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Debian LinuxOperating system · Debian

CVE-2018-5188

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.0 Published 2018-10-18
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 52.9 / 60.1.0 or later.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
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
Memory safety bugs present in Firefox 60, Firefox ESR 60, and Firefox ESR 52.8. Some of these bugs showed evidence of memory corruption and we presume that with enough effort that some of these could be exploited to run arbitrary code. This vulnerability affects Thunderbird < 60, Thunderbird < 52.9, Firefox ESR < 60.1, Firefox ESR < 52.9, and Firefox < 61.

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

Memory safety bugs in Firefox/Thunderbird where some showed evidence of memory corruption; with sufficient effort, some could be exploited for arbitrary code execution. This is a class of memory corruption vulnerability in the browser engine.

MitigationUpdate affected software to Firefox 61+, Firefox ESR 60.1+/52.9+, Thunderbird 60+/52.9+ to obtain patched versions.

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
Debian LinuxOperating system
Affected:= 8.0= 9.0
Ubuntu LinuxOperating system
Affected:= 14.04= 16.04= 17.10= 18.04
FirefoxWeb browser
Affected:< 61.0>= 53.0, < 60.1.0
Firefox EsrWeb browser
Affected:< 52.9
Enterprise Linux DesktopOperating system
Affected:= 6.0= 7.0
Enterprise Linux ServerOperating system
Affected:= 6.0= 7.0
Enterprise Linux Server AusOperating system
Affected:= 7.6
Enterprise Linux Server EusOperating system
Affected:= 7.5= 7.6

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
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/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 checks

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

  1. Check Firefox version
    Run 'firefox --version' or look in Help > About Firefox
    Affected if Version is 53.0 or higher but below 60.1.0, or below 61.0 (for versions 53.0-60.0 range)
  2. Check Thunderbird version
    Run 'thunderbird --version' or look in Help > About Thunderbird
    Affected if Version is 52.x but below 52.9, or 60.x but below 60.0 (verify against Mozilla's version matrix)
  3. Check OS-packaged Firefox on Debian/Ubuntu
    Run 'dpkg -l | grep firefox' or check package manager for installed firefox version
    Affected if Debian 8.x/9.x or Ubuntu 14.04/16.04/17.10/18.04 with firefox package installed at vulnerable version
  4. Check OS-packaged Firefox on RHEL/CentOS
    Run 'rpm -qa | grep firefox' to list installed Firefox packages
    Affected if RHEL 6.0, 7.0, 7.5, or 7.6 with Firefox installed at vulnerable version

You are affected if Firefox or Thunderbird is installed and its version falls within 53.0 to 60.0.x (non-ESR) or below 52.9 (ESR), matching the affected OS versions for Linux distributions.

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.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to 52.9 / 60.1.0 / 61.0 or later
Fixed in 52.960.1.061.0
Interim mitigation

Update affected software to Firefox 61+, Firefox ESR 60.1+/52.9+, Thunderbird 60+/52.9+ to obtain patched versions.

Recommended fix High confidence

Firefox 61.0, Firefox 60.1.0, Firefox ESR 60.1, Firefox ESR 52.9, Thunderbird 60, Thunderbird 52.9

  1. Update the package repository index: sudo apt-get update (Debian/Ubuntu) or sudo yum check-update (RHEL/CentOS)
  2. Upgrade Firefox to version 61.0 or higher, or to version 60.1.0 or higher if staying on the 60.x branch
  3. Upgrade Firefox ESR to version 60.1 or higher, or to version 52.9 or higher if staying on the 52.x branch
  4. Upgrade Thunderbird to version 60 or higher, or to version 52.9 or higher if staying on the 52.x branch
  5. For Enterprise Linux systems, apply the errata updates via yum update or via the Red Hat Satellite/管理的更新机制
  6. Verify the installed version matches the fixed release: firefox --version or thunderbird --version
Caveat Upgrading to a newer major version may change UI behavior, remove deprecated extensions, or reset some user preferences; ESR versions recommended for organizations requiring stability

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Debian Linux Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation1.0 h
  • Implementation1.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
5.0 hours of engineering $860
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,376.

Scan for this in your stack

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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-2018-5188 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