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FirefoxWeb browser · Mozilla

CVE-2016-9074

MEDIUM · 5.9 CVSS v3.0 Published 2018-06-11
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 45.5.0 / 50.0 or later.
See remediation →
68/100
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
An existing mitigation of timing side-channel attacks is insufficient in some circumstances. This issue is addressed in Network Security Services (NSS) 3.26.1. This vulnerability affects Thunderbird < 45.5, Firefox ESR < 45.5, and Firefox < 50.

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 timing side-channel attack mitigation in NSS (Network Security Services) library is insufficient in certain conditions, potentially allowing attackers to extract sensitive information through timing analysis of cryptographic operations.

MitigationUpdate affected products to patched versions: Firefox >= 50, Firefox ESR >= 45.5, or Thunderbird >= 45.5, which include the fixed NSS 3.26.1 library.

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
Affected:< 45.5.0< 50.0
Debian LinuxOperating system
Affected:= 8.0
ThunderbirdApplication
Affected:< 45.5.0

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

CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/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. Check Firefox version on any OS
    Open Firefox and go to Help > About Firefox, or run 'firefox --version' from command line
    Affected if Version is below 50.0 (includes all versions < 45.5.0 and 45.5.0 through 49.x)
  2. Check Thunderbird version
    Open Thunderbird and go to Help > About Thunderbird, or run 'thunderbird --version' from command line
    Affected if Version is below 45.5.0
  3. Check NSS library version on Debian Linux 8.0
    Run 'dpkg -l | grep libnss' or 'apt show libnss3' to list installed NSS packages and their versions
    Affected if NSS library version is below 3.26.1

User is affected if running Firefox below 50.0, Thunderbird below 45.5, or Debian 8.0 with NSS library versions prior to 3.26.1

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 45.5.0 / 50.0 or later
Fixed in 45.5.050.0
Interim mitigation

Update affected products to patched versions: Firefox >= 50, Firefox ESR >= 45.5, or Thunderbird >= 45.5, which include the fixed NSS 3.26.1 library.

Fix this in Firefox Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation1.0 h
  • Implementation1.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
5.0 hours of engineering $860
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,376.

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-2016-9074 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