FirefoxWeb browser · Mozilla
CVE-2016-1949
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 · uneditedMozilla Firefox before 44.0.2 does not properly restrict the interaction between Service Workers and plugins, which allows remote attackers to bypass the Same Origin Policy via a crafted web site that triggers spoofed responses to requests that use NPAPI, as demonstrated by a request for a crossdomain.xml file.
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 confidenceMozilla Firefox before 44.0.2 contains a Same Origin Policy bypass where Service Workers can intercept and spoof responses to NPAPI plugin requests (such as crossdomain.xml), allowing remote attackers to access cross-origin resources that should be restricted.
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
<= 44.0.1CVSS 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
- Required
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
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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Determine installed Firefox versionOpen Firefox, click the menu button (three horizontal lines), select Help, then About Firefox. The version number displays on this page.Affected if The displayed version is 44.0.1 or earlier (any version up to and including 44.0.1).
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Confirm Service Worker support is enabledIn Firefox address bar, type about:config and press Enter. In the search box, search for 'serviceworker.enabled'. Verify the value is set to true.Affected if The preference 'serviceworker.enabled' is set to true (enabled).
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Verify NPAPI plugin usageIn Firefox address bar, type about:plugins to view a list of enabled NPAPI plugins (such as Flash, Java, Silverlight). Check if any NPAPI plugins are present and enabled.Affected if Any NPAPI plugins (like Flash, Java, or Silverlight) are enabled in the browser.
A user is affected if their Firefox version is 44.0.1 or earlier AND Service Workers are enabled AND they have NPAPI plugins enabled, as all three conditions are required for this Same Origin Policy bypass to be exploitable.
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.
From vendor dataUpgrade Firefox to version 44.0.2 or later to remediate this vulnerability.
Fix this in Firefox
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation1.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing1.0 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 $1,424.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2016-1949 — 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-2016-1949 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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- 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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