CVE-2020-26970
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 · uneditedWhen reading SMTP server status codes, Thunderbird writes an integer value to a position on the stack that is intended to contain just one byte. Depending on processor architecture and stack layout, this leads to stack corruption that may be exploitable. This vulnerability affects Thunderbird < 78.5.1.
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 confidenceThunderbird contains a stack-based buffer overflow in its SMTP server status code parsing. The code writes a full integer value into a buffer allocated for a single byte, causing stack corruption that could be exploitable for code execution depending on processor architecture and stack layout.
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< 78.5.1CVSS 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
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Verify Thunderbird is installedLocate the Thunderbird application on the system. On Windows check Program Files, on macOS check Applications, on Linux check standard package locations or run 'which thunderbird' in terminal.Affected if Thunderbird is not found on the system, then this CVE does not apply.
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Determine installed Thunderbird versionOpen Thunderbird and navigate to Help > About Thunderbird (or Thunderbird > About Thunderbird on macOS). Alternatively, run 'thunderbird --version' in terminal on Linux. Compare the version number to 78.5.1.Affected if The installed version is lower than 78.5.1.
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Check if SMTP account is configuredIn Thunderbird, go to Account Settings (or Preferences on Linux) and examine the Outgoing Server (SMTP) settings under the Account Settings or Server Settings for each configured email account.Affected if An SMTP server is configured and the version is below 78.5.1.
The environment is affected if Thunderbird version is below 78.5.1 and an SMTP account is configured for sending email.
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 data78.5.1
Upgrade Thunderbird to version 78.5.1 or later to obtain the patch that properly sizes the variable and implements correct bounds checking for SMTP status code handling.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing4.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2020-26970 — 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-2020-26970 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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