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FirefoxWeb browser · Mozilla

CVE-2012-1976

HIGH · 10.0 CVSS v2.0 Published 2012-08-29
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 2.12 / 10.0.7 or later.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
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
Use-after-free vulnerability in the nsHTMLSelectElement::SubmitNamesValues function in Mozilla Firefox before 15.0, Firefox ESR 10.x before 10.0.7, Thunderbird before 15.0, Thunderbird ESR 10.x before 10.0.7, and SeaMonkey before 2.12 allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code or cause a denial of service (heap memory corruption) via unspecified vectors.

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

Use-after-free vulnerability in Mozilla Firefox, Thunderbird, and SeaMonkey in the nsHTMLSelectElement::SubmitNamesValues function allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via heap memory corruption. The vulnerability occurs when handling form submission with select elements.

MitigationUpdate affected Mozilla products to Firefox 15.0+, Firefox ESR 10.0.7+, Thunderbird 15.0+, Thunderbird ESR 10.0.7+, or SeaMonkey 2.12+ to patch the use-after-free vulnerability.

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:< 15.0>= 10.0, < 10.0.7
Enterprise Linux DesktopOperating system
Affected:= 5.0= 6.0
Enterprise Linux EusOperating system
Affected:= 6.3
Enterprise Linux ServerOperating system
Affected:= 5.0= 6.0
Enterprise Linux Server EusOperating system
Affected:= 6.3
Enterprise Linux WorkstationOperating system
Affected:= 5.0= 6.0
Ubuntu LinuxOperating system
Affected:= 10.04= 11.04= 11.10= 12.04
SeamonkeyApplication
Affected:< 2.12

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

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. Identify the installed Mozilla product
    Check which Mozilla application is installed: Firefox, Thunderbird, or SeaMonkey. On Linux systems, run 'rpm -qa | grep -i mozilla' or 'dpkg -l | grep -i mozilla'. On Windows, check Add/Remove Programs or the application's Help > About dialog.
    Affected if The installed application is Firefox, Thunderbird, or SeaMonkey and the version falls within the affected ranges below.
  2. Determine Firefox version
    Run 'firefox --version' or check Help > About Firefox. Compare the version number against: < 15.0, or >= 10.0 but < 10.0.7
    Affected if Firefox version is 10.0 through 10.0.6, or any version from 10.0 up to 14.x (prior to 15.0)
  3. Determine SeaMonkey version
    Run 'seamonkey --version' or check Help > About SeaMonkey. Compare against version < 2.12
    Affected if SeaMonkey version is 2.11 or lower
  4. Determine Thunderbird version
    Run 'thunderbird --version' or check Help > About Thunderbird. Compare against the same affected range as Firefox: < 15.0, or >= 10.0 but < 10.0.7
    Affected if Thunderbird version is 10.0 through 10.0.6, or any version from 10.0 up to 14.x (prior to 15.0)
  5. Identify if the application processes HTML forms with select elements
    This is a runtime condition: the vulnerability triggers when the application submits an HTML form containing select (dropdown) elements. This is common in web browsers and email clients that render HTML.
    Affected if The application processes web content or HTML email containing forms with select elements, and the version is within the affected ranges above

A user is affected if they run Firefox < 15.0 (or 10.0.x before 10.0.7), SeaMonkey < 2.12, or Thunderbird < 15.0 (or 10.0.x before 10.0.7), AND the application processes HTML forms containing select elements.

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.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to 2.12 / 10.0.7 / 15.0 or later
Fixed in 2.1210.0.715.0
Interim mitigation

Update affected Mozilla products to Firefox 15.0+, Firefox ESR 10.0.7+, Thunderbird 15.0+, Thunderbird ESR 10.0.7+, or SeaMonkey 2.12+ to patch the use-after-free vulnerability.

Recommended fix High confidence

Firefox 15.0+ / Firefox ESR 10.0.7+ / SeaMonkey 2.12+

  1. 1. Identify the affected application (Firefox, Firefox ESR, or SeaMonkey) currently installed on the system
  2. 2. For Firefox: Upgrade to version 15.0 or later
  3. 3. For Firefox ESR 10.x: Upgrade to version 10.0.7 or later
  4. 4. For SeaMonkey: Upgrade to version 2.12 or later
  5. 5. Verify the installed version after upgrade to confirm the fix is applied
  6. 6. For Linux distributions (Enterprise Linux, Ubuntu): Apply distribution-specific security updates via package manager (e.g., yum update or apt-get upgrade)
Caveat Upgrading Firefox to version 15.0 may have minor compatibility changes with older extensions; Firefox ESR 10.0.7 is a targeted security update with minimal breaking changes

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

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
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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-2012-1976 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