Security Resilience

CVE-2019-11708

Mozilla Firefox ≤ 60.7.2

CISA KEVActive ExploitationEUVD ExploitedPublic PoC
Published
23 July 2019
Modified
27 October 2025
KEV Added
23 May 2022
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 10.0
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS Score 0.56 99.0th percentile
Risk Priority 100 floored blend · peak EPSS

CVSS and EPSS are reproduced from their sources (NVD, FIRST EPSS). Risk Priority is our own derived reading, not an NVD score.

Summary

CVE-2019-11708 is a critical-severity Improper Input Validation (CWE-20) vulnerability in Mozilla Firefox. Its CVSS base score is 10.0 (Critical).

Operationally, ranked in the top 1.0% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; CISA has added it to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog; a public proof-of-concept is referenced.

Deeper analysis AI-assisted summary

Synthesised by an AI model from the NVD description and linked references — a reading aid, not an authoritative source.

The vulnerability is an instance of insufficient input validation (CWE-20) affecting the Prompt:Open IPC message handler used for communication between sandboxed child processes and the non-sandboxed parent process. It impacts Firefox ESR prior to 60.7.2, Firefox prior to 67.0.4, and Thunderbird prior to 60.7.2, and carries a CVSS 3.1 base score of 10.0 reflecting its critical severity and network-exploitable nature without authentication or user interaction.

An attacker able to first compromise a child content process can supply malicious parameters via the IPC channel, causing the parent process to open attacker-chosen web content outside the sandbox. When chained with one or more additional vulnerabilities, this can lead to arbitrary code execution on the target system.

Mozilla addressed the issue in security advisories MFSA2019-19 and MFSA2019-20, with corresponding updates released for the affected Firefox and Thunderbird branches; Gentoo Linux also published GLSA-201908-12 describing the patched package versions. A publicly posted Windows 64-bit exploit chain referencing this CVE demonstrates practical chaining with other browser weaknesses.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

Insufficient vetting of parameters passed with the Prompt:Open IPC message between child and parent processes can result in the non-sandboxed parent process opening web content chosen by a compromised child process. When combined with additional vulnerabilities this could result in…

more

executing arbitrary code on the user's computer. This vulnerability affects Firefox ESR < 60.7.2, Firefox < 67.0.4, and Thunderbird < 60.7.2.

CWE(s)
KEV Date Added
23 May 2022

Related Threats

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2020-6819Same product: Mozilla Firefoxboth on KEV
CVE-2019-11707Same product: Mozilla Firefoxboth on KEV
CVE-2020-6820Same product: Mozilla Firefoxboth on KEV
CVE-2026-100787Same product: Mozilla Firefox
CVE-2026-16378Same product: Mozilla Firefox
CVE-2026-0878Same product: Mozilla Firefox
CVE-2026-6779Same product: Mozilla Firefox
CVE-2026-6777Same product: Mozilla Firefox
CVE-2026-8959Same product: Mozilla Firefox
CVE-2010-3765Same product: Mozilla Firefoxboth on KEV

Affected Assets

mozilla
firefox
≤ 60.7.2 · ≤ 67.0.4
mozilla
thunderbird
≤ 60.7.2

Mitigating Controls

Likely Mitigating Controls AI

Per-CVE control mapping for this CVE has not run yet; the list below is derived from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry.

addresses: CWE-20

Security testing and developer training directly verify and enforce proper input validation, reducing exploitability of injection and malformed-data weaknesses.

addresses: CWE-20

Security testing and evaluation at multiple SDLC stages directly detects missing or flawed input validation, with the required remediation process ensuring fixes are applied.

addresses: CWE-20

Directly implements checks on information inputs to reject invalid data before processing.

addresses: CWE-20

Spam protection mechanisms perform filtering and detection on inbound/outbound messages, directly compensating for missing or weak input validation of unsolicited content.

Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

blocks

A.8.25 mandates security requirements, secure coding guidelines, checkpoints, testing (incl. code scans) and developer training in the SDLC, which reaches a slice of input validation defects but leaves the majority (incomplete enforcement, second-order inputs, parser differentials, post-validation canonicalization) unaddressed as in the SA-3 and A.8.28 anchors.

blocks

Mandating input controls that include integrity checks and input validation ensures that untrusted data is examined before use, blocking the root cause of many injection and malformed-data weaknesses.

blocks

Security-by-design principles explicitly call for data validation and sanitization at every layer, reducing the chance that malformed or malicious input will be processed without scrutiny.

prevents

Requiring language-specific secure coding standards, peer review, SAST and documented mitigation of common programming errors forces validation of all inputs before they are trusted.

finds

Testing against a defined set of requirements and using code review plus vulnerability scanning forces validation of inputs and handling of unanticipated conditions, reducing the chance that malformed data will be accepted.

Hardening callouts derived

DISA STIG baselines are authored against specific weaknesses. Where this CVE cites a broad weakness class, the mapping is not asserted at that abstraction (owner ruling, 2026-09-25: grade only at Base and below), so no rule is shown here rather than a rule shown against the wrong grain.

  • No fine-grained STIG row for CWE-20, a class-level weakness, and none of its children carries one either.

References