CVE-2023-5174
If Windows failed to duplicate a handle during process creation, the sandbox code may have...
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.
Attack profile
How easy it is to exploit
- Attack vector
- Network
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges needed
- None
- User interaction
- None
What an attacker can affect
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
Exploit likelihood
What each source reports
NVD Score used
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.
- Record
CVE-2023-5174- CVSS 3.1
- 9.8 Critical
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H - Weakness
- CWE-416
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
CVE List
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.
- Record
CVE-2023-5174- CVSS 3.1
- 9.8 Critical
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H - Weakness
- CWE-416
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
EUVDEUVD-2023-57511
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.
- Record
EUVD-2023-57511- CVSS 3.1
- 9.8 Critical
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H - Updated
- 2026-11-02
GitHub AdvisoriesGHSA-8fw2-629c-5885
If Windows failed to duplicate a handle during process creation, the sandbox code may have...
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.
- Record
GHSA-8fw2-629c-5885- CVSS 3.1
- 9.8 Critical
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H - Weakness
- CWE-416
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVALPINE-CVE-2023-5174
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.
- Record
ALPINE-CVE-2023-5174- CVSS 3.1
- 9.8 Critical
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H - Updated
- 2026-11-03
OSVUBUNTU-CVE-2023-5174
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.
- Record
UBUNTU-CVE-2023-5174- CVSS 3.1
- 9.8 Critical
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H - Updated
- 2026-11-02
Show 8 moreShow less
OSVopenSUSE-SU-2024:13268-1No score
MozillaThunderbird-115.3.0-1.1 on GA media
These are all security issues fixed in the MozillaThunderbird-115.3.0-1.1 package on the GA media of openSUSE Tumbleweed.
- Record
openSUSE-SU-2024:13268-1- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVopenSUSE-SU-2024:13272-1No score
MozillaFirefox-118.0.1-1.1 on GA media
These are all security issues fixed in the MozillaFirefox-118.0.1-1.1 package on the GA media of openSUSE Tumbleweed.
- Record
openSUSE-SU-2024:13272-1- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVopenSUSE-SU-2024:13288-1No score
libmozjs-115-0-115.3.1-1.1 on GA media
These are all security issues fixed in the libmozjs-115-0-115.3.1-1.1 package on the GA media of openSUSE Tumbleweed.
- Record
openSUSE-SU-2024:13288-1- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVopenSUSE-SU-2024:14572-1No score
firefox-esr-128.5.1-1.1 on GA media
These are all security issues fixed in the firefox-esr-128.5.1-1.1 package on the GA media of openSUSE Tumbleweed.
- Record
openSUSE-SU-2024:14572-1- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVSUSE-SU-2023:3837-1No score
Security update for MozillaFirefox
This update for MozillaFirefox fixes the following issues:
Update to Firefox Extended Support Release 115.3.0 ESR (MFSA 2023-42, bsc#1215575):
Security fixes:
- CVE-2023-5168: Out-of-bounds write in FilterNodeD2D1 (bmo#1846683).
- CVE-2023-5169: Out-of-bounds write in PathOps (bmo#1846685).
- CVE-2023-5171: Use-after-free in Ion Compiler (bmo#1851599).
- CVE-2023-5174: Double-free in process spawning on Windows (bmo#1848454).
- CVE-2023-5176: Memory safety bugs fixed in Firefox 118, Firefox ESR 115.3, and Thunderbird 115.3 (bmo#1836353, bmo#1842674, bmo#1843824, bmo#1843962, bmo#1848890, bmo#1850180, bmo#1850983, bmo#1851195).
Other fixes:
- Fix broken build with newer binutils (bsc#1215309)
- Record
SUSE-SU-2023:3837-1- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVSUSE-SU-2023:3898-1No score
Security update for MozillaFirefox
This update for MozillaFirefox fixes the following issues:
Update to Firefox Extended Support Release 115.3.0 ESR (MFSA 2023-42, bsc#1215575):
Security fixes:
- CVE-2023-5168: Out-of-bounds write in FilterNodeD2D1 (bmo#1846683).
- CVE-2023-5169: Out-of-bounds write in PathOps (bmo#1846685).
- CVE-2023-5171: Use-after-free in Ion Compiler (bmo#1851599).
- CVE-2023-5174: Double-free in process spawning on Windows (bmo#1848454).
- CVE-2023-5176: Memory safety bugs fixed in Firefox 118, Firefox ESR 115.3, and Thunderbird 115.3 (bmo#1836353, bmo#1842674, bmo#1843824, bmo#1843962, bmo#1848890, bmo#1850180, bmo#1850983, bmo#1851195).
