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FirefoxWeb browser · Mozilla

CVE-2014-1512

HIGH · 10.0 CVSS v2.0 Published 2014-03-19
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 24.4 / 28.0 or later.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Public exploit 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 TypeObject class in the JavaScript engine in Mozilla Firefox before 28.0, Firefox ESR 24.x before 24.4, Thunderbird before 24.4, and SeaMonkey before 2.25 allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code by triggering extensive memory consumption while garbage collection is occurring, as demonstrated by improper handling of BumpChunk objects.

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 the TypeObject class of Mozilla's JavaScript engine allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code by triggering excessive memory consumption during garbage collection, causing improper handling of BumpChunk objects and subsequent memory corruption.

MitigationApply vendor updates: upgrade to Firefox 28.0+, Firefox ESR 24.4+, Thunderbird 24.4+, or SeaMonkey 2.25+ to patch the 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:< 28.0>= 24.0, < 24.4
Debian LinuxOperating system
Affected:= 7.0= 8.0
Ubuntu LinuxOperating system
Affected:= 12.04= 12.10= 13.10
Enterprise Linux DesktopOperating system
Affected:= 5.0= 6.0
Enterprise Linux EusOperating system
Affected:= 6.5
Enterprise Linux ServerOperating system
Affected:= 5.0= 6.0
Enterprise Linux Server AusOperating system
Affected:= 6.5
Enterprise Linux Server EusOperating system
Affected:= 6.5

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. Check if Firefox is installed
    Look for Firefox in the system: on Linux check /usr/bin/firefox or run 'which firefox'; on Windows check Program Files folders; on macOS check /Applications folder.
    Affected if Firefox is not found on the system, then the user is not affected by this browser vulnerability.
  2. Identify the installed Firefox version
    Run 'firefox --version' from command line, or in Firefox go to Help > About Firefox. On Linux systems, also check the package manager: 'dpkg -l firefox' (Debian/Ubuntu) or 'rpm -qa firefox' (RHEL).
    Affected if The version command fails or Firefox is not found, indicating it is not installed.
  3. Compare installed version against vulnerable ranges
    Check if the installed version is either: 24.0, 24.1, 24.2, or 24.3 (any version >= 24.0 but < 24.4), OR any version below 28.0 that is not in the 24.x ESR range. For ESR versions, also check if it is < 24.4.
    Affected if The installed Firefox version is 24.0 through 24.3 inclusive, or any version below 28.0 that is not patched (not 24.4+, 28.0+, or later).
  4. Verify if browser JavaScript engine is in use
    The vulnerability affects the JavaScript engine during garbage collection. Any use of JavaScript in Firefox (web browsing, extensions, etc.) can trigger the vulnerable code path.
    Affected if Firefox with a vulnerable version is actively used to process JavaScript content.

A user is affected if they have Firefox installed with version 24.0-24.3 or any version below 28.0 that is not patched to 24.4+ or 28.0+.

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 24.4 / 28.0 or later
Fixed in 24.428.0
Interim mitigation

Apply vendor updates: upgrade to Firefox 28.0+, Firefox ESR 24.4+, Thunderbird 24.4+, or SeaMonkey 2.25+ to patch the vulnerability.

Recommended fix High confidence

Firefox 28.0 or later (or Firefox ESR 24.4 or later)

  1. 1. Verify current Firefox version by navigating to Help > About Firefox
  2. 2. Close all Firefox instances
  3. 3. Download Firefox 28.0 or later from the official Mozilla website (mozilla.org/firefox) or use your system's package manager
  4. 4. For package manager update: Run 'apt-get update && apt-get upgrade firefox' on Debian/Ubuntu, or 'yum update firefox' on Enterprise Linux
  5. 5. For manual download: Install the downloaded package and restart Firefox
  6. 6. Verify the upgrade by checking Help > About Firefox shows version 28.0 or higher, or ESR 24.4 or higher
Caveat Upgrading to a newer major version may require reconfiguration of some extensions or loss of extension compatibility

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

Fix this in Firefox Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
18.0 hours of engineering $3,200
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-2014-1512 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