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FirefoxWeb browser · Mozilla

CVE-2012-3972

MEDIUM · 5.0 CVSS v2.0 Published 2012-08-29
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 10.0.7 / 15.0 or later.
See remediation →
59/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
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
The format-number functionality in the XSLT implementation 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 obtain sensitive information via unspecified vectors that trigger a heap-based buffer over-read.

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

Heap-based buffer over-read in the XSLT format-number functionality in Firefox, Thunderbird, and SeaMonkey allows remote attackers to read sensitive information from memory via unspecified vectors when processing malicious XSLT transformations.

MitigationUpdate to Firefox 15.0+, Thunderbird 15.0+, SeaMonkey 2.12+, or Firefox ESR 10.0.7+ to patch this vulnerability. This is a client-side vulnerability so network mitigations are limited; the primary remediation is patching the affected applications.

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
Debian LinuxOperating system
Affected:= 6.0= 7.0

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
Partial
Integrity
None
Availability
None

AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/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. Identify installed Firefox version
    Open Firefox and navigate to Help > About Firefox, or check via command line: firefox --version or rpm -q firefox / dpkg -l firefox
    Affected if Version is below 15.0, or between 10.0 and 10.0.6 inclusive (10.0.x where x < 7)
  2. Identify installed Thunderbird version
    Open Thunderbird and navigate to Help > About Thunderbird, or check via command line: thunderbird --version or rpm -q thunderbird / dpkg -l thunderbird
    Affected if Version is below 15.0, or between 10.0 and 10.0.6 inclusive (10.0.x where x < 7)
  3. Identify installed SeaMonkey version
    Open SeaMonkey and navigate to Help > About SeaMonkey, or check via command line: seamonkey --version or rpm -q seamonkey / dpkg -l seamonkey
    Affected if Version is below 2.12 (the patched version for this CVE)
  4. Confirm XSLT processing is enabled (default state)
    XSLT support is built into these applications and enabled by default; the vulnerability triggers when processing malicious XSLT transformations via the format-number function. No user action required - the flaw is in the built-in XSLT processor.
    Affected if XSLT is in use (the application processes any XSLT content - this is the default behavior when encountering XSLT)

A user is affected if they have Firefox < 15.0 (or 10.0.x where x < 7), Thunderbird < 15.0 (or 10.0.x where x < 7), or SeaMonkey < 2.12 installed, since the XSLT format-number vulnerability exists in these versions regardless of configuration.

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 10.0.7 / 15.0 or later
Fixed in 10.0.715.0
Interim mitigation

Update to Firefox 15.0+, Thunderbird 15.0+, SeaMonkey 2.12+, or Firefox ESR 10.0.7+ to patch this vulnerability. This is a client-side vulnerability so network mitigations are limited; the primary remediation is patching the affected applications.

Fix this in Firefox Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
9.0 hours of engineering $1,600
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,560.

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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-2012-3972 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