Other fixes:
- Fix broken build with newer binutils (bsc#1215309)
- Record
SUSE-SU-2023:3898-1- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVSUSE-SU-2023:3899-1No score
Security update for MozillaFirefox
This update for MozillaFirefox fixes the following issues:
Update to Firefox Extended Support Release 115.3.0 ESR (MFSA 2023-42, bsc#1215575):
Security fixes:
- CVE-2023-5168: Out-of-bounds write in FilterNodeD2D1 (bmo#1846683).
- CVE-2023-5169: Out-of-bounds write in PathOps (bmo#1846685).
- CVE-2023-5171: Use-after-free in Ion Compiler (bmo#1851599).
- CVE-2023-5174: Double-free in process spawning on Windows (bmo#1848454).
- CVE-2023-5176: Memory safety bugs fixed in Firefox 118, Firefox ESR 115.3, and Thunderbird 115.3 (bmo#1836353, bmo#1842674, bmo#1843824, bmo#1843962, bmo#1848890, bmo#1850180, bmo#1850983, bmo#1851195).
Other fixes:
- Fix broken build with newer binutils (bsc#1215309)
- Record
SUSE-SU-2023:3899-1- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVSUSE-SU-2023:4016-1No score
Security update for MozillaThunderbird
This update for MozillaThunderbird fixes the following issues:
Security fixes:
- CVE-2023-5217: Fixed a heap buffer overflow in libvpx. (bsc#1215814)
- CVE-2023-5168: Out-of-bounds write in FilterNodeD2D1. (bsc#1215575)
- CVE-2023-5169: Out-of-bounds write in PathOps. (bsc#1215575)
- CVE-2023-5171: Use-after-free in Ion Compiler. (bsc#1215575)
- CVE-2023-5174: Double-free in process spawning on Windows. (bsc#1215575)
- CVE-2023-5176: Memory safety bugs fixed in Firefox 118, Firefox ESR 115.3, and Thunderbird 115.3. (bsc#1215575)
Other fixes:
- Mozilla Thunderbird 115.3.1
- fixed: In Unified Folders view, some folders had incorrect unified folder parent (bmo#1852525)
- fixed: 'Edit message as new' did not restore encrypted subject from selected message (bmo#1788534)
- fixed: Importing some CalDAV calendars with yearly recurrence events caused Thunderbird to freeze (bmo#1850732)
- fixed: Security fixes MFSA 2023-44 (bsc#1215814)
- CVE-2023-5217 (bmo#1855550) Heap buffer overflow in libvpx
- Mozilla Thunderbird 115.3
- fixed: Thunderbird could not import profiles with hostname ending in dot ('.') (bmo#1825374)
- fixed: Message header was occasionally missing in message preview (bmo#1840943)
- fixed: Setting an existing folder's type flag did not add descendant folders to the Unified Folders view (bmo#1848904)
- fixed: Thunderbird did not always delete all temporary mail files, sometimes preventing messages from being sent (bmo#673703)
- fixed: Status bar in Message Compose window could not be hidden (bmo#1806860)
- fixed: Message header was intermittently missing from message preview (bmo#1840943)
- fixed: OAuth2 did not work on some profiles created in Thunderbird 102.6.1 or earlier (bmo#1814823)
- fixed: In Vertical View, decrypted subject lines were displayed as ellipsis ('...') in message list (bmo#1831764)
- fixed: Condensed address preference (mail.showCondensedAddresses) did not show condensed addresses in message list (bmo#1831280)
- fixed: Spam folder could not be assigned non-ASCII names with IMAP UTF-8 enabled (bmo#1816332)
- fixed: Message header was not displayed until images finished loading, causing noticeable delay for messages containing large images (bmo#1851871)
- fixed: Large SVG favicons did not display on RSS feeds (bmo#1853895)
- fixed: Context menu items did not display a hover background color (bmo#1852732)
- fixed: Security fixes MFSA 2023-43 (bsc#1215575)
- CVE-2023-5168 (bmo#1846683) Out-of-bounds write in FilterNodeD2D1
- CVE-2023-5169 (bmo#1846685) Out-of-bounds write in PathOps
- CVE-2023-5171 (bmo#1851599) Use-after-free in Ion Compiler
- CVE-2023-5174 (bmo#1848454) Double-free in process spawning on Windows
- CVE-2023-5176 (bmo#1836353, bmo#1842674, bmo#1843824, bmo#1843962, bmo#1848890, bmo#1850180, bmo#1850983, bmo#1851195) Memory safety bugs fixed in Firefox 118, Firefox ESR 115.3, and Thunderbird 115.3
