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FirefoxWeb browser · Mozilla

CVE-2022-38472

MEDIUM · 6.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2022-12-22
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 91.13 / 102.2 or later.
See remediation →
72/100
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
An attacker could have abused XSLT error handling to associate attacker-controlled content with another origin which was displayed in the address bar. This could have been used to fool the user into submitting data intended for the spoofed origin. This vulnerability affects Thunderbird < 102.2, Thunderbird < 91.13, Firefox ESR < 91.13, Firefox ESR < 102.2, and Firefox < 104.

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

This is a cross-origin spoofing vulnerability where attackers abuse XSLT (Extensible Stylesheet Language Transformations) error handling in Firefox/Thunderbird to associate malicious content with a legitimate origin, causing the spoofed origin to display in the address bar while tricking users into believing they're on a trusted site.

MitigationApply vendor-supplied updates: Upgrade Firefox to version 104+, Firefox ESR to 91.13+ or 102.2+, or Thunderbird to 91.13+ or 102.2+ as appropriate for the release channel.

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:< 104.0>= 102.0, < 102.2
ThunderbirdApplication
Affected:< 91.13>= 102.0, < 102.2

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
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
High
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/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 checks

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

  1. Check Firefox version
    Run 'firefox --version' from command line, or on Windows check C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe properties, or on macOS run '/Applications/Firefox.app/Contents/MacOS/firefox --version'
    Affected if Version is 102.0 through 102.1.x, or less than 104.0 (for older release branches)
  2. Check Thunderbird version
    Run 'thunderbird --version' from command line, or on Windows check C:\Program Files\Mozilla Thunderbird\thunderbird.exe properties, or on macOS run '/Applications/Thunderbird.app/Contents/MacOS/thunderbird --version'
    Affected if Version is 102.0 through 102.1.x, or less than 91.13 (for older release branches)
  3. Verify XSLT processing is enabled in Firefox
    Navigate to about:config in Firefox address bar, search for 'xslt' and confirm the preference 'dom.xslt.enabled' is set to true (default is true)
    Affected if The XSLT processor is enabled (default) and version is in the affected range - the vulnerability exploits XSLT error handling to spoof origins

You are affected if you run Firefox 102.0-102.1.x or Thunderbird 102.0-102.1.x (or older unpatched versions) and XSLT processing is enabled, which allows malicious content to spoof the legitimate origin in the address bar.

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 91.13 / 102.2 / 104.0 or later
Fixed in 91.13102.2104.0
Interim mitigation

Apply vendor-supplied updates: Upgrade Firefox to version 104+, Firefox ESR to 91.13+ or 102.2+, or Thunderbird to 91.13+ or 102.2+ as appropriate for the release channel.

Recommended fix High confidence

Firefox 104.0+ / Thunderbird 102.2+ / Thunderbird 91.13+ / Firefox ESR 91.13+ / Firefox ESR 102.2+

  1. Check current Firefox version by navigating to about:support in the browser
  2. Check current Thunderbird version by navigating to Help > About Thunderbird
  3. For Firefox users: Upgrade to Firefox 104.0 or later by navigating to Help > About Firefox > Check for updates
  4. For Thunderbird users on 102.x: Upgrade to Thunderbird 102.2 or later
  5. For Thunderbird users on older releases: Upgrade to Thunderbird 91.13 or later
  6. For Firefox ESR users: Upgrade to Firefox ESR 91.13 or 102.2 depending on your release track
  7. Restart the application after applying the update

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

Fix this in Firefox Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation1.0 h
  • Testing1.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
5.0 hours of engineering $910
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,456.

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-2022-38472 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