Enterprise LinuxOperating system · Redhat
CVE-2017-7848
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 · uneditedRSS fields can inject new lines into the created email structure, modifying the message body. This vulnerability affects Thunderbird < 52.5.2.
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 confidenceThunderbird's RSS feed parser does not properly sanitize feed field content, allowing newline character injection into generated emails. This modifies the email message body, potentially allowing attackers to alter the content of emails created from RSS feeds.
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
Enterprise LinuxOperating system
= 6.0= 7.0
Enterprise Linux DesktopOperating system
= 6.0= 7.0
Enterprise Linux ServerOperating system
= 6.0= 7.0
Enterprise Linux Server AusOperating system
= 7.3= 7.4
Enterprise Linux Server EusOperating system
= 7.3= 7.4= 7.5
Enterprise Linux WorkstationOperating system
= 6.0= 7.0
Debian LinuxOperating system
= 7.0= 8.0= 9.0< 52.5.2CVSS 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
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- Low
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
-
Verify Thunderbird is installedRun command: rpm -q thunderbird (RHEL) or dpkg -l thunderbird (Debian)Affected if Thunderbird package is not found on the system, meaning the product is not installed
-
Determine installed Thunderbird versionRun command: thunderbird --versionAffected if Version number displayed is lower than 52.5.2 (for example, 52.5.0, 52.4.0, or any 52.x version below 52.5.2)
-
Check if RSS feed subscriptions existInspect Thunderbird profile directory for feed files: look for feeds.rdf or feed-subscriptions.json in ~/.mozilla-thunderbird/*/Affected if RSS feed subscriptions are configured and the Thunderbird version is below 52.5.2, making the newline injection attack possible
-
Confirm RSS Live Bookmarks are in useCheck for livebookmarks.sqlite in Thunderbird profile directory at ~/.mozilla-thunderbird/*/Affected if Live Bookmarks (RSS feeds within Thunderbird) are present and the version is below 52.5.2
User is affected if Thunderbird version is below 52.5.2 AND RSS feeds or Live Bookmarks are configured in the Thunderbird profile.
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 data52.5.2
Upgrade Thunderbird to version 52.5.2 or later to obtain the patched version of the RSS feed handling code.
Fix this in Enterprise Linux
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation1.0 h
- Implementation1.0 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 $1,376.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2017-7848 — 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-2017-7848 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
Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.
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