CVE-2026-23760

Description

SmarterTools SmarterMail versions prior to build 9511 contain an authentication bypass vulnerability in the password reset API. The force-reset-password endpoint permits anonymous requests and fails to verify the existing password or a reset token when resetting system administrator accounts. An unauthenticated attacker can supply a target administrator username and a new password to reset the account, resulting in full administrative compromise of the SmarterMail instance. NOTE: SmarterMail system administrator privileges grant the ability to execute operating system commands via built-in management functionality, effectively providing administrative (SYSTEM or root) access on the underlying host.

Overview

State: PUBLISHED
Assigner (CNA): VulnCheck
CVSS severity: CRITICAL
CVSS score: 9.3 / 10
CVSS vector: CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N
Effective score: 9.3 / 10 CRITICAL source: CNA overview
CWE(s): CWE-288
Reserved: 2026-01-15
Published: 2026-01-22 14:35 UTC
Last updated: 2026-03-05 01:30 UTC
Source: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/CVEProject/cvelistV5/main/cves/2026/23xxx/CVE-2026-23760.json
Linked Threat: CVE-2026-23760 — SmarterTools SmarterMail: SmarterTools SmarterMail Authentication Bypass Using an Alternate Path or Channel Vulnerability

CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities CISA KEV

CISA has confirmed in-the-wild exploitation of this CVE. Federal agencies must remediate by the due date below; private orgs should treat it as priority-1.

Vulnerability name: SmarterTools SmarterMail Authentication Bypass Using an Alternate Path or Channel Vulnerability
Vendor / project: SmarterTools
Product: SmarterMail
Date added to KEV: 2026-01-26
Remediation due: 2026-02-16
Required action: Apply mitigations per vendor instructions, follow applicable BOD 22-01 guidance for cloud services, or discontinue use of the product if mitigations are unavailable.
Ransomware campaign use: Known
CISA notes: https://www.smartertools.com/smartermail/release-notes/current ; https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-23760
CISA listing: www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog

NVD triage scoring NVD CVE 2.0

Layer NVD adds on top of the CNA's CVE record — published / last-modified timestamps, exploitability / impact subscores, and the FIRST.org EPSS probability that this CVE will be exploited in the wild in the next 30 days.

NVD published: 2026-01-22 15:16:55 UTC
NVD last modified: 2026-01-27 16:16:55 UTC
NVD CVSS v3.1: 9.8 / 10 CRITICAL source: nvd@nist.gov
NVD CVSS vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Exploitability subscore: 3.9 / 10
Impact subscore: 5.9 / 10
EPSS score: 0.7994 (probability of exploitation in next 30 days)
EPSS percentile: 99.13% vs all CVEs — higher = more likely to be exploited, as of 2026-05-24

European Union Vulnerability Database ENISA EUVD

ENISA's official EU repository for curated vulnerability intelligence. Carries a separate identifier (EUVD-YYYY-NNNN) and frequently exposes an earlier-published description + CVSS than NVD does.

EUVD ID: EUVD-2026-4143
Assigner: VulnCheck
Published: Jan 22, 2026, 2:35:17 PM
Updated: Mar 5, 2026, 1:30:23 AM
EUVD base score (CVSS 4.0): 9.3 / 10
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N
EUVD-reported EPSS: 79.9400
Vendors: SmarterTools
Products: SmarterMail (0 <100.0.9511)
Aliases: GHSA-mj6x-679w-76wr

ENISA description: SmarterTools SmarterMail versions prior to build 9511 contain an authentication bypass vulnerability in the password reset API. The force-reset-password endpoint permits anonymous requests and fails to verify the existing password or a reset token when resetting system administrator accounts. An unauthenticated attacker can supply a target administrator username and a new password to reset the account, resulting in full administrative compromise of the SmarterMail instance. NOTE: SmarterMail system administrator privileges grant the ability to execute operating system commands via built-in management functionality, effectively providing administrative (SYSTEM or root) access on the underlying host.

EUVD references (4)

Affected products (1)

Vendor	Product	Versions	Platforms
SmarterTools	SmarterMail	`0` (affected)	—

Affected products — CPE 2.3 (1) NVD

NVD's normalized CPE 2.3 matchers, used by vendor tools (vulnerability scanners, asset managers) for automated detection. Compare with the CNA's free-text "Affected products" section above.

cpe:2.3:a:smartertools:smartermail:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

Vendor references (4)

References embedded in the original CVE record by the assigning CNA.

https://www.smartertools.com/smartermail/release-notes/current release-notespatch
https://labs.watchtowr.com/attackers-with-decompilers-strike-again-smartertools-smartermail-wt-2026-0001-auth-bypass/ technical-descriptionexploit
https://code-white.com/public-vulnerability-list/#authenticationserviceforceresetpassword-missing-authentication-in-smartermail third-party-advisory
https://www.vulncheck.com/advisories/smartertools-smartermail-authentication-bypass-via-password-reset-api third-party-advisory

MITRE references (1) cveawg.mitre.org

Pulled from MITRE's CVE Services API by the 🛰 Backfill from MITRE button.

