CVE-2017-5409

Severity: medium (CVSS 5.5 v3.0)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 0.4% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: yes
Published: 2018-06-11 · updated 2026-06-17
Weakness: CWE-269

Description

The Mozilla Windows updater can be called by a non-privileged user to delete an arbitrary local file by passing a special path to the callback parameter through the Mozilla Maintenance Service, which has privileged access. Note: This attack requires local system access and only affects Windows. Other operating systems are not affected. This vulnerability affects Firefox ESR < 45.8 and Firefox < 52.

Affected products

Mozilla Firefox: before 52.0; before 45.8.0 — fixed in 45.8.0, 52.0

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: Mozilla Firefox 45.8.0, 52.0. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/96696
http://www.securitytracker.com/id/1037966
https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1321814
https://www.mozilla.org/security/advisories/mfsa2017-05/
https://www.mozilla.org/security/advisories/mfsa2017-06/
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/96696
http://www.securitytracker.com/id/1037966
https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1321814
https://www.mozilla.org/security/advisories/mfsa2017-05/
https://www.mozilla.org/security/advisories/mfsa2017-06/

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