CVE-2026-114472: Insufficient Resource Pool in hMailServer
Insufficient resource pool in the ACME HTTP-01 challenge responder of Progressive Robot hMailServer 6.0.0 through 6.3.6 allows a remote unauthenticated attacker to cause a certificate issuance or renewal to fail. When the server obtains or renews a TLS certificate over ACME it runs an HTTP-01 challenge responder on port 80 for the certificate authority to read the challenge token; the responder served one connection at a time, accepting a socket, waiting up to five seconds to receive a request, answering it, and only then accepting the next. A client that connected and sent nothing held the single worker for the whole timeout, so enough idle connections during a validation keep the certificate authority's own request from being answered in time and the validation fails. Sustained across a certificate's renewals this leads to the certificate expiring, after which clients refuse the server's TLS; the mail service itself continues on its current certificate until then. No authentication is required to connect to the responder. Version 6.3.7 serves up to 64 connections at once and closes a connection past that, so that where a handful of idle connections, one after another, sufficed before, a client must keep 64 idle connections open at once throughout a validation to have the certificate authority's connection closed.
Affected Software
Remediation
Recommended actions to resolve this vulnerability, in priority order.
- Upgrade
Upgrade
Progressive Robot hMailServerto a version that resolves this vulnerability.Fixed in 6.3.7 - Compensating control
Where ACME is in use, during certificate renewal restrict access to the HTTP-01 challenge port (port 80) if the surrounding network allows it, or obtain certificates with an external ACME client such as a DNS-01 client so the responder does not run.
- Operational
Monitor certificate expiry so that a starved ACME renewal is noticed before the certificate lapses.
Event History
Frequently Asked Questions
Which deployments are exposed?
hMailServer versions 6.0.0 through 6.3.6 are affected when they obtain or renew a TLS certificate using ACME HTTP-01 and expose the temporary challenge responder on port 80.
What does an attacker need to exploit this?
The attacker needs only network access to connect to the ACME challenge responder on port 80 during certificate validation. No authentication is required; idle connections that send no request can occupy the responder while it waits for its timeout.
What is the practical impact on mail service availability?
The immediate effect is failed certificate issuance or renewal, not an immediate mail-service outage. If disruption is sustained across renewals, the existing certificate can expire and TLS clients may then refuse the server.
How can I determine whether this is relevant to my environment?
Check whether the server runs a version from 6.0.0 through 6.3.6 and uses ACME HTTP-01 certificate issuance or renewal. Failed or timed-out ACME validations during renewal are consistent with the affected behavior.
What version changes the connection-handling behavior?
Version 6.3.7 serves up to 64 challenge-responder connections concurrently and closes connections beyond that limit, rather than handling one connection at a time.