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FirefoxWeb browser · Mozilla

CVE-2009-2462

HIGH · 10.0 CVSS v2.0 Published 2009-07-22
Patch available
A vendor patch is available. No clean upgrade release — apply the published patch.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click Patch available

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
The browser engine in Mozilla Firefox before 3.0.12 and Thunderbird allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (memory corruption and application crash) or possibly execute arbitrary code via vectors related to (1) the frame chain and synchronous events, (2) a SetMayHaveFrame assertion and nsCSSFrameConstructor::CreateFloatingLetterFrame, (3) nsCSSFrameConstructor::ConstructFrame, (4) the child list and initial reflow, (5) GetLastSpecialSibling, (6) nsFrameManager::GetPrimaryFrameFor and MathML, (7) nsFrame::GetBoxAscent, (8) nsCSSFrameConstructor::AdjustParentFrame, (9) nsDOMOfflineResourceList, and (10) nsContentUtils::ComparePosition.

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
How this class of weakness works · CWE-399

A legacy NVD category grouping weaknesses in how resources — memory, file handles, connections — are allocated, used, and released. It gathers leaks, exhaustion, and lifecycle bugs under one label rather than naming a single flaw. The fix depends on the specific resource issue, generally pairing acquisition with release and bounding what any request can consume.

General guidance for the resource management errors class — the official description and references above are authoritative for this specific CVE. Want a bespoke review and a reviewed fix? Ask our team →

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:= 0.1= 0.2= 0.3= 0.4= 0.5= 0.6= 0.6.1= 0.7= 0.7.1= 0.8= 0.9= 0.9.1
ThunderbirdApplication
Affected:= 2.0.0.0= 2.0.0.1= 2.0.0.2= 2.0.0.3= 2.0.0.4= 2.0.0.5= 2.0.0.6= 2.0.0.7= 2.0.0.8= 2.0.0.9= 2.0.0.11= 2.0.0.12

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
Complete
Availability
Complete

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

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.

dbcve · scoped
Patch available Apply the vendor patch
Vendor patch www.mozilla.org →
Recommended fix High confidence

Firefox 3.0.12 or later (preferably latest stable Firefox); Thunderbird 3.0 or later (preferably latest stable Thunderbird)

  1. 1. Backup any important data, bookmarks, and preferences from the current Firefox/Thunderbird installation
  2. 2. Download the latest stable version of Firefox from the official Mozilla website (https://www.mozilla.org/firefox/)
  3. 3. Download the latest stable version of Thunderbird from the official Mozilla website (https://www.mozilla.org/thunderbird/)
  4. 4. Install the new versions over the old ones, or uninstall the old versions first before installing the new ones
  5. 5. After installation, verify the version numbers by checking Help > About Firefox/Thunderbird
Caveat These are very old legacy versions (Firefox 0.x, Thunderbird 2.x) - upgrading to modern versions will require learning new UI, may remove support for old extensions/plugins, and some older websites may render differently

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

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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-2009-2462 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
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