Accessing your university email from a browser, smartphone, or desktop client should not be a problem. At the University of Angers, logging into Zimbra remains the daily entry point for checking institutional emails, whether you are a student, teacher, or administrative staff. However, behind this routine lies a technical ecosystem that has changed significantly in recent months, particularly regarding security.
Recent Zimbra Vulnerabilities and Impact on Your UA Account
Have you ever encountered a Zimbra login page that looked different from the day before? This visual change may indicate a security update on the server side. In 2025 and 2026, several alerts directly concerned the Zimbra platform used by many French universities.
An espionage campaign exploiting the vulnerability CVE-2025-66376 in Zimbra’s Classic interface was documented as early as July 2025. A joint advisory published on July 22, 2026, by CISA, the FBI, and NSA (advisory AA26-204A), relayed by the Czech CERT (NÚKIB), confirmed that thousands of Zimbra instances in Europe remained vulnerable due to a lack of updates to the patched versions 10.0.18 or 10.1.13.
More recently, in the summer of 2026, another critical flaw, CVE-2026-73570 in the SNMP component of Zimbra, was the subject of bulletins from the Health CERT and the Canadian Cyber Security Centre. This context explains why the University of Angers has carried out updates to its email system, as communicated on its digital news page.
An article detailing the connection to UA Zimbra on Diversity and Employment reviews the concrete steps to secure access in this changing context.
A direct consequence for users: the Classic interface is no longer recommended. If your Zimbra still displays in this version, switch to the standard or modern interface in the display settings. This is not a matter of comfort; it is the Classic version that concentrated the actively exploited flaw.
UA Credentials and Zimbra Account Lifespan
Access to Zimbra relies on the same username/password pair as the ENT (Digital Work Environment) of the University of Angers. Your username generally follows the format firstname.lastname, and the password is the one set via the digital portal.
How long does the account remain active?
The access rules published by the university specify a strict timeline. A student enrolled in year N retains their Zimbra mailbox until February 15 of year N+2 if they do not re-enroll. For staff, the account remains active as long as the contract or career is ongoing.
Once the account is deactivated, the @univ-angers.fr address can be kept for life, but only as a redirect. In practice, messages will arrive at a personal address that you have provided in the digital portal. You will no longer be able to send emails from the institutional address.
The university sends warning messages in January and February to those concerned by departures. Therefore, check your inbox at the beginning of the calendar year to avoid being caught off guard.
Setting Up UA Zimbra on Smartphone and Email Client
Access via browser works on Chrome, Firefox, Edge, and Safari. However, most users also check their emails on their phones. Zimbra at the University of Angers supports the IMAP protocol, allowing it to be configured on almost all email clients.
Here are the settings to enter for an IMAP configuration:
- Incoming server (IMAP): the address of the UA Zimbra server, usually indicated in the campus digital FAQ, with port 993 and SSL/TLS encryption
- Outgoing server (SMTP): same server domain, port 465 or 587 depending on the client, always with encrypted connection
- Username: your full UA login (firstname.lastname), not the full email address in some cases, check the university documentation
- Password: the one from the digital portal, identical to the ENT
If the connection fails on your mail application, first check that your password has not expired. The ENT of the University of Angers indicates passwords that are too old (“Your password is too old”) and blocks access until it is renewed.
Expired Password or Connection Refused: Quick Diagnosis
A failed connection to Zimbra UA does not always mean a serious technical problem. In most cases, the cause is one of the following:
- Expired password: the digital portal requires periodic renewal. Go to the “My Account” section to update it
- Incompatible browser or corrupted cache: test with another browser or in private browsing before contacting support
- Server maintenance: the university publishes announcements on its digital news page when an update to Zimbra or UA Box is in progress
- Account deactivated: if you are no longer enrolled and the retention deadline has passed, the mailbox is no longer accessible
Testing the connection via webmail in a browser first helps isolate the problem. If webmail works but your mobile application does not, the issue lies with the IMAP configuration or the password stored locally.
Redirection and Backup Address
Providing a personal email address in the digital portal is not optional. It is the only way to receive password renewal notifications if your Zimbra access is blocked. It is also this address that will take over in redirection once the account is closed.
The most reliable reflex remains to set up the redirection as soon as the account is activated, not at the time of departure. Many former students discover too late that they no longer have access to archived exchanges in their UA mailbox.
The Zimbra email system at the University of Angers functions reliably, provided you keep your password updated and follow the security developments affecting the platform. With the vulnerabilities documented in 2025 and 2026, abandoning the Classic interface and regularly checking announcements from the digital campus are two habits that prevent most blockages.