| Plugin ID | 330 |
| Plugin name | POP3 unencrypted cleartext logins |
| Plugin filename | POP3 unencrypted cleartext logins.plugin |
| Plugin filesize | 2327 bytes |
| Plugin family | SMTP |
| Plugin created name | Marc Ruef |
| Plugin created email | marc.ruef at computec.ch |
| Plugin created web | http://www.computec.ch |
| Plugin created company | computec.ch |
| Plugin created date | 2005/01/09 |
| Plugin version | 1.0 |
| Plugin protocol | tcp |
| Plugin port | 110 |
| Plugin procedure detection | open|sleep|send CAPA\n|sleep|send QUIT\n|close|pattern_exists *SASL PLAIN* OR *SASL LOGIN* OR USER |
| Plugin detection accuracy | 90 |
| Plugin comment | The NASL script is Copyright (C) 2004 George A. Theall |
| Bug affected | POP3 with non encrypted authentications |
| Bug vulnerability class | Missing Encryption |
| Bug description | The remote host is running a POP3 daemon that allows cleartext logins over unencrypted connections. An attacker can uncover user names and passwords by sniffing traffic to the POP3 daemon if a less secure authentication mechanism (eg, USER command, AUTH PLAIN, AUTH LOGIN) is used. |
| Bug solution | Contact your vendor for a fix or encrypt traffic with SSL / TLS using stunnel. |
| Bug fixing time | Approx. 30 minutes |
| Bug exploit availability | Yes |
| Bug remote | Yes |
| Bug local | Yes |
| Bug severity | Low |
| Bug popularity | 8 |
| Bug simplicity | 3 |
| Bug impact | 8 |
| Bug risk | 4 |
| Bug Nessus risk | Low |
| Bug check tools | Nessus can check this flaw with the plugin 15855 (POP3 Unencrypted Cleartext Logins). |
| Source CVE | CVE-MAP-NOMATCH |
| Source OSVDB ID | 3119 |
| Source Nessus ID | 15855 |
| Source Literature | Hacking Exposed: Network Security Secrets & Solutions, Stuart McClure, Joel Scambray and George Kurtz, February 25, 2003, 4th Edition, McGraw-Hill Osborne Media, ISBN 0072227427 |
| Source Misc. | http://www.mcmilk.de/docs/2004-03-sasl.pdf |