- Add patch mozilla-fix-broken-ffmpeg.patch to fix broken build with newer binutils (bsc#1215309)
- Fix i586 build by reducing debug info to -g1. (bsc#1210168)
- Mozilla Thunderbird 115.2.3
- changed: Card view and vertical layout are now default for new profiles (bmo#1849000)
- fixed: Go - Folder menu was disabled (bmo#1849919)
- fixed: 'Tools' menu was blank when opened from compose window on macOS (bmo#1848155)
- fixed: Deleting an attachment from a message on an IMAP server corrupted the local copy when configured with 'mark as deleted' (bmo#1135434)
- fixed: Manually entered passwords were not remembered for OAuth-authenticated accounts such as Yahoo mail (bmo#1673446)
- fixed: Quick Filter's 'Keep filters applied' did not persist after restarting Thunderbird (bmo#1846880,bmo#1849221)
- fixed: Top-level Quick Filter settings did not persist after restart (bmo#1849249)
- fixed:…
- Record
SUSE-SU-2023:4016-1- Updated
- 2026-11-02
Affected products
Affected packages
| Package | Affected | Fixed |
|---|---|---|
firefox-esrAlpine:v3.18 | before 115.3.0-r0 | 115.3.0-r0 |
firefox-esrAlpine:v3.19 | before 115.3.0-r0 | 115.3.0-r0 |
firefox-esrAlpine:v3.20 | before 115.3.0-r0 | 115.3.0-r0 |
firefox-esrAlpine:v3.21 | before 115.3.0-r0 | 115.3.0-r0 |
firefox-esrAlpine:v3.22 | before 115.3.0-r0 | 115.3.0-r0 |
firefox-esrAlpine:v3.23 | before 115.3.0-r0 | 115.3.0-r0 |
MozillaFirefoxSUSE:Linux Enterprise Software Development Kit 12 SP5 From an advisory covering 5 CVEs | before 115.3.0-112.182.1 | 115.3.0-112.182.1 |
MozillaFirefoxSUSE:Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP5 From an advisory covering 5 CVEs | before 115.3.0-112.182.1 | 115.3.0-112.182.1 |
MozillaFirefoxSUSE:Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 12 SP5 From an advisory covering 5 CVEs | before 115.3.0-112.182.1 | 115.3.0-112.182.1 |
MozillaFirefoxSUSE:Linux Enterprise Module for Desktop Applications 15 SP4 From an advisory covering 5 CVEs | before 115.3.0-150200.152.108.1 | 115.3.0-150200.152.108.1 |
Show 31 moreShow less
| Package | Affected | Fixed |
|---|---|---|
MozillaFirefoxSUSE:Linux Enterprise Module for Desktop Applications 15 SP5 From an advisory covering 5 CVEs | before 115.3.0-150200.152.108.1 | 115.3.0-150200.152.108.1 |
MozillaFirefoxSUSE:Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP2-LTSS From an advisory covering 5 CVEs | before 115.3.0-150200.152.108.1 | 115.3.0-150200.152.108.1 |
MozillaFirefoxSUSE:Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP3-ESPOS From an advisory covering 5 CVEs | before 115.3.0-150200.152.108.1 | 115.3.0-150200.152.108.1 |
MozillaFirefoxSUSE:Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP3-LTSS From an advisory covering 5 CVEs | before 115.3.0-150200.152.108.1 | 115.3.0-150200.152.108.1 |
MozillaFirefoxSUSE:Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP2-LTSS From an advisory covering 5 CVEs | before 115.3.0-150200.152.108.1 | 115.3.0-150200.152.108.1 |
MozillaFirefoxSUSE:Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP3-LTSS From an advisory covering 5 CVEs | before 115.3.0-150200.152.108.1 | 115.3.0-150200.152.108.1 |
MozillaFirefoxSUSE:Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 15 SP2 From an advisory covering 5 CVEs | before 115.3.0-150200.152.108.1 | 115.3.0-150200.152.108.1 |
MozillaFirefoxSUSE:Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 15 SP3 From an advisory covering 5 CVEs | before 115.3.0-150200.152.108.1 | 115.3.0-150200.152.108.1 |
MozillaFirefoxSUSE:Enterprise Storage 7.1 From an advisory covering 5 CVEs | before 115.3.0-150200.152.108.1 | 115.3.0-150200.152.108.1 |
MozillaFirefoxopenSUSE:Leap 15.4 From an advisory covering 5 CVEs | before 115.3.0-150200.152.108.1 | 115.3.0-150200.152.108.1 |
MozillaFirefoxopenSUSE:Leap 15.5 From an advisory covering 5 CVEs | before 115.3.0-150200.152.108.1 | 115.3.0-150200.152.108.1 |
