Mozilla Firefox Vulnerability: Code Execution through Animation Timelines
CVE-2024-9680

9.8CRITICAL

Key Information:

Vendor: Mozilla
Status: Firefox; Firefox Esr; Thunderbird
Vendor: CVE Published:; 9 October 2024

Badges

🥇 Trended No. 1📈 Trended📈 Score: 15,800💰 Ransomware👾 Exploit Exists🦅 CISA Reported📰 News Worthy

What is CVE-2024-9680?

CVE-2024-9680 is a vulnerability affecting Mozilla Firefox and Thunderbird, which are popular web browser and email client applications, respectively. This vulnerability arises from a use-after-free condition in the handling of animation timelines. It poses a serious risk as it enables an attacker to execute arbitrary code in the content process, potentially leading to system compromise. Organizations utilizing these applications, especially those maintaining outdated versions, may find themselves exposed to this security flaw, opening doors for malicious actors to exploit their systems.

Technical Details

The designated vulnerability stems from improper memory management associated with animation timelines in affected versions of Mozilla Firefox and Thunderbird. Specifically, the use-after-free condition occurs when an application continues to use a pointer to a memory block after it has been freed, creating an opportunity for an attacker to manipulate the program's execution flow. This vulnerability affects specific versions of Firefox, including versions prior to 131.0.2 and various extended support releases, as well as certain versions of Thunderbird. The existence of successful exploits in the wild indicates that this vulnerability can be weaponized by attackers.

Impact of the Vulnerability

Arbitrary Code Execution: The most critical impact of this vulnerability is the potential for unauthorized code execution. Attackers can take control of affected systems, which may lead to the installation of malware, data theft, or further exploitation of network resources.
System Compromise: Successful exploitation can allow attackers to gain administrative privileges on the affected systems. This compromise can facilitate a wide range of malicious activities, including lateral movement within a network, escalating privileges, and exfiltrating sensitive information.
Increased Risk of Future Attacks: By exploiting this vulnerability, attackers may establish footholds within an organization's infrastructure. Once inside, they can deploy additional tools and techniques to execute further attacks, raising the overall security risk for the organization and potentially enabling future ransomware attacks or cyber espionage efforts.

CISA Reported

CISA provides regional cyber and physical services to support security and resilience across the United States. CISA monitor the most dangerious vulnerabilities and have identifed as being exploited but is not known by the CISA to be used in ransomware campaigns. This is subject to change at pace as recent news articles suggest the vulnerability is being used by ransomware groups.

The CISA's recommendation is: Apply mitigations per vendor instructions or discontinue use of the product if mitigations are unavailable.

Affected Version(s)

Firefox < 131.0.2

Firefox ESR < 128.3.1

Firefox ESR < 115.16.1

News Articles

Forbes

CVE-2024-9680

New Windows Cyber Attack Warning As 0-Click Russian Backdoor Confirmed

Security researchers have confirmed how a 9.8 severity vulnerability was used in a zero-click cyber attack chain by Russian hackers against Windows users.

1 month ago