CVE-2008-5500 in Firefox
Summary
by MITRE
The layout engine in Mozilla Firefox 3.x before 3.0.5 and 2.x before 2.0.0.19, Thunderbird 2.x before 2.0.0.19, and SeaMonkey 1.x before 1.1.14 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (crash) and possibly trigger memory corruption via vectors related to (1) a reachable assertion or (2) an integer overflow.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 08/03/2021
The vulnerability described in CVE-2008-5500 represents a critical flaw in the layout engine of several Mozilla-based applications including Firefox, Thunderbird, and SeaMonkey. This issue affects versions prior to specific security patches, with Firefox 3.x before 3.0.5 and 2.x before 2.0.0.19, Thunderbird 2.x before 2.0.0.19, and SeaMonkey 1.x before 1.1.14 being particularly vulnerable. The flaw stems from improper handling of certain input data within the browser's rendering engine, which processes HTML and CSS content to display web pages to users.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability involves two primary attack vectors that can lead to system instability. The first vector relates to a reachable assertion failure within the layout engine, which occurs when the application encounters malformed or maliciously crafted web content that triggers an internal consistency check that should never be violated under normal circumstances. The second vector involves an integer overflow condition that can occur during memory allocation operations within the rendering process. These conditions are particularly dangerous because they can be exploited remotely through web content without requiring any user interaction beyond visiting a malicious website.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple denial of service scenarios, as it can potentially lead to memory corruption that may be exploited for more sophisticated attacks. When an assertion fails, the application typically crashes and terminates the rendering process, causing the browser to become unresponsive or display an error message. However, the integer overflow condition presents a more serious risk as it can corrupt memory structures that may allow attackers to execute arbitrary code on the victim's system. This vulnerability aligns with CWE-129, which describes improper validation of array indices, and CWE-190, which covers integer overflow conditions that can lead to memory corruption. The attack patterns associated with this vulnerability map to ATT&CK technique T1203, which involves exploiting software vulnerabilities to gain access to systems.
The exploitation of this vulnerability demonstrates the importance of proper input validation and memory management in browser security architectures. Attackers can craft web pages that contain specifically designed content to trigger these conditions, causing the affected applications to crash or potentially execute malicious code. The vulnerability affects a wide range of users since these applications are widely deployed across different operating systems and platforms. Organizations and individuals using affected versions should immediately apply the security patches released by Mozilla to prevent potential exploitation. The remediation process involves updating to the patched versions of Firefox, Thunderbird, and SeaMonkey, which include enhanced input validation and memory safety checks. Additionally, implementing network security controls such as web application firewalls and content filtering systems can provide additional layers of protection against exploitation attempts targeting this vulnerability.