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LinuxOperating system · Oracle

CVE-2016-1973

HIGH · 8.8 CVSS v3.0 Published 2016-03-13
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 44.0.2 or later.
See remediation →
95/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable No privileges

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
Race condition in the GetStaticInstance function in the WebRTC implementation in Mozilla Firefox before 45.0 might allow remote attackers to execute arbitrary code or cause a denial of service (use-after-free) via unspecified 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

A race condition in the GetStaticInstance function within Mozilla Firefox's WebRTC implementation before version 45.0 allows remote attackers to trigger a use-after-free vulnerability, potentially enabling arbitrary code execution or denial of service. The race occurs in the singleton instantiation pattern where multiple threads can simultaneously access and modify the static instance, leading to memory corruption.

MitigationUpgrade Mozilla Firefox to version 45.0 or later to obtain the patched WebRTC implementation with proper thread synchronization.

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
LinuxOperating system
Affected:= 5.0= 6= 7
FirefoxWeb browser
Affected:<= 44.0.2

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
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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify installed Firefox version
    Run 'firefox --version' from command line, or navigate to Firefox > Help > About in the GUI
    Affected if Version is 44.0.2 or lower, indicating an unpatched build prior to 45.0
  2. Verify WebRTC module is present
    Check for the presence of WebRTC-related libraries or modules in the Firefox installation directory (e.g., libwebrtc or similar binaries)
    Affected if WebRTC components are installed and available on the system
  3. Confirm multi-threaded WebRTC usage context
    Determine if the browser environment or any add-ons/plugins actively use WebRTC functionality for real-time communications
    Affected if WebRTC is actively used or enabled in the browser, creating conditions for the race condition to trigger

A user is affected if Mozilla Firefox version 44.0.2 or earlier is installed with WebRTC enabled or accessible on the system.

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 44.0.2
Interim mitigation

Upgrade Mozilla Firefox to version 45.0 or later to obtain the patched WebRTC implementation with proper thread synchronization.

Fix this in Linux Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing12.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
28.0 hours of engineering $4,760
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $7,616.

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-2016-1973 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