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QtwebkitWeb browser · Qt

CVE-2015-8079

MEDIUM · 5.3 CVSS v3.1 Published 2017-09-07
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 5.3.2 or later.
See remediation →
62/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
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
qt5-qtwebkit before 5.4 records private browsing URLs to its favicon database, WebpageIcons.db.

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

Qt5-QtWebKit before version 5.4 improperly stores URLs visited during private browsing sessions in the favicon database file WebpageIcons.db, persisting browsing data to disk in violation of private browsing expectations. This creates a privacy concern where private session URLs can be recovered from the filesystem.

MitigationUpgrade QtWebKit to version 5.4 or later where this issue is resolved. If upgrading is not immediately feasible, avoid using private browsing mode in affected versions and consider deleting any existing WebpageIcons.db files.

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
QtwebkitWeb browser
Affected:<= 5.3.2

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
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
Low
Integrity
None
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N

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 QtWebKit version
    Run 'qmake -query QT_VERSION' or check your installed QtWebKit package version via your system's package manager (e.g., dpkg -l | grep qtwebkit, rpm -qa | grep webkit)
    Affected if The installed version is 5.3.2 or lower (any version <= 5.3.2)
  2. Locate WebpageIcons.db database file
    Search for the file named 'WebpageIcons.db' in user profile directories. Common paths include: ~/.config/QtProject/QtWebKit/Databases/ or ~/.local/share/QtProject/QtWebKit/ and subdirectories ending with '/Databases/'. Use 'find ~ -name WebpageIcons.db 2>/dev/null'
    Affected if The WebpageIcons.db file exists in any user directory
  3. Inspect database for private browsing URLs
    Use sqlite3 to query the database: 'sqlite3 /path/to/WebpageIcons.db "SELECT * FROM icon_urls;"' or 'sqlite3 /path/to/WebpageIcons.db ".tables"' to see available tables, then query for stored URLs
    Affected if The database contains URLs that correspond to sites visited during private browsing sessions

You are affected if QtWebKit version is 5.3.2 or lower AND the WebpageIcons.db file exists and contains URLs from private browsing sessions.

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 5.3.2
Interim mitigation

Upgrade QtWebKit to version 5.4 or later where this issue is resolved. If upgrading is not immediately feasible, avoid using private browsing mode in affected versions and consider deleting any existing WebpageIcons.db files.

Fix this in Qtwebkit Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
10.0 hours of engineering $1,750
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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-2015-8079 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
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