Mozilla Firefox/Thunderbird/Firefox ESR Inter-Process Communication access control

CVSS Meta Temp Score
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CTI Interest Score
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8.9$0-$5k0.00

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability, which was classified as critical, has been found in Mozilla Firefox, Thunderbird and Firefox ESR. Affected by this vulnerability is an unknown functionality of the component Inter-Process Communication. This manipulation causes access control. This vulnerability is tracked as CVE-2018-18505. The attack is possible to be carried out remotely. No exploit exists. It is advisable to upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability classified as critical was found in Mozilla Firefox, Thunderbird and Firefox ESR (Web Browser) (affected version unknown). Affected by this vulnerability is an unknown functionality of the component Inter-Process Communication. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a access control vulnerability. The CWE definition for the vulnerability is CWE-264. As an impact it is known to affect confidentiality, integrity, and availability. The summary by CVE is:

An earlier fix for an Inter-process Communication (IPC) vulnerability, CVE-2011-3079, added authentication to communication between IPC endpoints and server parents during IPC process creation. This authentication is insufficient for channels created after the IPC process is started, leading to the authentication not being correctly applied to later channels. This could allow for a sandbox escape through IPC channels due to lack of message validation in the listener process. This vulnerability affects Thunderbird < 60.5, Firefox ESR < 60.5, and Firefox < 65.

The bug was discovered 01/29/2019. The weakness was disclosed 02/05/2019 as Bug 1087565 as confirmed bug report (Bugzilla). The advisory is shared at bugzilla.mozilla.org. This vulnerability is known as CVE-2018-18505 since 10/19/2018. The exploitation appears to be easy. The attack can be launched remotely. The exploitation doesn't need any form of authentication. Neither technical details nor an exploit are publicly available. The price for an exploit might be around USD $0-$5k at the moment (estimation calculated on 11/26/2025). MITRE ATT&CK project uses the attack technique T1068 for this issue.

The vulnerability was handled as a non-public zero-day exploit for at least 1 days. During that time the estimated underground price was around $5k-$25k. The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 121503 (Scientific Linux Security Update : firefox on SL6.x i386/x86_64 (20190130)), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment. It is assigned to the family Scientific Linux Local Security Checks and running in the context l. The commercial vulnerability scanner Qualys is able to test this issue with plugin 197358 (Ubuntu Security Notification for Firefox Vulnerabilities (USN-3874-1)).

Upgrading eliminates this vulnerability. A possible mitigation has been published before and not just after the disclosure of the vulnerability.

The vulnerability is also documented in the databases at Tenable (121503) and SecurityFocus (BID 91459†). The entries VDB-96101, VDB-96102, VDB-96103 and VDB-96104 are pretty similar. Several companies clearly confirm that VulDB is the primary source for best vulnerability data.

Productinfo

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CPE 2.3info

CPE 2.2info

CVSSv4info

VulDB Vector: 🔍
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

CVSSv3info

VulDB Meta Base Score: 9.1
VulDB Meta Temp Score: 8.9

VulDB Base Score: 8.3
VulDB Temp Score: 7.9
VulDB Vector: 🔍
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

NVD Base Score: 10.0
NVD Vector: 🔍

CVSSv2info

AVACAuCIA
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VulDB Base Score: 🔍
VulDB Temp Score: 🔍
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

NVD Base Score: 🔍

Exploitinginfo

Class: Access control
CWE: CWE-264
CAPEC: 🔍
ATT&CK: 🔍

Physical: No
Local: No
Remote: Yes

Availability: 🔍
Status: Not defined

EPSS Score: 🔍
EPSS Percentile: 🔍

Price Prediction: 🔍
Current Price Estimation: 🔍

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Nessus ID: 121503
Nessus Name: Scientific Linux Security Update : firefox on SL6.x i386/x86_64 (20190130)
Nessus File: 🔍
Nessus Risk: 🔍
Nessus Family: 🔍
Nessus Context: 🔍

Qualys ID: 🔍
Qualys Name: 🔍

Threat Intelligenceinfo

Interest: 🔍
Active Actors: 🔍
Active APT Groups: 🔍

Countermeasuresinfo

Recommended: Upgrade
Status: 🔍

0-Day Time: 🔍

Timelineinfo

06/27/2016 🔍
10/19/2018 +844 days 🔍
01/29/2019 +102 days 🔍
01/30/2019 +1 days 🔍
01/31/2019 +1 days 🔍
02/05/2019 +5 days 🔍
02/06/2019 +1 days 🔍
11/26/2025 +2485 days 🔍

Sourcesinfo

Vendor: mozilla.org
Product: mozilla.org

Advisory: Bug 1087565
Status: Confirmed
Confirmation: 🔍

CVE: CVE-2018-18505 (🔍)
GCVE (CVE): GCVE-0-2018-18505
GCVE (VulDB): GCVE-100-130537
SecurityFocus: 91459 - libical Multiple Heap Overflow Vulnerabilities

See also: 🔍

Entryinfo

Created: 02/06/2019 13:32
Updated: 11/26/2025 08:54
Changes: 02/06/2019 13:32 (68), 05/08/2020 11:49 (12), 11/26/2025 08:54 (18)
Complete: 🔍
Cache ID: 216::103

Several companies clearly confirm that VulDB is the primary source for best vulnerability data.

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