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FirefoxWeb browser · Mozilla

CVE-2013-1712

MEDIUM · 6.9 CVSS v2.0 Published 2013-08-07
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 22.0 or later.
See remediation →
74/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
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
Multiple untrusted search path vulnerabilities in updater.exe in Mozilla Updater in Mozilla Firefox before 23.0, Firefox ESR 17.x before 17.0.8, Thunderbird before 17.0.8, and Thunderbird ESR 17.x before 17.0.8 on Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows 8, and Windows Server 2012 allow local users to gain privileges via a Trojan horse DLL in (1) the update directory or (2) the current working directory.

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

Mozilla Updater (updater.exe) contains an untrusted search path vulnerability allowing local privilege escalation via DLL preloading. On affected Windows systems, the updater loads DLLs from the update directory or current working directory without proper path validation, enabling a malicious DLL placed in these locations to be executed with the updater's privileges.

MitigationUpdate affected Mozilla products (Firefox < 23.0, Firefox ESR < 17.0.8, Thunderbird < 17.0.8, Thunderbird ESR < 17.0.8) to the patched versions. Alternatively, ensure the update directory and application directories are not writable by untrusted local users.

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:<= 22.0= 17.0= 17.0.1= 17.0.2= 17.0.3= 17.0.4= 17.0.5= 17.0.6= 17.0.7= 19.0= 19.0.1= 19.0.2
ThunderbirdApplication
Affected:<= 17.0.7= 17.0= 17.0.1= 17.0.2= 17.0.3= 17.0.4= 17.0.5= 17.0.6
Thunderbird EsrApplication
Affected:= 17.0= 17.0.1= 17.0.2= 17.0.3= 17.0.4= 17.0.5= 17.0.6= 17.0.7

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
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 checks

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

  1. Identify installed Firefox version
    Open Firefox, go to Help > About Firefox, or run 'firefox -v' from command line. On Windows, also check registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Mozilla\Mozilla Firefox\CurrentVersion or HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Mozilla\Mozilla Firefox\CurrentVersion
    Affected if The version is 22.0 or lower, or matches 17.0.x series (17.0 through 17.0.7), or matches 19.0 through 19.0.2
  2. Identify installed Thunderbird version
    Open Thunderbird, go to Help > About Thunderbird, or check registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Mozilla\Thunderbird\CurrentVersion or HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Mozilla\Thunderbird\CurrentVersion
    Affected if The version is 17.0.x series (17.0 through 17.0.7) or 17.0.8 or lower for non-ESR, or is 17.0.x ESR series (17.0 through 17.0.7)
  3. Locate Mozilla updater executable
    Search for updater.exe in the Mozilla application directory, typically found in C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\updater.exe or C:\Program Files\Mozilla Thunderbird\updater.exe
    Affected if updater.exe exists in the installation directory and the product version is within the affected range
  4. Check directory write permissions
    Review permissions on the Firefox or Thunderbird installation directory and the update directory (if separate). Use Windows Explorer right-click > Properties > Security, or run 'icacls <directory>' from elevated command prompt
    Affected if The installation directory or update directory is writable by users without administrative privileges, allowing placement of a malicious DLL
  5. Verify DLL loading behavior
    Monitor updater.exe execution using Process Monitor (procmon.exe from Sysinternals) with filter for updater.exe and Path contains DLL. Look for DLL load attempts from the application directory or current working directory
    Affected if The updater attempts to load DLLs from paths without full path specification, indicating vulnerable DLL search path behavior

A system is affected if any Mozilla Firefox version <= 22.0, any 17.0.x Firefox, any Thunderbird <= 17.0.7, or any Thunderbird ESR 17.0.x is installed, and the updater directory permissions allow untrusted users to write files that could be loaded as DLLs.

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 a release after 22.0
Interim mitigation

Update affected Mozilla products (Firefox < 23.0, Firefox ESR < 17.0.8, Thunderbird < 17.0.8, Thunderbird ESR < 17.0.8) to the patched versions. Alternatively, ensure the update directory and application directories are not writable by untrusted local users.

Fix this in Firefox Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation1.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing1.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
5.0 hours of engineering $890
Get the upgrade done

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Scan for this in your stack

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dbcve dependency scanner

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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-2013-1712 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