CVE-2013-0749 in Firefox
Summary
by MITRE
Multiple unspecified vulnerabilities in the browser engine in Mozilla Firefox before 18.0, Firefox ESR 17.x before 17.0.1, Thunderbird before 17.0.2, Thunderbird ESR 17.x before 17.0.1, and SeaMonkey before 2.15 allow remote attackers to cause a denial of service (memory corruption and application crash) or possibly execute arbitrary code via unknown vectors.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 04/20/2021
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2013-0749 represents a critical security flaw affecting multiple Mozilla products including Firefox, Thunderbird, and SeaMonkey across several versions. This issue resides within the browser engine component of these applications, specifically impacting versions prior to Firefox 18.0 and its Extended Support Release 17.x before 17.0.1, Thunderbird before 17.0.2 and its ESR 17.x before 17.0.1, and SeaMonkey before 2.15. The unspecified nature of the vulnerabilities suggests multiple distinct attack vectors that could potentially compromise the affected software through memory corruption and application instability. These vulnerabilities fall under the broader category of memory safety issues that have been extensively documented in cybersecurity literature and represent common attack surfaces for exploitation.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability involves memory corruption flaws within the browser engine's handling of various input data types and processing operations. When exploited, these flaws can lead to unpredictable behavior in the application's memory management system, resulting in either denial of service conditions where the application crashes or more severe scenarios where attackers can potentially execute arbitrary code on the target system. The memory corruption aspects of these vulnerabilities are particularly dangerous as they can be leveraged to bypass security mechanisms and gain unauthorized access to system resources. This type of vulnerability is commonly classified under CWE-119 in the Common Weakness Enumeration system, which specifically addresses weaknesses in memory safety and buffer overflows.
The operational impact of CVE-2013-0749 extends beyond simple application instability to potentially enable sophisticated attack scenarios that could compromise user systems. Remote attackers can exploit these vulnerabilities without requiring any local privileges or user interaction, making them particularly dangerous in enterprise environments where multiple users may be exposed to malicious content through web browsing activities. The potential for arbitrary code execution means that successful exploitation could lead to complete system compromise, data theft, or deployment of additional malicious software. Organizations using affected versions of these Mozilla products face significant risk exposure, especially in environments where users may encounter untrusted web content or where email clients are used to process potentially malicious attachments.
Mitigation strategies for this vulnerability require immediate patching of all affected software versions to the latest available releases that contain the necessary security fixes. System administrators should prioritize deployment of security updates across all affected Mozilla products, particularly in enterprise environments where the risk of exploitation is highest. The implementation of additional security controls such as web application firewalls, content filtering systems, and email security solutions can provide additional layers of protection while patches are being deployed. Organizations should also consider implementing network segmentation and access controls to limit the potential impact of successful exploitation attempts. This vulnerability aligns with several tactics described in the MITRE ATT&CK framework, particularly those related to privilege escalation and execution through memory corruption techniques, highlighting the need for comprehensive security measures that address multiple attack vectors.