated reassessment organises public evidence. It does not know asset exposure, business impact or control effectiveness and does not replace CVSS or a human risk decision.

Optional official sources

National CERT insights
?CERT means Computer Emergency Response Team; CSIRT is the closely related term Computer Security Incident Response Team.

Choose official national sources for this report. Each advisory shows its original language. Your selection is remembered on this device and included in shared links.

Recommended actionWithin 7 days

High technical severity; prioritise exposed affected systems while verifying vendor guidance.

Fix not verified
01

What, why and how

A local privilege escalation vulnerability in the optional dnscache package of Zimbra Collaboration Suite (ZCS) allows the Unix zimbra account to access files with root privileges. The passwordless sudo policy permits arbitrary arguments to zmunbound, whose wrapper forwards them to Unbound without restricting the configuration path. An attacker can supply a configuration that retains root privileges and disables the chroot. Include directives expose root-readable file contents through parser errors, while an attacker-selected logfile path creates a root-owned file or appends Unbound log records to an existing file. This can disclose password hashes and private keys and corrupt privileged configuration files, preventing affected services from starting with the modified configuration. The affected configuration is present in ZCS 10.1.16 and 10.1.21 dnscache packages.

What

A local privilege escalation vulnerability in the optional dnscache package of Zimbra Collaboration Suite (ZCS) allows the Unix zimbra account to access files with root privileges. The passwordless sudo policy permits arbitrary arguments to zmunbound, whose wrapper forwards them to Unbound without restricting the configuration path. An attacker can supply a configuration that retains root privileges and disables the chroot. Include directives expose root-readable file contents through parser errors, while an attacker-selected logfile path creates a root-owned file or appends Unbound log records to an existing file. This can disclose password hashes and private keys and corrupt privileged configuration files, preventing affected services from starting with the modified configuration. The affected configuration is present in ZCS 10.1.16 and 10.1.21 dnscache packages.

Why

The product specifies permissions for a security-critical resource in a way that allows that resource to be read or modified by unintended actors.

How

An attacker operating through local access may attempt exploitation with low privileges. If successful, the issue may gain additional privileges.

What

A local privilege escalation vulnerability in the optional dnscache package of Zimbra Collaboration Suite (ZCS) allows the Unix zimbra account to access files with root privileges. The passwordless sudo policy permits arbitrary arguments to zmunbound, whose wrapper forwards them to Unbound without restricting the configuration path. An attacker can supply a configuration that retains root privileges and disables the chroot. Include directives expose root-readable file contents through parser errors, while an attacker-selected logfile path creates a root-owned file or appends Unbound log records to an existing file. This can disclose password hashes and private keys and corrupt privileged configuration files, preventing affected services from starting with the modified configuration. The affected configuration is present in ZCS 10.1.16 and 10.1.21 dnscache packages.

Why

The product specifies permissions for a security-critical resource in a way that allows that resource to be read or modified by unintended actors.

How

An attacker operating through local access may attempt exploitation with low privileges. If successful, the issue may gain additional privileges.

02

Exploit reality and attack path

CVSS severity, EPSS forecast probability, public exploit material and CISA-confirmed exploitation are separate signals.

Observed exploitation
?Confirmed exploitation and public exploit material are separate signals. Attacks can occur without public proof-of-concept or exploit code.
No confirmed evidence

No CISA KEV match was present at the last successful refresh. This means no confirmation from that source, not proof of no exploitation.

Public PoC / exploit material
?Confirmed exploitation and public exploit material are separate signals. Attacks can occur without public proof-of-concept or exploit code.
None recorded

No exploit-tagged reference or CISA SSVC proof-of-concept state is currently recorded. Research may still exist outside the structured feeds.

Likely attack path
local access → Incorrect Permission Assignment for Critical Resource → gain additional privileges
Attack surface
Local
Privileges required
Low: a basic authenticated account is required
User interaction
None
Attack complexity
Low: no specialised conditions are recorded
Security boundary
Unchanged: impact remains within the vulnerable component's security authority
Weakness
?CWE means Common Weakness Enumeration: a standard category for the underlying weakness.
CWE-732 ↗

CWE-732: Incorrect Permission Assignment for Critical Resource. The product specifies permissions for a security-critical resource in a way that allows that resource to be read or modified by unintended actors.

CVSS vector
?CVSS means Common Vulnerability Scoring System. The vector records the metric values used to calculate technical severity.
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Common Vulnerability Scoring System 3.1: the compact vector below is decoded into plain language.

AVLocalAttack vector: The attacker needs local access to the vulnerable system.ACLowAttack complexity: No specialised conditions are required beyond attacker-controlled input.PRLowPrivileges required: The attacker needs basic user-level privileges.UINoneUser interaction: No action by another user is required.SUnchangedScope: The security impact remains within the vulnerable component's authority.CHighConfidentiality impact: A successful attack can cause a major loss.IHighIntegrity impact: A successful attack can cause a major loss.AHighAvailability impact: A successful attack can cause a major loss.
Post-exploitation / living off the land
The issue can support a local privilege or sandbox boundary transition; normal system utilities may then be available in the gained context.
Privilege escalationCWE-732
03

Patch and workaround

Operational remediation based on structured source evidence.

Status
?Patch availability is based on structured fixed-version fields and authoritative update references. If no fix is verified, check the vendor advisory before making a change.
Fix not verified
Affected
Zimbra Collaboration Suite: ≤ 10.1.21
Fixed
No fixed version is explicitly recorded in the structured CVE data.
Action
No verified patch reference is present in the current structured sources. Check the vendor advisory before making a change.
Workaround
No verified workaround is recorded. Limit untrusted access and use least privilege until authoritative guidance is available.
04

Evidence and provenance

Published 23 Oct 2026 · Last source change 23 Oct 2026, 13:50 UTC · CWE-732 · Incorrect Permission Assignment for Critical Resource

CVE recordCVE.org · 5.2
CVSS sourceCNA
EPSS source
?The date BlackTree first stored a score for this CVE from the daily FIRST EPSS feed.
Unavailable
European sourceNo official EUVD mapping
Product sourceCNA
Remediation sourceCVE/CNA references
CWE sourceCNA
NVD statusNVD awaiting enrichment

Core structured fields are present and their contributing authorities are shown above.

Material change intelligence

What changed after publication

View recent updates ↗
  1. Catalogue recordCVE added to the BlackTree catalogue.
    CNA ↗
Material fields only · duplicate refreshes suppressed · history retained for the configured operational retention period
Technical terms and abbreviations used in this report
CVE
Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures: the public identifier for one disclosed vulnerability.
CVSS
Common Vulnerability Scoring System: a technical severity framework; it is not patching priority by itself.
EPSS
Exploit Prediction Scoring System: FIRST's estimate of the probability that exploitation activity will be observed in the next 30 days; it is a forecast, not confirmation.
CWE
Common Weakness Enumeration: the standard category describing the underlying software or hardware weakness.
CNA
CVE Numbering Authority: an organisation authorised to assign and publish CVE records.
CISA ADP
Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Authorized Data Publisher: structured enrichment added to a CVE record.
NVD
National Vulnerability Database: NIST's enrichment service for CVE records.
CERT / CSIRT
A computer security incident response team that publishes warnings or coordinates incident response.
PoC
Proof of concept: public material that demonstrates or helps reproduce exploitation.
CSAF
Common Security Advisory Framework: a machine-readable format for security advisories.
LoTL
Living off the land: abuse of legitimate tools or system functions during an attack.
Free version - for non-commercial use only.CVE-2026-93640 · cve.blacktree.nl