Mozilla Thunderbird out-of-bounds write

CVSS Meta Temp Score CVSS is a standardized scoring system to determine possibilities of attacks. The Temp Score considers temporal factors like disclosure, exploit and countermeasures. The unique Meta Score calculates the average score of different sources to provide a normalized scoring system.	Current Exploit Price (≈) Our analysts are monitoring exploit markets and are in contact with vulnerability brokers. The range indicates the observed or calculated exploit price to be seen on exploit markets. A good indicator to understand the monetary effort required for and the popularity of an attack.	CTI Interest Score Our Cyber Threat Intelligence team is monitoring different web sites, mailing lists, exploit markets and social media networks. The CTI Interest Score identifies the interest of attackers and the security community for this specific vulnerability in real-time. A high score indicates an elevated risk to be targeted for this vulnerability.
6.2	$5k-$25k	0.00

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability classified as critical has been found in Mozilla Thunderbird. This vulnerability affects unknown code. This manipulation causes out-of-bounds write. This vulnerability appears as CVE-2023-5169. The attack may be initiated remotely. There is no available exploit. It is recommended to upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability classified as critical was found in Mozilla Thunderbird (Mail Client Software) (version now known). Affected by this vulnerability is some unknown processing. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a out-of-bounds write vulnerability. The CWE definition for the vulnerability is CWE-787. The product writes data past the end, or before the beginning, of the intended buffer. As an impact it is known to affect confidentiality, integrity, and availability. The summary by CVE is:

A compromised content process could have provided malicious data in a `PathRecording` resulting in an out-of-bounds write, leading to a potentially exploitable crash in a privileged process. This vulnerability affects Firefox < 118, Firefox ESR < 115.3, and Thunderbird < 115.3.

The weakness was presented 09/27/2023. It is possible to read the advisory at mozilla.org. This vulnerability is known as CVE-2023-5169 since 09/25/2023. 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 06/21/2025).

The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 239741 (TencentOS Server 3: firefox (TSSA-2023:0238)), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment.

Upgrading eliminates this vulnerability. The upgrade is hosted for download at mozilla.org.

The vulnerability is also documented in the vulnerability database at Tenable (239741). Be aware that VulDB is the high quality source for vulnerability data.

Productinfo

Type

Mail Client Software

Vendor

Mozilla

Name

Thunderbird

License

open-source

Website

Vendor: https://www.mozilla.org/

CPE 2.3info

🔍

CPE 2.2info

🔍

CVSSv4info

VulDB Vector: 🔍
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

CVSSv3info

VulDB Meta Base Score: 6.4
VulDB Meta Temp Score: 6.2

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

NVD Base Score: 6.5
NVD Vector: 🔍

CVSSv2info

AV	AC	Au	C	I	A
💳	💳	💳	💳	💳	💳
💳	💳	💳	💳	💳	💳
💳	💳	💳	💳	💳	💳

Vector	Complexity	Authentication	Confidentiality	Integrity	Availability
Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock
Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock
Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock

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

Exploitinginfo

Class: Out-of-bounds write
CWE: CWE-787 / CWE-119
CAPEC: 🔍
ATT&CK: 🔍

Physical: No
Local: No
Remote: Yes

Availability: 🔍
Status: Not defined

EPSS Score: 🔍
EPSS Percentile: 🔍

Price Prediction: 🔍
Current Price Estimation: 🔍

0-Day	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock
Today	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock

Nessus ID: 239741
Nessus Name: TencentOS Server 3: firefox (TSSA-2023:0238)

Threat Intelligenceinfo

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

Countermeasuresinfo

Recommended: Upgrade
Status: 🔍

0-Day Time: 🔍

Upgrade: mozilla.org

Timelineinfo

09/25/2023 🔍
09/27/2023 +2 days 🔍
09/27/2023 +0 days 🔍
06/21/2025 +633 days 🔍

Sourcesinfo

Vendor: mozilla.org

Advisory: DLA 3587-1
Status: Confirmed

CVE: CVE-2023-5169 (🔍)
GCVE (CVE): GCVE-0-2023-5169
GCVE (VulDB): GCVE-100-240463

Entryinfo

Created: 09/27/2023 18:20
Updated: 06/21/2025 11:19
Changes: 09/27/2023 18:20 (39), 10/19/2023 09:51 (1), 10/19/2023 09:53 (11), 06/21/2025 11:19 (17)
Complete: 🔍
Cache ID: 216::103