FirefoxWeb browser · Mozilla
CVE-2016-1956
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 45.0 on Linux, when an Intel video driver is used, allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (memory consumption or stack memory corruption) by triggering use of a WebGL shader.
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 version 45.0 on Linux systems with Intel video drivers contains a vulnerability in its WebGL shader implementation. Remote attackers can trigger the vulnerability by serving malicious WebGL content, causing either memory consumption (heap exhaustion) or stack memory corruption, resulting in denial of service.
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
<= 44.0.2= 12= 42.1= 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
- Privileges
- None
- User interaction
- Required
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/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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Identify Firefox versionOpen Firefox, navigate to Help > About Firefox, or run 'firefox --version' in terminal. Alternatively, check your system's package manager for the installed firefox package version.Affected if The installed Firefox version is 44.0.2 or earlier.
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Confirm Linux operating systemRun 'uname -a' or 'cat /etc/os-release' to verify the operating system is Linux.Affected if The system is running Linux.
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Identify Intel video driver presenceRun 'lspci | grep -i vga' or 'lsmod | grep i915' to list installed video drivers. Check for Intel integrated graphics (such as i915).Affected if An Intel video driver (e.g., i915) is present on the system.
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Verify WebGL is accessible in FirefoxIn Firefox address bar, navigate to 'about:support' and look for the WebGL section, or visit a WebGL test site. WebGL may also be checked via 'about:config' by searching for 'webgl.enabled-for-all-sites'.Affected if WebGL is enabled or has been used in Firefox.
A user is affected if they are running Firefox version 44.0.2 or earlier on a Linux system with Intel video drivers where WebGL is enabled or has been used.
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 Mozilla Firefox to version 45.0 or later on affected Linux systems. Organizations should inventory Linux systems with Intel video drivers that utilize WebGL functionality and prioritize patching those systems.
Fix this in Firefox
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 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 $2,560.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2016-1956 — 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-2016-1956 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
- No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data