CVE-2020-15670 in Firefox
Summary
by MITRE
Mozilla developers reported memory safety bugs present in Firefox for Android 79. Some of these bugs showed evidence of memory corruption and we presume that with enough effort some of these could have been exploited to run arbitrary code. This vulnerability affects Firefox < 80, Firefox ESR < 78.2, Thunderbird < 78.2, and Firefox for Android < 80.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 11/15/2020
This vulnerability represents a critical memory safety issue discovered in Mozilla Firefox for Android version 79 and related products. The flaw manifests as memory corruption vulnerabilities that could potentially be exploited by attackers to execute arbitrary code on affected systems. These memory safety bugs were identified by Mozilla developers during their routine security assessments and represent a significant risk to user security and system integrity. The vulnerability impacts not only the standard Firefox browser but also Firefox Extended Support Release versions and Thunderbird email client, indicating a broad attack surface that requires comprehensive remediation efforts.
The technical nature of this vulnerability stems from memory safety issues that occur within the browser's memory management systems. When applications fail to properly manage memory allocation and deallocation, they become susceptible to buffer overflows, use-after-free conditions, and other memory corruption scenarios. These types of vulnerabilities are particularly dangerous because they can allow attackers to overwrite critical memory locations and potentially redirect program execution to malicious code. The presence of memory corruption evidence suggests that the flaws may have been exploitable through techniques such as heap spraying or return-oriented programming attacks that leverage the corrupted memory state to gain unauthorized control over the affected system.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends across multiple Mozilla products and platforms, creating a widespread security concern for organizations and individual users. Firefox for Android users are particularly at risk since mobile browsers often have more limited security mitigations compared to desktop versions. The vulnerability affects versions prior to Firefox 80, Firefox ESR 78.2, Thunderbird 78.2, and Firefox for Android 80, indicating that a substantial user base remains exposed. This affects not just individual users but also enterprise environments where these applications are widely deployed, potentially allowing attackers to compromise mobile devices and subsequently gain access to corporate networks through mobile device management systems or by exploiting the device as a foothold for further attacks.
Organizations should prioritize immediate patching of affected systems to mitigate this vulnerability, as the potential for exploitation exists in the wild. The remediation approach involves updating to the patched versions of Firefox, Firefox ESR, Thunderbird, and Firefox for Android. Security teams should implement monitoring for suspicious network activity that may indicate exploitation attempts, particularly focusing on mobile device traffic patterns. Additionally, implementing memory safety mitigations such as address space layout randomization and heap hardening can provide additional defense-in-depth layers. According to CWE classification, this vulnerability likely maps to CWE-125 Out-of-bounds Read and CWE-787 Out-of-bounds Write categories, while ATT&CK framework would categorize associated exploitation techniques under T1059 Command and Scripting Interpreter and T1078 Valid Accounts to establish persistence. The vulnerability demonstrates the critical importance of maintaining up-to-date software and implementing comprehensive patch management strategies across all enterprise systems.