CVE-2020-28896: Debian Linux

Medium severity, CVSS 5.3. EPSS: 2.4% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days.

Mutt before 2.0.2 and NeoMutt before 2020-11-20 did not ensure that $ssl_force_tls was processed if an IMAP server's initial server response was invalid. The connection was not properly closed, and the code could continue attempting to authenticate. This could result in authentication credentials being exposed on an unencrypted connection, or to a machine-in-the-middle.

Affected products

• Debian Debian Linux: version 9.0 only
• Mutt Mutt: before 2.0.2 (fixed in 2.0.2)
• Neomutt Neomutt: before 2020-11-20 (fixed in 2020-11-20)

Published 2020-11-23. Last modified 2026-06-17.