CVE-2011-0059 in Firefox
Summary
by MITRE
Cross-site request forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in Mozilla Firefox before 3.5.17 and 3.6.x before 3.6.14, and SeaMonkey before 2.0.12, allows remote attackers to hijack the authentication of arbitrary users for requests that were initiated by a plugin and received a 307 redirect to a page on a different web site.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 10/18/2021
The CVE-2011-0059 vulnerability represents a critical cross-site request forgery flaw affecting major web browsers including Mozilla Firefox and SeaMonkey. This vulnerability stems from the browsers' handling of 307 redirect responses within plugin-initiated requests, creating a dangerous scenario where attackers can manipulate user sessions across different domains. The flaw specifically impacts versions prior to Firefox 3.5.17 and 3.6.x 3.6.14, as well as SeaMonkey 2.0.12, making a substantial portion of the web browser ecosystem susceptible to this attack vector.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability involves the interaction between browser plugins and HTTP redirect mechanisms. When a plugin initiates a request that receives a 307 temporary redirect response, the browser's handling of this redirect fails to properly validate or sanitize the target domain. This allows malicious actors to craft requests that appear to originate from legitimate plugin contexts while actually redirecting to attacker-controlled domains. The vulnerability exploits the trust relationship between plugins and the browser's authentication mechanisms, enabling unauthorized actions to be performed on behalf of authenticated users.
From an operational perspective, this CSRF vulnerability poses significant risks to web application security and user privacy. Attackers can leverage this flaw to perform actions such as changing user passwords, transferring funds, modifying account settings, or accessing sensitive data without user knowledge or consent. The attack requires minimal user interaction beyond visiting a malicious website, making it particularly dangerous in phishing campaigns or compromised web environments. The vulnerability is especially concerning because it operates at the browser level, bypassing many traditional web application security controls and defenses.
Security professionals should recognize this vulnerability as a variant of CWE-352, which specifically addresses cross-site request forgery conditions. The attack pattern aligns with ATT&CK technique T1566.001, focusing on the initial access phase through malicious web content. Organizations should implement immediate mitigations including updating to patched browser versions, implementing Content Security Policy headers, and deploying additional authentication controls such as anti-CSRF tokens. The vulnerability demonstrates the critical importance of browser security updates and the need for comprehensive security testing that includes plugin interactions and redirect handling scenarios.