FirefoxWeb browser · Mozilla

CVE-2018-5142

MEDIUM · 5.3 CVSS v3.0 Published 2018-06-11
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 59.0 or later.
See remediation →
62/100
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
If Media Capture and Streams API permission is requested from documents with "data:" or "blob:" URLs, the permission notifications do not properly display the originating domain. The notification states "Unknown protocol" as the requestee, leading to user confusion about which site is asking for this permission. This vulnerability affects Firefox < 59.

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

The Media Capture and Streams API permission prompt in Firefox displays 'Unknown protocol' instead of the actual originating domain when permission is requested from documents with 'data:' or 'blob:' URLs. This allows malicious pages using these URL schemes to obscure their true identity when requesting microphone or camera access, potentially tricking users into granting permissions to the wrong site.

MitigationUpgrade Firefox to version 59 or later. For enterprise environments, deploy browser updates or use patch management to ensure all clients have the patched version.

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:< 59.0
Ubuntu LinuxOperating system
Affected:= 14.04= 16.04= 17.10

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
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 checks

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

  1. Check installed Firefox version
    Open Firefox, go to Help > About Firefox, or run 'firefox --version' from command line
    Affected if Version is less than 59.0
  2. Check Ubuntu version for packaged Firefox
    Run 'lsb_release -a' or check /etc/lsb-release
    Affected if Running Ubuntu 14.04, 16.04, or 17.10 with system-provided Firefox packages
  3. Verify Firefox build date
    In Firefox address bar, go to 'about:buildconfig' to see the build date and version details
    Affected if Build date is prior to the Firefox 59 release (around March 2018)

If Firefox version is 59.0 or higher, the environment is not affected; if Firefox is below 59.0 and the system uses data: or blob: URLs with Media Capture API, the vulnerability applies.

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 59.0 or later
Fixed in 59.0
Interim mitigation

Upgrade Firefox to version 59 or later. For enterprise environments, deploy browser updates or use patch management to ensure all clients have the patched version.

Fix this in Firefox Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation1.0 h
  • Testing1.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
3.0 hours of engineering $750
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,200.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2018-5142 — 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 sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2018-5142 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