Dovecot to version 2.4, removes support for SSLv3.
SSLv3 has been deprecated for several years due to significant security vulnerabilities, and the latest version of Dovecot no longer allows it to be used for secure POP or IMAP connections.
If your email program was previously configured to use SSLv3—either explicitly or due to older device/software limitations—you may now experience login failures when using POP.
Who Is Affected?
You may be affected if:
- You use POP to access your email, and
- Your email client or device relies on older SSL/TLS versions (e.g., SSLv3), or
- You are using outdated email software that cannot negotiate modern TLS protocols (TLS 1.2+).
Common symptoms include:
- Repeated login prompts
- “Authentication failed” or “Unable to connect to server” messages
- Sudden failure after the cPanel update despite no configuration changes
If you are on newer software(Windows 11 etc.), you may just be connecting over the default non-secure ports.
You can check your email client settings and update to use the SSL (or SSL/TLS) ports as follows:
non-secure incoming port: 110
secure incoming port: 995
non-secure incoming port: 25 (or 26)
secure incoming port: 465 (or 587)
If this does not fix the issue, the recommended workaround is to access your email via Webmail.
You can log in at (replacing yourdomain.com with your actual domain name):
https://yourdomain.com/webmail
(or via your hosting account’s control panel)
Webmail is fully compatible with all modern security standards and remains unaffected by the SSL changes.