CVE-2018-18502 in Firefox
Summary
by MITRE
Mozilla developers and community members reported memory safety bugs present in Firefox 64. Some of these bugs showed evidence of memory corruption and we presume that with enough effort that some of these could be exploited to run arbitrary code. This vulnerability affects Firefox < 65.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 05/08/2020
This vulnerability represents a collection of memory safety issues discovered within the Firefox browser version 64, as reported by Mozilla's development team and community contributors. The reported bugs constitute a class of memory corruption vulnerabilities that exist within the browser's memory management systems. These issues are particularly concerning because they demonstrate potential pathways for attackers to manipulate memory structures in ways that could lead to arbitrary code execution. The vulnerability specifically affects Firefox versions prior to 65, indicating that the memory safety flaws were present in the browser's rendering and processing engines where memory allocation and deallocation occur. The nature of these bugs suggests they could be exploited through carefully crafted web content that triggers the memory corruption conditions, potentially allowing malicious actors to execute code on affected systems.
The technical flaw underlying this vulnerability stems from improper memory handling within Firefox's JavaScript engine and rendering components. Memory corruption vulnerabilities typically occur when software writes data to memory locations outside of the intended boundaries, or when memory is accessed after it has been freed. These conditions can lead to unpredictable behavior, crashes, or more critically, allow attackers to inject and execute malicious code. The presence of multiple memory safety bugs indicates systemic issues within Firefox's memory management architecture, particularly in how it handles dynamic memory allocation and deallocation during web page processing. Such vulnerabilities often manifest through buffer overflows, use-after-free conditions, or other memory access violations that can be leveraged by attackers to gain control over the browser process.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple browser instability, as it creates potential entry points for sophisticated attacks that could compromise user systems. When exploited successfully, these memory corruption flaws could enable attackers to execute arbitrary code with the privileges of the browser process, potentially leading to full system compromise. The vulnerability affects users running Firefox versions earlier than 65, making it particularly dangerous for organizations that have not yet updated their browser installations. Attackers could craft malicious web pages that, when loaded in vulnerable browsers, trigger the memory corruption conditions and establish remote code execution capabilities. This type of vulnerability is especially concerning in enterprise environments where users may be running outdated browser versions due to compatibility requirements or delayed update processes.
Mitigation strategies for this vulnerability center around immediate browser updates to version 65 or later, which contain patches addressing the identified memory safety issues. Organizations should implement robust patch management procedures to ensure all Firefox installations are updated promptly, as the vulnerability window remains open for users running older versions. Additional protective measures include deploying web application firewalls that can detect and block malicious content, implementing strict browser security policies, and utilizing sandboxing technologies that limit the potential impact of successful exploitation attempts. Security teams should also consider monitoring for exploitation attempts through network traffic analysis and endpoint detection systems, as memory corruption vulnerabilities often generate specific patterns of network activity or system behavior that can be detected by security tools. The vulnerability aligns with common attack patterns documented in the attack tree framework, particularly those involving browser-based exploits and privilege escalation techniques that leverage memory safety flaws.