CVE-2023-4579: Persisted search terms were formatted as URLs

Severity: low (CVSS 3.1 v3.1)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 0.5% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: none known
Published: 2023-09-11 · updated 2026-06-17

Description

Search queries in the default search engine could appear to have been the currently navigated URL if the search query itself was a well formed URL. This could have led to a site spoofing another if it had been maliciously set as the default search engine. This vulnerability affects Firefox < 117.

Affected products

Mozilla Firefox: before 117.0 — fixed in 117.0

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: Mozilla Firefox 117.0. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1842766
https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/202401-10
https://www.mozilla.org/security/advisories/mfsa2023-34/
https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1842766
https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/202401-10
https://www.mozilla.org/security/advisories/mfsa2023-34/

Get alerted when CVE-2023-4579 or the next vulnerability affects your stack