FirefoxWeb browser · Mozilla
CVE-2017-7836
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 · uneditedThe "pingsender" executable used by the Firefox Health Report dynamically loads a system copy of libcurl, which an attacker could replace. This allows for privilege escalation as the replaced libcurl code will run with Firefox's privileges. Note: This attack requires an attacker have local system access and only affects OS X and Linux. Windows systems are not affected. This vulnerability affects Firefox < 57.
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 confidenceThe Firefox Health Report's pingsender executable dynamically loads a system copy of libcurl instead of using a bundled version. On OS X and Linux systems, an attacker with local system access can replace the system libcurl library with a malicious version that executes with Firefox's privileges, achieving privilege escalation.
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
<= 56.0.2CVSS 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
- Local
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/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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Check Firefox versionRun 'firefox --version' or check the installed Firefox version through the system's package managerAffected if Version is 56.0.2 or earlier (the affected range is Firefox <= 56.0.2)
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Confirm operating system is OS X or LinuxRun 'uname -s' or check system documentation - the vulnerability only affects OS X and Linux systemsAffected if System is running OS X or Linux (Windows is not affected by this specific issue)
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Verify pingsender is presentSearch for the pingsender executable in Firefox installation directories, typically found in the browser directoryAffected if pingsender executable exists and is being used by Firefox Health Report
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Check libcurl loading behaviorUse tools like 'ldd' on Linux or 'otool -L' on OS X to inspect which libcurl pingsender links to, or monitor library loading at runtimeAffected if pingsender dynamically loads system libcurl instead of a bundled version
A user is affected if they run Firefox version 56.0.2 or earlier on OS X or Linux, with pingsender present and loading system libcurl instead of a bundled library.
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 57 or later, which includes a bundled version of libcurl or eliminates the vulnerable dynamic loading behavior.
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-2017-7836 — 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-2017-7836 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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