FirefoxWeb browser · Mozilla
CVE-2013-1673
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 · uneditedThe Mozilla Updater in Mozilla Firefox before 21.0 on Windows does not properly maintain Mozilla Maintenance Service registry entries in certain situations involving upgrades from older Firefox versions, which allows local users to gain privileges by leveraging write access to a "trusted path."
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 confidenceThe Mozilla Updater in Firefox versions before 21.0 on Windows fails to properly maintain Mozilla Maintenance Service registry entries during upgrades from older Firefox versions. This creates a privilege escalation vector where a local user with write access to a trusted path can manipulate registry entries to gain elevated privileges.
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
<= 20.0.1= 19.0= 19.0.1= 19.0.2= 20.0CVSS 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
- Local
- Complexity
- M
- Authentication
- None
- Confidentiality
- Complete
- Integrity
- Complete
- Availability
- Complete
AV:L/AC:M/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Check installed Firefox version on WindowsOpen Command Prompt and run: reg query 'HKLM\SOFTWARE\Mozilla\Mozilla Firefox' /v CurrentVersion or check Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe properties for versionAffected if Version is 19.0, 19.0.1, 19.0.2, 20.0, or 20.0.1 (or any version <= 20.0.1)
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Verify Mozilla Maintenance Service presenceOpen Services (services.msc) and look for 'Mozilla Maintenance Service' or run: sc query MozillaMaintenanceAffected if The Mozilla Maintenance Service is installed and running on the system
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Check registry integrity of Mozilla Maintenance Service entriesExamine registry keys under HKLM\SOFTWARE\Mozilla\MaintenanceService for any unexpected values or paths, and verify the service executable path points to the legitimate Firefox installation directoryAffected if Registry entries point to locations writable by non-admin users or show signs of tampering
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Confirm this is a Windows systemVerify the operating system is Windows (the vulnerability only affects Windows)Affected if Running Windows with Firefox and Mozilla Maintenance Service installed
A user is affected if they are running Firefox version 20.0.1 or earlier on Windows with the Mozilla Maintenance Service present, as the vulnerability requires the maintenance service registry to be exploitable.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
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 dataUpgrade Firefox to version 21.0 or later on all affected Windows systems. For legacy systems that cannot upgrade, consider disabling the Mozilla Maintenance Service or ensuring strict access controls on the application directory and registry keys.
Fix this in Firefox
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,984.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2013-1673 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2013-1673 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- 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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