Firefox normally asks for confirmation before asking the operating system to find an application to handle a scheme that the browser does not support. It did not ask before doing so for the Usenet-related schemes news: and snews:. Since most operating systems don't have a trusted newsreader installed by default, an unscrupulous program that the user downloaded could register itself as a handler. The website that served the application download could then launch that application at will. This vulnerability affects Firefox < 130, Firefox ESR < 128.2, and Firefox ESR < 115.15.
The product initializes or sets a resource with a default that is intended to be changed by the administrator, but the default is not secure.
| Link | Tags |
|---|---|
| https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1908496 | issue tracking permissions required |
| https://www.mozilla.org/security/advisories/mfsa2024-39/ | vendor advisory |
| https://www.mozilla.org/security/advisories/mfsa2024-40/ | vendor advisory |
| https://www.mozilla.org/security/advisories/mfsa2024-41/ | vendor advisory |