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CVE-2018-5116: Mozilla Firefox: Origin Validation Error

CVE-2018-5116 is rated critical with a CVSS v3.0 base score of 9.8 and affects Mozilla Firefox, along with 1 other product in NVD’s configuration data. Per its scoring, it can be exploited over the network, without authentication, without any user interaction. The scored impact on confidentiality, integrity and availability is the highest available.

Vulnerability description

WebExtensions with the "ActiveTab" permission are able to access frames hosted within the active tab even if the frames are cross-origin. Malicious extensions can inject frames from arbitrary origins into the loaded page and then interact with them, bypassing same-origin user expectations with this permission. This vulnerability affects Firefox < 58.

Severity breakdown

CVSS v3.0 9.8: CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

  • Attack vector: Network. Exploitable remotely over the network, with no need for local or physical access.
  • Attack complexity: Low. No special conditions; the attack can be repeated reliably.
  • Privileges required: None. No account or prior access is needed.
  • User interaction: None. No action from any user is needed.
  • Scope: Unchanged. Impact stays within the vulnerable component.
  • Confidentiality impact: High. Total loss of confidentiality; sensitive data can be fully disclosed.
  • Integrity impact: High. Total loss of integrity; data or system state can be fully modified.
  • Availability impact: High. Total loss of availability; the component can be shut down.

Underlying weakness

CWE-346: Origin Validation Error

The product does not properly verify that the source of data or communication is valid.

Affected products

  • Mozilla Firefox: up to and including 57.0.4
  • Canonical Ubuntu Linux: 14.04; 16.04; 17.10

References