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FirefoxWeb browser · Mozilla

CVE-2023-5169

MEDIUM · 6.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2023-09-27
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 115.3 / 118 or later.
See remediation →
72/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Remotely reachable No privileges Patch available

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
A compromised content process could have provided malicious data in a `PathRecording` resulting in an out-of-bounds write, leading to a potentially exploitable crash in a privileged process. This vulnerability affects Firefox < 118, Firefox ESR < 115.3, and Thunderbird < 115.3.

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
How this class of weakness works · CWE-787

The program writes past the bounds of a buffer, overwriting adjacent memory an attacker can turn to their advantage. Crafted input can overwrite control data and redirect execution. Remediation is validating every index and length before a write, plus modern memory-safety mitigations.

General guidance for the out-of-bounds write class — the official description and references above are authoritative for this specific CVE. Want a bespoke review and a reviewed fix? Ask our team →

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:< 118
Firefox EsrWeb browser
Affected:< 115.3
Debian LinuxOperating system
Affected:= 10.0= 11.0= 12.0
FedoraOperating system
Affected:= 39
ThunderbirdApplication
Affected:< 115.3

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
None
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

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 115.3 / 118 or later
Fixed in 115.3118
Vendor patch lists.debian.org →
Recommended fix High confidence

Firefox 118 or higher; Firefox ESR 115.3 or higher; Thunderbird 115.3 or higher

  1. Identify the installed product (Firefox, Firefox ESR, or Thunderbird) and current version using the application's built-in version check
  2. For Firefox: Navigate to Menu > Help > About Firefox to check the current version
  3. For Thunderbird: Navigate to Menu > Help > About Thunderbird to check the current version
  4. If the version is below the fixed release (Firefox < 118, Firefox ESR < 115.3, or Thunderbird < 115.3), initiate the upgrade
  5. Update via the application's automatic update feature (Help > Check for Updates) or download the fixed version from the official Mozilla website
  6. Restart the application after the update completes
  7. Verify the installed version matches or exceeds the fixed release (Firefox 118+, Firefox ESR 115.3+, Thunderbird 115.3+)
  8. For Debian systems: Run 'apt update && apt upgrade' to receive the security update from Debian's repositories
Caveat Standard point release upgrade with minimal risk; may require restart of the application

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

We can perform the upgrade in your staging environment and verify nothing breaks — typical engagement from $2,850. Get the upgrade done

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-2023-5169 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