Ubuntu LinuxOperating system · Canonical
CVE-2018-5169
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 manipulated hyperlinked text with "chrome:" URL contained in it is dragged and dropped on the "home" icon, the home page can be reset to include a normally-unlinkable chrome page as one of the home page tabs. This vulnerability affects Firefox < 60.
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 confidenceA drag-and-drop vulnerability in Firefox allows manipulated hyperlinked text containing 'chrome:' URLs to be dropped on the home icon, resetting the homepage to include normally-restricted chrome pages as tabs. Chrome URLs are typically blocked for security but can be injected through this drag-and-drop vector.
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
Ubuntu LinuxOperating system
= 14.04= 16.04= 17.10= 18.04
FirefoxWeb browser
< 60.0CVSS 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
- Required
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:H/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 if Firefox is installedRun `dpkg -l | grep firefox` or `which firefox` to see if the Firefox package is present on the Ubuntu systemAffected if Firefox is not installed or not found via package manager or command path
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Determine Firefox versionRun `firefox --version` or `apt-cache policy firefox` to retrieve the installed Firefox version numberAffected if The displayed version is lower than 60.0 (for example, 59.0.1, 58.x, or earlier)
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Identify Ubuntu release versionRun `lsb_release -r` or check `/etc/lsb-release` to determine the Ubuntu releaseAffected if The system runs Ubuntu 14.04, 16.04, 17.10, or 18.04 and has a Firefox version below 60.0
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Verify homepage can be manipulated (if Firefox < 60)Check if the drag-and-drop to home icon feature is accessible - this is a functional check requiring manual testing with a crafted 'chrome:' URL linkAffected if After dragging a hyperlinked text containing 'chrome:' URLs onto the home icon, the homepage resets to include chrome pages
You are affected if Firefox version 60.0 or later is not installed on an affected Ubuntu version (14.04, 16.04, 17.10, or 18.04), as the drag-and-drop vulnerability allows chrome: URL injection to manipulate the homepage.
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 data60.0
Upgrade Firefox to version 60 or later to obtain the security fix. Organizations should deploy the updated browser version enterprise-wide and verify the homepage settings cannot be manipulated.
Fix this in Ubuntu Linux
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-2018-5169 — 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-2018-5169 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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