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FirefoxWeb browser · Mozilla

CVE-2008-4068

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v2.0 Published 2008-09-24
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 1.1.12 / 2.0.0.17 or later.
See remediation →
87/100
Remediation priority · High
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
Directory traversal vulnerability in Mozilla Firefox before 2.0.0.17 and 3.x before 3.0.2, Thunderbird before 2.0.0.17, and SeaMonkey before 1.1.12 allows remote attackers to bypass "restrictions imposed on local HTML files," and obtain sensitive information and prompt users to write this information into a file, via directory traversal sequences in a resource: URI.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · high confidence

Directory traversal vulnerability in Mozilla Firefox, Thunderbird, and SeaMonkey allows remote attackers to bypass restrictions on local HTML files using directory traversal sequences (../) within resource: URIs, enabling unauthorized read access to sensitive local files and potentially prompting users to write exfiltrated data to disk.

MitigationUpgrade to Firefox 2.0.0.17+, Firefox 3.0.2+, Thunderbird 2.0.0.17+, or SeaMonkey 1.1.12+ to patch this vulnerability. This is a client-side vulnerability so enterprise deployment of updated browser versions is the primary remediation.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
FirefoxWeb browser
Affected:< 2.0.0.17>= 3.0, < 3.0.2
Debian LinuxOperating system
Affected:= 4.0
Ubuntu LinuxOperating system
Affected:= 6.06= 7.04= 7.10= 8.04
SeamonkeyApplication
Affected:< 1.1.12
ThunderbirdApplication
Affected:< 2.0.0.17

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Authentication
None
Confidentiality
Complete
Integrity
None
Availability
None

AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:N/A:N

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Check Firefox version
    Open Firefox, go to Help > About Mozilla Firefox, or run 'firefox --version' from command line
    Affected if Version is less than 2.0.0.17, or between 3.0.0 and 3.0.1 inclusive
  2. Check Thunderbird version
    Open Thunderbird, go to Help > About Mozilla Thunderbird, or run 'thunderbird --version' from command line
    Affected if Version is less than 2.0.0.17
  3. Check SeaMonkey version
    Open SeaMonkey, go to Help > About SeaMonkey, or run 'seamonkey --version' from command line
    Affected if Version is less than 1.1.12
  4. Check OS package version on Debian/Ubuntu
    Run 'dpkg -l | grep -i firefox' or 'dpkg -l | grep -i thunderbird' or 'dpkg -l | grep -i seamonkey' to see installed package versions
    Affected if Package version corresponds to the vulnerable application versions listed above

You are affected if you are running any version of Firefox below 2.0.0.17 or between 3.0.0-3.0.1, Thunderbird below 2.0.0.17, or SeaMonkey below 1.1.12 on the listed Linux distributions.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

From vendor data
Upgrade available Upgrade to 1.1.12 / 2.0.0.17 / 3.0.2 or later
Fixed in 1.1.122.0.0.173.0.2
Interim mitigation

Upgrade to Firefox 2.0.0.17+, Firefox 3.0.2+, Thunderbird 2.0.0.17+, or SeaMonkey 1.1.12+ to patch this vulnerability. This is a client-side vulnerability so enterprise deployment of updated browser versions is the primary remediation.

Fix this in Firefox Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation1.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
6.0 hours of engineering $1,040
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,664.

Scan for this in your stack

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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2008-4068 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data