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Fencer Vulns
critical 9.8

CVE-2023-5174 json

If Windows failed to duplicate a handle during process creation, the sandbox code may have inadvertently freed a pointer twice, resulting i…

published 2023-09-27 3 y ago modified 2026-06-17 4 mo ago also EUVD-2023-57511

cvss
9.8
version 3.1, CNA
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
1.2%
EPSS 1.2% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 68%
public exploits
0
none known

Summary

If Windows failed to duplicate a handle during process creation, the sandbox code may have inadvertently freed a pointer twice, resulting in a use-after-free and a potentially exploitable crash. *This bug only affects Firefox on Windows when run in non-standard configurations (such as using `runas`). Other operating systems are unaffected.* This vulnerability affects Firefox < 118, Firefox ESR < 115.3, and Thunderbird < 115.3.

Patch / fix

  • Mozilla Firefox 118
  • Mozilla Firefox ESR 115.3
  • Mozilla Thunderbird 115.3
  • MozillaThunderbird SLE Workstation Extension 15 SP5, SLE Workstation Extension 15 SP4, SLE Module for Package Hub 15 SP5 +3 more 115.3.1-150200.8.133.1
  • MozillaFirefox SLES for SAP 15 SP3, SLES for SAP 15 SP2, SLES 15 SP3-LTSS +9 more 115.3.0-150200.152.108.1
  • MozillaFirefox SLES for SAP 12 SP5, SLES 12 SP5, SLE Software Development Kit 12 SP5 115.3.0-112.182.1
  • MozillaFirefox SLES for SAP 15 SP1, SLES 15 SP1-LTSS, SLE High Performance Computing 15 SP1-LTSS 115.3.0-150000.150.107.1

suse advisories SUSE-SU-2023:4016-1SUSE-SU-2023:3899-1SUSE-SU-2023:3898-1SUSE-SU-2023:3837-1

  • firefox-esr openSUSE Tumbleweed 128.5.1-1.1
  • MozillaThunderbird openSUSE Tumbleweed 115.3.0-1.1
  • MozillaFirefox openSUSE Tumbleweed 118.0.1-1.1

opensuse advisories openSUSE-SU-2024:14572-1openSUSE-SU-2024:13268-1openSUSE-SU-2024:13272-1

  • firefox-esr Alpine 3.23, Alpine 3.22, Alpine 3.21 +3 more 115.3.0-r0

alpine advisories ALPINE-CVE-2023-5174

Alpine secdb © Alpine Linux, from https://secdb.alpinelinux.org via OSV; changed: normalised to fixed package versions per release. CC BY-SA 4.0

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-2023-5174 updated cvss 9.8

Mozilla: Double-free in process spawning on Windows

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 firefox, thunderbird Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 firefox, thunderbird Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 firefox, thunderbird Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 firefox, firefox-x11, thunderbird
    not affected: vulnerable code not present

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

CISA SSVC

Exploitation
none
Automatable
yes
Technical impact
total
Assessed
18 mo ago

Exploit prediction

1.20% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 68% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-08).

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
CISA ADP 3.1 9.8 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
NVD 3.1 9.8 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
CNA 3.1 9.8 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Affected products

  • Mozilla Firefox
  • Mozilla Firefox ESR
  • Mozilla Thunderbird

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.