FirefoxWeb browser · Mozilla
CVE-2018-5115
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 · uneditedIf an HTTP authentication prompt is triggered by a background network request from a page or extension, it is displayed over the currently loaded foreground page. Although the prompt contains the real domain making the request, this can result in user confusion about the originating site of the authentication request and may cause users to mistakenly send private credential information to a third party site. This vulnerability affects Firefox < 58.
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 confidenceFirefox displays HTTP authentication prompts triggered by background network requests (from pages or extensions) over the currently loaded foreground page. While the prompt correctly shows the real requesting domain, users may be confused about which site is requesting authentication due to the visual overlay, potentially leading to accidental credential disclosure to unintended third-party sites.
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
<= 57.0.4
Ubuntu LinuxOperating system
= 14.04= 16.04= 17.10CVSS 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
- High
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Check installed Firefox versionOpen Firefox and navigate to 'about:Firefox' or run 'firefox --version' in terminalAffected if Version displayed is 57.0.4 or earlier (any version <= 57.0.4)
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Verify Firefox package version on UbuntuRun 'dpkg -l firefox | grep firefox' in terminal to see the installed Firefox package versionAffected if Package version listed is <= 57.0+build2-0ubuntu0.1 or similar 57.0.x versions
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Confirm Ubuntu release if applicableRun 'lsb_release -r' or check '/etc/lsb-release' to identify the Ubuntu versionAffected if System is Ubuntu 14.04, 16.04, or 17.10 and runs an affected Firefox version from that release
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Check for active HTTP authentication promptsWhile browsing, observe whether unexpected HTTP authentication dialogs appear overlaying web pages, especially on pages that should not require authenticationAffected if HTTP auth prompts appear unexpectedly from background requests while browsing
A user is affected if their installed Firefox version is 57.0.4 or earlier, regardless of operating system.
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 58 or later, which contains the fix for this UI confusion vulnerability.
Fix this in Firefox
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation1.0 h
- Implementation1.0 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 $1,200.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2018-5115 — 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-2018-5115 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