Multiple Vulnerabilities in Mozilla Products Could Allow for Arbitrary Code Execution

Multiple vulnerabilities have been discovered in Mozilla products, the most severe of which could allow for arbitrary code execution.

• Mozilla Firefox is a web browser used to access the Internet.
• Mozilla Firefox ESR is a version of the web browser intended to be deployed in large organizations.
• Mozilla Thunderbird is an email client.

Successful exploitation of the most severe of these vulnerabilities could allow for arbitrary code execution. Depending on the privileges associated with the user an attacker could then install programs; view, change, or delete data; or create new accounts with full user rights. Users whose accounts are configured to have fewer user rights on the system could be less impacted than those who operate with administrative user rights.

There are currently no reports of these vulnerabilities being exploited in the wild.

Multiple vulnerabilities have been discovered in Mozilla products, the most severe of which could allow for arbitrary code execution. Details of these vulnerabilities are as follows:

Tactic: Initial Access (TA0001):

Technique: Drive-by Compromise (T1189)

• An attacker could have caused memory corruption due to a flaw in Apple's GPU driver; this can be avoided by working around the flaw. Note: This issue only affected macOS operating systems. Other operating systems are unaffected. (CVE-2024-11691)

Additional lower severity vulnerabilities include: 

• Malicious websites may have been able to user intent confirmation through tapjacking. This could have led to users unknowingly approving the launch of external applications, potentially exposing them to underlying vulnerabilities. (CVE-2024-11700)
• Under certain circumstances, navigating to a webpage would result in the address missing from the location URL bar, making it unclear what the URL was for the loaded webpage. (CVE-2024-53976)
• An attacker could cause a select dropdown to be shown over another tab; this could have led to user confusion and possible spoofing attacks. (CVE-2024-11692)
• The incorrect domain may have been displayed in the address bar during an interrupted navigation attempt. This could have led to user confusion and possible spoofing attacks. (CVE-2024-11701)
• Copying sensitive information from Private Browsing tabs on Android, such as passwords, may have inadvertently stored data in the cloud-based clipboard history if enabled. (CVE-2024-11702)
• The executable file warning was not presented when downloading .library-ms files. Note: This issue only affected Windows operating systems. Other operating systems are unaffected. (CVE-2024-11693)
• Enhanced Tracking Protection's Strict mode may have inadvertently allowed a CSP frame-src bypass and DOM-based XSS through the Google SafeFrame shim in the Web Compatibility extension. This issue could have exposed users to malicious frames masquerading as legitimate content. (CVE-2024-11694)
• A crafted URL containing Arabic script and whitespace characters could have hidden the true origin of the page, resulting in a potential spoofing attack. (CVE-2024-11695)
• The application fails to account for exceptions thrown by the loadManifestFromFile method during add-on signature verification. This flaw, triggered by an invalid or unsupported extension manifest, could have caused runtime errors that disrupted the signature validation process. As a result, the enforcement of signature validation for unrelated add-ons may have been bypassed. Signature validation in this context is used to ensure that third-party applications on the user's computer have not tampered with the user's extensions, limiting the impact of this issue. (CVE-2024-11696)
• When handling keypress events, an attacker may have been able to trick a user into bypassing the "Open Executable File?" confirmation dialog. This could have led to malicious code execution. (CVE-2024-11697)
• A double-free issue occurred in sec_pkcs7_decoder_start_decrypt() when handling an error path. Under specific conditions, the same symmetric key could have been freed twice, potentially leading to memory corruption. (CVE-2024-11704)
• A flaw in handling fullscreen transitions may have inadvertently caused the application to become stuck in fullscreen mode when a modal dialog was opened during the transition. This issue left users unable to exit fullscreen mode using standard actions like pressing "Esc" or accessing right-click menus, resulting in a disrupted browsing experience until the browser is restarted. This bug only affects the application when running on macOS. Other operating systems are unaffected. (CVE-2024-11698)
• NSC_DeriveKey inadvertently assums that the phKey parameter is always non-NULL. When it was passed as NULL, a segmentation fault (SEGV) occurred, leading to crashes. This behavior conflicted with the PKCS#11 v3.0 specification, which allows phKey to be NULL for certain mechanisms. (CVE-2024-11705)
• A null pointer dereference may have inadvertently occurred in pk12util, and specifically in the SEC_ASN1DecodeItem_Util function, when handling malformed or improperly formatted input files. (CVE-2024-11706)
• Missing thread synchronization primitives could have led to a data race on members of the PlaybackParams structure. (CVE-2024-11708)
• Memory safety bugs present in Firefox 132, Thunderbird 132, Firefox ESR 128.4, and Thunderbird 128.4. 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. (CVE-2024-11699)
• Accessing a non-secure HTTP site that uses a non-existent port may cause the SSL padlock icon in the location URL bar to, misleadingly, appear secure. (CVE-2024-53975)
• On Android, Firefox may have inadvertently allowed viewing saved passwords without the required device PIN authentication. (CVE-2024-11703)

Successful exploitation of the most severe of these vulnerabilities could allow for arbitrary code execution. Depending on the privileges associated with the user an attacker could then install programs; view, change, or delete data; or create new accounts with full user rights. Users whose accounts are configured to have fewer user rights on the system could be less impacted than those who operate with administrative user rights.

