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Fencer Vulns
critical 9.8

CVE-2017-5440 json

A use-after-free vulnerability during XSLT processing due to a failure to propagate error conditions during matching while evaluating conte…

published 2018-06-11 8 y ago modified 2026-06-17 4 mo ago also EUVD-2017-14544

cvss
9.8
version 3.0, NVD
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
2.9%
EPSS 2.9% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 87%
public exploits
0
none known

Summary

A use-after-free vulnerability during XSLT processing due to a failure to propagate error conditions during matching while evaluating context, leading to objects being used when they no longer exist. This results in a potentially exploitable crash. This vulnerability affects Thunderbird < 52.1, Firefox ESR < 45.9, Firefox ESR < 52.1, and Firefox < 53.

Patch / fix

  • Mozilla Thunderbird 52.1
  • Mozilla Firefox ESR 45.9, 52.1
  • Mozilla Firefox 53
  • firefox-esr Debian 14, Debian 13, Debian 12 45.9.0esr-1

debian advisories DEBIAN-CVE-2017-5440

  • firefox Ubuntu 14.04 LTS 53.0+build6-0ubuntu0.14.04.1
  • firefox Ubuntu 16.04 LTS 53.0+build6-0ubuntu0.16.04.1
  • thunderbird Ubuntu 14.04 LTS 1:52.1.1+build1-0ubuntu0.14.04.1
  • thunderbird Ubuntu 16.04 LTS 1:52.1.1+build1-0ubuntu0.16.04.1

ubuntu advisories UBUNTU-CVE-2017-5440

Ubuntu security data © Canonical Ltd., from https://github.com/canonical/ubuntu-security-notices via OSV; changed: normalised to fixed package versions per release. CC BY-SA 4.0

  • firefox RHEL 7 52.1.0-2.el7_3
  • firefox RHEL 6 52.1.0-2.el6_9
  • thunderbird RHEL 6 52.1.0-1.el6_9
  • thunderbird RHEL 7 52.1.0-1.el7_3

red hat advisories RHSA-2017:1106RHSA-2017:1104RHSA-2017:1201

  • mozilla-nss SLES for SAP 11 SP4, SLES 11 SP4, SLES 11 SP3-TERADATA +3 more 3.29.5-47.3.2
  • firefox-gcc5 SLES for SAP 11 SP4, SLES 11 SP4, SLES 11 SP3-TERADATA +2 more 5.3.1+r233831-7.1
  • MozillaFirefox SLES for SAP 11 SP4, SLES 11 SP4, SLES 11 SP3-TERADATA +3 more 52.2.0esr-72.5.2
  • firefox-libffi-gcc5 SLES for SAP 11 SP4, SLES 11 SP4, SLES 11 SP3-TERADATA +2 more 5.3.1+r233831-7.1
  • MozillaFirefox-branding-SLED SLES for SAP 11 SP4, SLES 11 SP4, SLES 11 SP3-TERADATA +2 more 52-24.3.44
  • MozillaFirefox-branding-SLE SLES for SAP 12 SP2, SLES for SAP 12 SP1, SLES for SAP 12 +6 more 52-31.1
  • MozillaFirefox SLES for SAP 12 SP2, SLES for SAP 12 SP1, SLES for SAP 12 +7 more 52.2.0esr-108.3
  • java-1_8_0-openjdk SLES for SAP 12 SP2, SLES for SAP 12 SP1, SLES for Raspberry Pi 12 SP2 +4 more 1.8.0.121-23.4

suse advisories SUSE-SU-2017:2235-1SUSE-SU-2017:1669-1SUSE-SU-2017:1248-1SUSE-SU-2017:1175-1

  • firefox-esr openSUSE Tumbleweed 128.5.1-1.1
  • MozillaFirefox openSUSE Tumbleweed 92.0-1.2
  • MozillaThunderbird openSUSE Tumbleweed 91.1.1-1.1
  • MozillaThunderbird Package Hub 12 52.1.0-30.1

opensuse advisories openSUSE-SU-2024:14572-1openSUSE-SU-2024:10600-1openSUSE-SU-2024:10601-1openSUSE-SU-2017:1268-1

  • firefox Arch Linux 53.0-1

arch linux advisories AVG-249

Vendor advisories

What the vendors themselves say about their products: affected, fixed or not affected, and what to do.

red hat product security vex CVE-2017-5440 updated cvss 9.8

Mozilla: Use-after-free in txExecutionState destructor during XSLT processing (MFSA 2017-11, MFSA 2017-12)

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 firefox, thunderbird
    affected: no fix planned “Will not fix”
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Client (v. 7) firefox 52.1.0-2.el7_3, thunderbird 52.1.0-1.el7_3
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2017:1201
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Client Optional (v. 7) firefox 52.1.0-2.el7_3
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2017:1106
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop (v. 6) firefox 52.1.0-2.el6_9, thunderbird 52.1.0-1.el6_9 Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop Optional (v. 6) firefox 52.1.0-2.el6_9 Red Hat Enterprise Linux HPC Node Optional (v. 6) firefox 52.1.0-2.el6_9 Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server (v. 6) firefox 52.1.0-2.el6_9
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2017:1104
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server (v. 7) firefox 52.1.0-2.el7_3
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2017:1106
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server Optional (v. 6) firefox 52.1.0-2.el6_9, thunderbird 52.1.0-1.el6_9
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2017:1104
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server Optional (v. 7) firefox 52.1.0-2.el7_3, thunderbird 52.1.0-1.el7_3
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2017:1201
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation (v. 6) firefox 52.1.0-2.el6_9, thunderbird 52.1.0-1.el6_9
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2017:1104
show 3 more
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation (v. 7) firefox 52.1.0-2.el7_3, thunderbird 52.1.0-1.el7_3
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2017:1201
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation Optional (v. 6) firefox 52.1.0-2.el6_9
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2017:1104
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation Optional (v. 7) firefox 52.1.0-2.el7_3
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2017:1106

Red Hat CSAF VEX © Red Hat, Inc., from https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/; changed: reduced to product statuses and remediations. CC BY 4.0 · csaf

Exploit prediction

2.94% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 87% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-08).

Exploits and checks

  • bugzilla.mozilla.org https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1336832 referenced PoC, tagged "exploit" by a source, unverified

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
NVD 3.0 9.8 CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
NVD 2.0 7.5 AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P

Affected products

  • Mozilla Thunderbird
  • Mozilla Firefox ESR
  • Mozilla Firefox

Classification

Weakness

References

Sources

Fencer Vulns keeps one entry per vulnerability: the CVE id wins, then GHSA, and records that alias each other are merged, except that two CVEs always keep separate entries. The same data is available as JSON.