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FirefoxWeb browser · Mozilla

CVE-2019-11744

MEDIUM · 6.1 CVSS v3.1 Published 2019-09-27
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 60.9 / 68.1 or later.
See remediation →
68/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Remotely reachable No privileges

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
Some HTML elements, such as &lt;title&gt; and &lt;textarea&gt;, can contain literal angle brackets without treating them as markup. It is possible to pass a literal closing tag to .innerHTML on these elements, and subsequent content after that will be parsed as if it were outside the tag. This can lead to XSS if a site does not filter user input as strictly for these elements as it does for other elements. This vulnerability affects Firefox < 69, Thunderbird < 68.1, Thunderbird < 60.9, Firefox ESR < 60.9, and Firefox ESR < 68.1.

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

A cross-site scripting vulnerability exists in Firefox and Thunderbird where certain HTML elements like <title> and <textarea> allow literal angle brackets in .innerHTML. An attacker can inject a closing tag followed by malicious content that gets parsed outside the element, executing arbitrary JavaScript.

MitigationUpgrade Firefox to version 69 or later, or Thunderbird to 68.1+/60.9+ (ESR) to patch the parsing flaw in .innerHTML handling.

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:< 60.9< 69.0>= 68.0, < 68.1
ThunderbirdApplication
Affected:< 60.9>= 68.0, < 68.1

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
Required
Scope
Changed
Confidentiality
Low
Integrity
Low
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:L/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. Identify installed browser or email client
    Check if Mozilla Firefox or Thunderbird is installed by looking for the application in the system program files, or by typing 'firefox --version' or 'thunderbird --version' in the command line
    Affected if Either Firefox or Thunderbird is installed and its version falls within the affected ranges
  2. Check Firefox version
    Open Firefox, go to Help > About Firefox, or run 'firefox --version' in command line. Note the full version number (e.g., 68.0, 60.8, 69.0)
    Affected if Version is less than 60.9, OR is 68.0.x, OR is between 60.9 and 69.0 (excluding 68.1 and 69.0+)
  3. Check Thunderbird version
    Open Thunderbird, go to Help > About Thunderbird, or run 'thunderbird --version' in command line. Note the full version number
    Affected if Version is less than 60.9, OR is 68.0.x, OR is between 60.9 and 68.1 (excluding 68.1 and 69.0+)
  4. Confirm vulnerability applicability
    This XSS flaw specifically requires .innerHTML assignment on HTML elements like <title> or <textarea>. Verify if any installed extensions, add-ons, or custom web content handling code uses .innerHTML on these elements
    Affected if User runs extensions or web content that manipulates .innerHTML on <title> or <textarea> elements in affected Firefox/Thunderbird versions

A user is affected if they run Firefox version 60.9 and above but below 69.0, or version 68.0.x, or Thunderbird with similar version constraints, AND interact with content using .innerHTML on title or textarea elements.

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 60.9 / 68.1 / 69.0 or later
Fixed in 60.968.169.0
Interim mitigation

Upgrade Firefox to version 69 or later, or Thunderbird to 68.1+/60.9+ (ESR) to patch the parsing flaw in .innerHTML handling.

Fix this in Firefox Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation1.0 h
  • Implementation1.0 h
  • Testing1.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
4.0 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

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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-2019-11744 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