MozillaFirefoxSUSE:Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP1-LTSS From an advisory covering 5 CVEs | before 115.3.0-150000.150.107.1 | 115.3.0-150000.150.107.1 |
MozillaFirefoxSUSE:Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP1-LTSS From an advisory covering 5 CVEs | before 115.3.0-150000.150.107.1 | 115.3.0-150000.150.107.1 |
MozillaFirefoxSUSE:Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 15 SP1 From an advisory covering 5 CVEs | before 115.3.0-150000.150.107.1 | 115.3.0-150000.150.107.1 |
MozillaThunderbirdSUSE:Linux Enterprise Module for Package Hub 15 SP4 From an advisory covering 6 CVEs | before 115.3.1-150200.8.133.1 | 115.3.1-150200.8.133.1 |
MozillaThunderbirdSUSE:Linux Enterprise Module for Package Hub 15 SP5 From an advisory covering 6 CVEs | before 115.3.1-150200.8.133.1 | 115.3.1-150200.8.133.1 |
MozillaThunderbirdSUSE:Linux Enterprise Workstation Extension 15 SP4 From an advisory covering 6 CVEs | before 115.3.1-150200.8.133.1 | 115.3.1-150200.8.133.1 |
MozillaThunderbirdSUSE:Linux Enterprise Workstation Extension 15 SP5 From an advisory covering 6 CVEs | before 115.3.1-150200.8.133.1 | 115.3.1-150200.8.133.1 |
MozillaThunderbirdopenSUSE:Leap 15.4 From an advisory covering 6 CVEs | before 115.3.1-150200.8.133.1 | 115.3.1-150200.8.133.1 |
MozillaThunderbirdopenSUSE:Leap 15.5 From an advisory covering 6 CVEs | before 115.3.1-150200.8.133.1 | 115.3.1-150200.8.133.1 |
mozjs52Ubuntu:18.04:LTS | All versions, plus listed versions 52.3.1-0ubuntu352.3.1-7fakesync152.8.1-0ubuntu0.18.04.152.9.1-0ubuntu0.18.04.1 | None known |
mozjs38Ubuntu:18.04:LTS | All versions, plus listed versions 38.8.0~repack1-0ubuntu138.8.0~repack1-0ubuntu338.8.0~repack1-0ubuntu4 | None known |
mozjs68Ubuntu:20.04:LTS | All versions, plus listed versions 68.5.0-1~fakesync68.5.0-2~fakesync68.6.0-168.6.0-1ubuntu1 | None known |
mozjs52Ubuntu:20.04:LTS | All versions, plus listed versions 52.9.1-1build152.9.1-1ubuntu3 | None known |
mozjs102Ubuntu:22.04:LTS | All versions, plus listed versions 102.11.0-0ubuntu0.22.04.1102.12.0-0ubuntu0.22.04.1102.13.0-0ubuntu0.22.04.1102.15.1-0ubuntu0.22.04.1 | None known |
mozjs78Ubuntu:22.04:LTS | All versions, plus listed versions 78.13.0-178.15.0-278.15.0-4ubuntu1 | None known |
mozjs91Ubuntu:22.04:LTS | All versions, plus listed versions 91.5.1-0ubuntu191.6.0-191.6.0-291.7.0-291.10.0-0ubuntu1 | None known |
mozjs102Ubuntu:24.04:LTS | All versions, plus listed versions 102.15.1-1102.15.1-3ubuntu2 | None known |
MozillaThunderbirdopenSUSE:Tumbleweed From an advisory covering 5 CVEs | before 115.3.0-1.1 | 115.3.0-1.1 |
MozillaFirefoxopenSUSE:Tumbleweed From an advisory covering 10 CVEs | before 118.0.1-1.1 | 118.0.1-1.1 |
firefox-esropenSUSE:Tumbleweed From an advisory covering 1860 CVEs | before 128.5.1-1.1 | 128.5.1-1.1 |
History
| Recorded | Changed | Sources |
|---|---|---|
| affected, facts | ||
| affected, aliases, references | OSV | |
| first indexed | CVE List, EUVD, GitHub Advisories, NVD, OSV |
Dates are when Every CVE recorded each change. Upstream dates may differ.
In short
CVE-2023-5174 is a critical vulnerability (CVSS 9.8) in Mozilla Firefox, published September 27, 2023. No source lists public exploit code. EPSS puts the chance of exploitation in the next 30 days at 1.20%, the 68th percentile. Fixed in firefox-esr 115.3.0-r0.
References
bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1848454
mozilla.org/security/advisories/mfsa2023-41
nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-5174
github.com/advisories/GHSA-8fw2-629c-5885
Show 194 moreShow less
security.alpinelinux.org/vuln/CVE-2023-5174
suse.com/support/update/announcement/2023/suse-su-20233837-1
bugzilla.suse.com/1215309
ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2023-5174
cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-5174
lists.opensuse.org/archives/list/security-announce@lists.opensuse.org/thread/3HI2RC7AJAHY74Q6MK7GNGWU6TITB22V
Left out here: 1,681 references and the rest of 1 source description. The JSON record has them.