https://code-white.com/public-vulnerability-list/#authenticationserviceforceresetpassword-missing-authentication-in-smartermail third-party-advisory

Web references (6)

DuckDuckGo results ranked by threat-intel / vendor advisory domains. Generated by the 🔎 Find references (web) button above — same flow as the Remediations search.

https://attackerkb.com/topics/CVE-2026-23760 rapid7:attackerkb.com
http://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/288.html rapid7:cwe.mitre.org
https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-23760 rapid7:www.cve.org
https://www.smartertools.com/smartermail/release-notes/current rapid7:www.smartertools.com
https://www.vulncheck.com/advisories/smartertools-smartermail-authentication-bypass-via-password-reset-api rapid7:www.vulncheck.com
https://labs.watchtowr.com/attackers-with-decompilers-strike-again-smartertools-smartermail-wt-2026-0001-auth-bypass/ rapid7:labs.watchtowr.com

NVD-tagged references (6)

Reference list NVD curates from the CNA record, vendor advisories, and third-party reports. The tag chips below are NVD's analyst-assigned categories.

https://code-white.com/public-vulnerability-list/#authenticationserviceforceresetpassword-missing-authentication-in-smartermail disclosure@vulncheck.com Third Party Advisory
https://labs.watchtowr.com/attackers-with-decompilers-strike-again-smartertools-smartermail-wt-2026-0001-auth-bypass/ disclosure@vulncheck.com ExploitThird Party Advisory
https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2026-23760 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0 US Government Resource
https://www.huntress.com/blog/smartermail-account-takeover-leading-to-rce 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0 ExploitThird Party Advisory
https://www.smartertools.com/smartermail/release-notes/current disclosure@vulncheck.com Release Notes
https://www.vulncheck.com/advisories/smartertools-smartermail-authentication-bypass-via-password-reset-api disclosure@vulncheck.com Third Party Advisory

Indicators (2)

IOCs linked to the auto-promoted Threat row.

Type	Value	VirusTotal	Attached
cwe	`CWE-288`	no local data	2026-05-14 02:58 UTC
cve	`CVE-2026-23760`	no local data	2026-05-14 02:58 UTC

Remediations (9)

Remediations are stored against the linked Threat row; the list below is deduplicated across both pages.

Patch Tuesday May 2026: Security Updates & CVE Analysis

web:zecurit.com

Get the complete breakdown of Microsoft's May 2026 Patch Tuesday. We analyze the latest security updates and all critical CVEs .

2026-05-14 18:20 UTC
Security Update Guide - Microsoft

web:portal.msrc.microsoft.com

The Security Update Guide provides information on the latest Microsoft security updates, helping users understand and address potential vulnerabilities effectively.

2026-05-14 18:20 UTC
Storm-2603 Exploits CVE-2026-23760 to Stage Warlock Ransomware

web:reliaquest.com

Editor's note: This report was authored by Alexa Feminella Key Points ReliaQuest identified activity likely linked to "Storm-2603" involving exploitation of a critical SmarterMail vulnerability ( CVE-2026-23760 ) to bypass authentication and stage "Warlock" ransomware on internet-facing systems. The threat actor blends in by abusing legitimate administrative features and deploying ...

2026-05-14 18:20 UTC
NVD - cve-2026-23760

web:nvd.nist.gov

An official website of the United States government Here's how you know

2026-05-14 18:20 UTC
CVE Record: CVE-2026-23760

web:www.cve.org

Vulnerability detail for CVE-2026-23760 Notice: Expanded keyword searching of CVE Records (with limitations) is now available in the search box above. Learn more here.

2026-05-14 18:20 UTC
CVE-2026-23760: SmarterMail Auth Bypass Vulnerability - SentinelOne

web:www.sentinelone.com

CVE-2026-23760 is an authentication bypass vulnerability in SmarterMail. Learn about its impact, affected versions, and mitigation methods.

2026-05-14 18:20 UTC
CVE-2026-23760 - Tenable

web:www.tenable.com

SmarterTools SmarterMail versions prior to build 9511 contain an authentication bypass vulnerability in the password reset API. The force-reset-password endpoint permits anonymous requests and fails to verify the existing password or a reset token when resetting system administrator accounts. An unauthenticated attacker can supply a target administrator username and a new password to reset the ...

2026-05-14 18:20 UTC
Overview of Critical SmarterMail Vulnerability (CVE-2026-23760)

web:www.upguard.com

Hackers are actively exploiting a critical authentication bypass in SmarterTools SmarterMail ( CVE-2026-23760 ). Learn how to protect your server and data now.

2026-05-14 18:20 UTC
CISA Required Action

CISA KEV

Apply mitigations per vendor instructions, follow applicable BOD 22-01 guidance for cloud services, or discontinue use of the product if mitigations are unavailable. Due date: 2026-02-16 Known ransomware campaign use: Known

2026-05-14 01:13 UTC

AI Forensic Analysis

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Raw JSON

The full cvelistV5 record. Download as CVE-2026-23760.json.

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