Description
aiosmtplib is an asynchronous SMTP client for use with asyncio. Prior to 5.1.2, SMTPProtocol.start_tls in src/aiosmtplib/protocol.py consumes the server's 220 response and starts the TLS handshake without clearing SMTPProtocol._buffer. An active network attacker can place attacker-chosen SMTP response lines after the plaintext 220 response in the same network segment. The method then calls loop.start_tls; those bytes survive the transport upgrade and are parsed as the first response from inside the TLS session, desynchronizing subsequent SMTP command and response pairs. Connections using start_tls=True or opportunistic STARTTLS are affected, while connections using use_tls=True are not. This issue is fixed in version 5.1.2.
References3
Metrics
- CVSS 3.1
-
5.9
MEDIUM
Score source: CNA
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N - EPSS — exploit probability
- 0% percentile: 35 · as of 10 November 2026
- CWE
- CWE-74
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