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Ubuntu LinuxOperating system · Canonical

CVE-2015-4473

HIGH · 10.0 CVSS v2.0 Published 2015-08-16
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 39.0.3 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
Multiple unspecified vulnerabilities in the browser engine in Mozilla Firefox before 40.0 and Firefox ESR 38.x before 38.2 allow remote attackers to cause a denial of service (memory corruption and application crash) or possibly execute arbitrary code via unknown 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

Multiple memory corruption vulnerabilities in Mozilla Firefox's browser engine affecting versions before 40.0 and ESR 38.x before 38.2. The unspecified flaws allow remote attackers to trigger memory corruption leading to denial of service or potentially achieve arbitrary code execution via unknown attack vectors.

MitigationUpgrade Mozilla Firefox to version 40.0 or later (or Firefox ESR to 38.2 or later) to obtain the patched browser engine components.

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
Ubuntu LinuxOperating system
Affected:= 12.04= 14.04= 15.04
Debian LinuxOperating system
Affected:= 7.0= 8.0
FirefoxWeb browser
Affected:<= 39.0.3= 38.0= 38.0.1= 38.0.5= 38.1.0
OpensuseOperating system
Affected:= 13.1= 13.2

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 installed Firefox version
    Run 'firefox --version' or 'firefox -v' in terminal, or look at Help > About Firefox in the browser UI
    Affected if Version is 39.0.3 or lower, or is 38.0, 38.0.1, 38.0.5, or 38.1.0 (any ESR 38.x before 38.2)
  2. Check Firefox ESR version
    Run 'firefox --version' and look for 'ESR' designation; ESR versions are typically installed on enterprise/distribution systems
    Affected if Version shows as Firefox ESR 38.0, 38.0.1, 38.0.5, or 38.1.0 (any 38.x version before 38.2)
  3. Verify package manager version
    On Debian/Ubuntu: 'dpkg -l | grep firefox' or 'apt list --installed | grep firefox'. On openSUSE: 'rpm -qa | grep firefox'
    Affected if Package shows firefox version <= 39.0.3 or any 38.x version before 38.2
  4. Check browser engine components
    This CVE affects the browser engine (Gecko). The vulnerability is present in the core rendering engine and triggers when processing certain web content.
    Affected if Firefox is running any vulnerable version listed above; the flaw is in the browser engine itself, not a separate module

You are affected if Firefox is installed at version 39.0.3 or lower, or at any Firefox ESR 38.x version before 38.2.

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 a release after 39.0.3
Interim mitigation

Upgrade Mozilla Firefox to version 40.0 or later (or Firefox ESR to 38.2 or later) to obtain the patched browser engine components.

Recommended fix High confidence

Firefox 40.0 or Firefox ESR 38.2

  1. 1. Back up any important browser data (bookmarks, saved passwords, extensions) either through Firefox Sync or manual export
  2. 2. Close all Firefox instances
  3. 3. Update Firefox to version 40.0 or later for the stable release, OR update Firefox ESR to version 38.2 or later for the ESR release
  4. 4. On Ubuntu/Debian: Run 'sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install firefox' or 'sudo apt-get upgrade firefox' to get the latest packaged version
  5. 5. On openSUSE: Run 'sudo zypper update firefox' or use YaST Online Update
  6. 6. Alternatively, download Firefox 40.0 or later directly from the official Mozilla website (https://www.mozilla.org/firefox/)
  7. 7. After installation, verify the version by navigating to 'Help' > 'About Firefox'
  8. 8. Ensure the version shows 40.0 or later (or ESR 38.2 or later)
Caveat Upgrading to a new major Firefox version may cause some older extensions/add-ons to become incompatible; test critical workflows after upgrade

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

Fix this in Ubuntu Linux Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation1.0 h
  • Implementation1.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
5.0 hours of engineering $860
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,376.

Scan for this in your stack

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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-2015-4473 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