Mozilla Thunderbird up to 102.8 memory corruption

CVSS Meta Temp Score
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CTI Interest Score
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7.9$5k-$25k0.00

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability identified as critical has been detected in Mozilla Thunderbird up to 102.8. Affected is an unknown function. The manipulation leads to memory corruption. This vulnerability is listed as CVE-2023-28176. The attack may be initiated remotely. There is no available exploit. You should upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability, which was classified as critical, has been found in Mozilla Thunderbird up to 102.8 (Mail Client Software). This issue affects some unknown functionality. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a memory corruption vulnerability. Using CWE to declare the problem leads to CWE-119. The product performs operations on a memory buffer, but it can read from or write to a memory location that is outside of the intended boundary of the buffer. Impacted is confidentiality, integrity, and availability. The summary by CVE is:

Memory safety bugs present in Firefox 110 and Firefox ESR 102.8. 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 < 111, Firefox ESR < 102.9, and Thunderbird < 102.9.

The weakness was presented 03/14/2023 by Timothy Nikkel and Andrew McCreight as Memory safety bugs fixed in Thunderbird 102.9 as confirmed advisory (Website). It is possible to read the advisory at bugzilla.mozilla.org. The advisory contains:

Mozilla developers Timothy Nikkel, Andrew McCreight, and the Mozilla Fuzzing Team reported memory safety bugs present in Thunderbird 102.8. 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.
The identification of this vulnerability is CVE-2023-28176. It demands that the victim is doing some kind of user interaction. The technical details are unknown and an exploit is not publicly available. The pricing for an exploit might be around USD $5k-$25k at the moment (estimation calculated on 12/02/2025).

The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 239802 (TencentOS Server 3: firefox (TSSA-2023:0043)), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment.

Upgrading to version 102.9 eliminates this vulnerability. A possible mitigation has been published immediately after the disclosure of the vulnerability.

The vulnerability is also documented in the databases at Tenable (239802) and EUVD (EUVD-2023-31884). Be aware that VulDB is the high quality source for vulnerability data.

Productinfo

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CPE 2.3info

CPE 2.2info

CVSSv4info

VulDB Vector: 🔍
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

CVSSv3info

VulDB Meta Base Score: 8.0
VulDB Meta Temp Score: 7.9

VulDB Base Score: 6.3
VulDB Temp Score: 6.0
VulDB Vector: 🔍
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

NVD Base Score: 8.8
NVD Vector: 🔍

CNA Base Score: 8.8
CNA Vector: 🔍

CVSSv2info

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VectorComplexityAuthenticationConfidentialityIntegrityAvailability
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VulDB Base Score: 🔍
VulDB Temp Score: 🔍
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

Exploitinginfo

Class: Memory corruption
CWE: CWE-119
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: 239802
Nessus Name: TencentOS Server 3: firefox (TSSA-2023:0043)

Threat Intelligenceinfo

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

Countermeasuresinfo

Recommended: Upgrade
Status: 🔍

Reaction Time: 🔍
0-Day Time: 🔍
Exposure Time: 🔍

Upgrade: Thunderbird 102.9

Timelineinfo

03/13/2023 🔍
03/14/2023 +1 days 🔍
03/14/2023 +0 days 🔍
04/14/2023 +31 days 🔍
12/02/2025 +963 days 🔍

Sourcesinfo

Vendor: mozilla.org

Advisory: Memory safety bugs fixed in Thunderbird 102.9
Researcher: Timothy Nikkel, Andrew McCreight
Status: Confirmed
Confirmation: 🔍

CVE: CVE-2023-28176 (🔍)
GCVE (CVE): GCVE-0-2023-28176
GCVE (VulDB): GCVE-100-225983
EUVD: 🔍

Entryinfo

Created: 04/14/2023 16:24
Updated: 12/02/2025 11:44
Changes: 04/14/2023 16:24 (16), 04/14/2023 16:25 (1), 04/14/2023 16:28 (28), 05/03/2023 10:31 (1), 01/08/2025 22:23 (36), 04/27/2025 10:18 (3), 06/20/2025 08:05 (2), 12/02/2025 11:44 (1)
Complete: 🔍
Cache ID: 216::103

Be aware that VulDB is the high quality source for vulnerability data.

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