Ubuntu LinuxOperating system · Canonical
CVE-2015-4477
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 · uneditedUse-after-free vulnerability in the MediaStream playback feature in Mozilla Firefox before 40.0 allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via unspecified use of the Web Audio API.
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 confidenceA use-after-free memory corruption vulnerability in Mozilla Firefox's MediaStream playback feature (specifically in the Web Audio API) allows remote attackers to achieve arbitrary code execution by freeing memory that is still being accessed by the browser.
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
= 12.04= 14.04= 15.04
FirefoxWeb browser
<= 39.0.3= 13.1= 13.2CVSS 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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Verify Firefox browser is installedRun 'which firefox' or 'dpkg -l | grep firefox' on Ubuntu, or 'rpm -qa | grep firefox' on OpenSUSEAffected if Firefox is present on the system
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Check installed Firefox versionRun 'firefox --version' or open Firefox, then go to Help > AboutAffected if Version number is 39.0.3 or lower
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Confirm operating system versionRun 'cat /etc/os-release' on Ubuntu or 'cat /etc/SuSE-release' on OpenSUSEAffected if OS is Ubuntu 12.04, 14.04, or 15.04, or OpenSUSE 13.1 or 13.2
System is affected if Firefox version 39.0.3 or lower is installed on Ubuntu 12.04, 14.04, 15.04, or OpenSUSE 13.1, 13.2
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.
dbcve · scopedUpgrade Mozilla Firefox to version 40.0 or later to patch the vulnerability; ensure automatic updates are enabled for future patches.
Firefox 40.0 or later
- 1. Check current Firefox version by navigating to about:firefox or using Help > About Firefox
- 2. Download Firefox 40.0 or later from the official Mozilla website (www.mozilla.org) or your distribution's package manager
- 3. For Ubuntu systems: run 'sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install firefox' to get the latest available version
- 4. For openSUSE systems: run 'sudo zypper up firefox' or use YaST to update the package
- 5. Restart Firefox after the update completes
- 6. Verify the update by checking Help > About Firefox shows version 40.0 or higher
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
Fix this in Ubuntu Linux
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation1.0 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 $1,696.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2015-4477 — 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-2015-4477 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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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.
- 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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