CVE-2024-10458 in Thunderbird
Summary
by MITRE • 10/29/2024
A permission leak could have occurred from a trusted site to an untrusted site via `embed` or `object` elements. This vulnerability affects Firefox < 132, Firefox ESR < 128.4, Firefox ESR < 115.17, Thunderbird < 128.4, and Thunderbird < 132.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 03/02/2025
This vulnerability represents a critical cross-origin security flaw that emerged from the improper handling of embedded content within Firefox and Thunderbird browsers. The issue specifically manifests when trusted sites attempt to embed content from untrusted origins through html embed or object elements, creating an unexpected permission leakage that undermines the browser's security model. The vulnerability affects multiple browser versions including Firefox versions prior to 132, Firefox ESR versions prior to 128.4 and 115.17, and corresponding Thunderbird versions, indicating a widespread impact across the Mozilla ecosystem. This permission leak occurs at the document object model level where embedded content can potentially access resources or execute code that should remain restricted to the originating trusted domain.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from insufficient origin validation mechanisms within the browser's content rendering engine. When a web page loads embedded content through embed or object tags, the browser should enforce strict cross-origin security policies that prevent untrusted content from accessing sensitive resources or executing privileged operations. However, the flaw allows embedded content to bypass these security boundaries, potentially enabling attackers to exploit the trust relationship between the embedding site and the embedded content. This vulnerability specifically relates to the browser's handling of the document.domain property and cross-origin resource access controls, where the security context established by the embedding site becomes inadvertently compromised by the embedded content.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple information disclosure, as it could enable sophisticated attacks including cross-site scripting exploitation, data exfiltration, and privilege escalation within the browser's security sandbox. An attacker could leverage this flaw to inject malicious content into trusted websites, potentially gaining access to user sessions, cookies, or other sensitive browser resources. The vulnerability creates a pathway for attackers to circumvent the same-origin policy enforcement that is fundamental to web security, allowing untrusted content to perform operations that should be restricted to the embedding domain. This weakness particularly affects web applications that rely heavily on embedded content and could be exploited in targeted attacks against users of affected browser versions.
Mitigation strategies for this vulnerability require immediate deployment of patched browser versions as provided by Mozilla, with organizations implementing comprehensive browser update policies to ensure all affected systems receive the necessary security patches. The fix addresses the core issue through enhanced origin validation and stricter enforcement of cross-origin security boundaries when processing embed and object elements. Security teams should also consider implementing additional network-level protections including content security policy headers that restrict embedding of untrusted content and monitor for suspicious embedding patterns. Organizations may need to temporarily disable or restrict the use of embed and object elements in high-risk applications until the vulnerability is fully addressed through proper patching procedures. This vulnerability aligns with CWE-284 (Improper Access Control) and represents a specific implementation weakness in the browser's security model that violates fundamental principles of web security isolation as defined in the ATT&CK framework under privilege escalation techniques.