CVE-2018-5186 in Firefox
Summary
by MITRE
Memory safety bugs present in Firefox 60. 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 < 61.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 02/23/2020
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2018-5186 represents a collection of memory safety issues discovered in Mozilla Firefox version 60 and earlier. These flaws constitute a critical class of software vulnerabilities that can potentially lead to arbitrary code execution when exploited by malicious actors. The affected browser versions include all releases prior to Firefox 61, making a substantial user base susceptible to these memory corruption issues. The severity of these vulnerabilities stems from their potential to compromise the fundamental memory management mechanisms that govern how applications handle data storage and retrieval.
Memory safety bugs typically arise from improper handling of memory allocation, deallocation, or access patterns within software applications. In the context of web browsers like Firefox, these issues often manifest through buffer overflows, use-after-free conditions, or other memory corruption scenarios that can occur when processing malformed input data from web pages. The vulnerability affects Firefox's rendering engine and JavaScript engine components where complex memory management operations occur during page processing. These memory corruption flaws can be triggered when the browser encounters specially crafted web content that exploits the underlying memory handling code, potentially causing unpredictable behavior in the application's memory space.
The operational impact of CVE-2018-5186 extends beyond simple browser instability, as these memory safety issues create opportunities for sophisticated exploitation techniques. Attackers can leverage these vulnerabilities to execute malicious code on affected systems, potentially leading to complete system compromise, data theft, or unauthorized access to sensitive information. The presence of evidence showing memory corruption patterns suggests that successful exploitation could result in privilege escalation or persistent malware installation. This vulnerability particularly affects users who browse the internet without proper security updates, as the exploitation requires no user interaction beyond visiting malicious websites. The potential for remote code execution makes this vulnerability particularly dangerous in enterprise environments where browser security is critical for protecting corporate networks.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2018-5186 center around immediate software updates to Firefox version 61 or later, which contain patches addressing the identified memory safety issues. System administrators should prioritize deployment of these security updates across all affected systems, particularly in environments where users may encounter untrusted web content. Additional protective measures include implementing browser security features such as sandboxing, content filtering, and regular security audits of web applications. Organizations should also consider deploying network-based security solutions that can detect and block malicious web traffic patterns associated with exploitation attempts. The vulnerability aligns with CWE-122, which describes buffer overflow conditions, and may map to ATT&CK techniques involving privilege escalation and code injection. Regular vulnerability scanning and security monitoring should be maintained to identify similar memory safety issues that may emerge in other browser components or web technologies.