We recommend the following actions be taken:

• Apply appropriate updates provided by Mozilla to vulnerable systems immediately after appropriate testing. (M1051: Update Software)
• Safeguard 7.1: Establish and Maintain a Vulnerability Management Process: Establish and maintain a documented vulnerability management process for enterprise assets. Review and update documentation annually, or when significant enterprise changes occur that could impact this Safeguard.
• Safeguard 7.4: Perform Automated Application Patch Management: Perform application updates on enterprise assets through automated patch management on a monthly, or more frequent, basis.
• Safeguard 7.7: Remediate Detected Vulnerabilities: Remediate detected vulnerabilities in software through processes and tooling on a monthly, or more frequent, basis, based on the remediation process.
• Safeguard 9.1: Ensure Use of Only Fully Supported Browsers and Email Clients: Ensure only fully supported browsers and email clients are allowed to execute in the enterprise, only using the latest version of browsers and email clients provided through the vendor.
• Apply the Principle of Least Privilege to all systems and services. Run all software as a non-privileged user (one without administrative privileges) to diminish the effects of a successful attack. (M1026: Privileged Account Management)
• Safeguard 4.7: Manage Default Accounts on Enterprise Assets and Software: Manage default accounts on enterprise assets and software, such as root, administrator, and other pre-configured vendor accounts. Example implementations can include: disabling default accounts or making them unusable.
• Safeguard 5.4: Restrict Administrator Privileges to Dedicated Administrator Accounts: Restrict administrator privileges to dedicated administrator accounts on enterprise assets. Conduct general computing activities, such as internet browsing, email, and productivity suite use, from the user’s primary, non-privileged account.
• Use capabilities to detect and block conditions that may lead to or be indicative of a software exploit occurring. (M1050: Exploit Protection)
• Safeguard 10.5: Enable Anti-Exploitation Features: Enable anti-exploitation features on enterprise assets and software, where possible, such as Microsoft® Data Execution Prevention (DEP), Windows® Defender Exploit Guard (WDEG), or Apple® System Integrity Protection (SIP) and Gatekeeper™.
• Restrict use of certain websites, block downloads/attachments, block JavaScript, restrict browser extensions, etc. (M1021: Restrict Web-Based Content)
• Safeguard 9.2: Use DNS Filtering Services: Use DNS filtering services on all enterprise assets to block access to known malicious domains.
• Safeguard 9.3: Maintain and Enforce Network-Based URL Filters: Enforce and update network-based URL filters to limit an enterprise asset from connecting to potentially malicious or unapproved websites. Example implementations include category-based filtering, reputation-based filtering, or through the use of block lists. Enforce filters for all enterprise assets.
• Safeguard 9.6: Block Unnecessary File Types: Block unnecessary file types attempting to enter the enterprise’s email gateway.
• Block execution of code on a system through application control, and/or script blocking. (M1038: Execution Prevention)
• Safeguard 2.5 : Allowlist Authorized Software: Use technical controls, such as application allowlisting, to ensure that only authorized software can execute or be accessed. Reassess bi-annually, or more frequently.
• Safeguard 2.6 : Allowlist Authorized Libraries: Use technical controls to ensure that only authorized software libraries, such as specific .dll, .ocx, .so, etc., files, are allowed to load into a system process. Block unauthorized libraries from loading into a system process. Reassess bi-annually, or more frequently.
• Safeguard 2.7 : Allowlist Authorized Scripts: Use technical controls, such as digital signatures and version control, to ensure that only authorized scripts, such as specific .ps1, .py, etc., files, are allowed to execute. Block unauthorized scripts from executing. Reassess bi-annually, or more frequently.
• Use capabilities to prevent suspicious behavior patterns from occurring on endpoint systems. This could include suspicious process, file, API call, etc. behavior. (M1040: Behavior Prevention on Endpoint)
• Safeguard 13.2 : Deploy a Host-Based Intrusion Detection Solution: Deploy a host-based intrusion detection solution on enterprise assets, where appropriate and/or supported.
• Safeguard 13.7 : Deploy a Host-Based Intrusion Prevention Solution: Deploy a host-based intrusion prevention solution on enterprise assets, where appropriate and/or supported. Example implementations include use of an Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) client or host-based IPS agent.
• Inform and educate users regarding the threats posed by hypertext links contained in emails or attachments especially from un-trusted sources. Remind users not to visit un-trusted websites or follow links provided by unknown or un-trusted sources. (M1017: User Training)
• Safeguard 14.1: Establish and Maintain a Security Awareness Program: Establish and maintain a security awareness program. The purpose of a security awareness program is to educate the enterprise’s workforce on how to interact with enterprise assets and data in a secure manner. Conduct training at hire and, at a minimum, annually. Review and update content annually, or when significant enterprise changes occur that could impact this Safeguard.
• Safeguard 14.2: Train Workforce Members to Recognize Social Engineering Attacks: Train workforce members to recognize social engineering attacks, such as phishing, pre-texting, and tailgating.