Cyber Resilience

CVE-2023-28161

Mozilla Firefox ≤ 111.0

Published
02 June 2023
Modified
09 January 2025
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 8.8
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS Score 0.0062 47th percentile
Risk Priority 65 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2023-28161 is a high-severity Improper Preservation of Permissions (CWE-281) vulnerability in Mozilla Firefox. Its CVSS base score is 8.8 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Data from Local System (T1005); ranked at the 47th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

If temporary "one-time" permissions, such as the ability to use the Camera, were granted to a document loaded using a file: URL, that permission persisted in that tab for all other documents loaded from a file: URL. This is potentially…

more

dangerous if the local files came from different sources, such as in a download directory. This vulnerability affects Firefox < 111.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1005 Data from Local System Collection
Adversaries may search local system sources, such as file systems, configuration files, local databases, virtual machine files, or process memory, to find files of interest and sensitive data prior to Exfiltration.
T1039 Data from Network Shared Drive Collection
Adversaries may search network shares on computers they have compromised to find files of interest.
T1080 Taint Shared Content Lateral Movement
T1552 Unsecured Credentials Credential Access
Adversaries may search compromised systems to find and obtain insecurely stored credentials.
T1555 Credentials from Password Stores Credential Access
Adversaries may search for common password storage locations to obtain user credentials.
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2024-10458Same product: Mozilla Firefox
CVE-2025-2857Same product: Mozilla Firefox
CVE-2023-25750Same product: Mozilla Firefox
CVE-2025-10859Same product: Mozilla Firefox
CVE-2025-1939Same product: Mozilla Firefox
CVE-2026-2794Same product: Mozilla Firefox
CVE-2026-4716Same product: Mozilla Firefox
CVE-2024-3862Same product: Mozilla Firefox
CVE-2026-4715Same product: Mozilla Firefox
CVE-2024-6605Same product: Mozilla Firefox

Affected Assets

mozilla
firefox
≤ 111.0

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)

Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)
  • 8 hardening rules · 3 OS baselines
Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)

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-281

Forces removal or modification of permissions no longer required after reassignment, preventing improper preservation of old access rights.

Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI

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

PR.AA-05 mostly match
prevents

Enforcing least-privilege permission policies and reviews directly prevents incorrect permission propagation on copy/restore/share operations.

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.

degrades

Access-control policy defines how permissions must be preserved when objects are copied or shared.

degrades

Access-rights provisioning and review processes directly address the risk of overly permissive copied objects.

degrades

Privileged-access management includes rules for maintaining correct permissions on copied or restored data.

degrades

Information-access-restriction controls enforce least-privilege permissions that must be preserved during copy/restore operations.

none

Change-management procedures can require verification that permissions remain intact after modifications or restores.

none

Configuration baselines can embed permission settings, indirectly reducing the chance of incorrect preservation.

Hardening callouts derived

Configuration rules from DISA STIG baselines that bear on weaknesses of the type cited by this CVE. Each rule is shown with the relationship its mapping actually records, against the CWE it was authored against. Derived via CVE→CWE over `controls_xwalks` (authoritative rows only; rows rated `none` are excluded).

Windows Server 2019 (1 rule)
  • V-205743 Windows Server 2019 organization created Active Directory Organizational Unit (OU) objects must have proper access control permissions. prevents CWE-281
Windows Server 2022 (2 rules)
  • V-254393 Windows Server 2022 Active Directory Group Policy objects must have proper access control permissions. prevents CWE-281
  • V-254395 Windows Server 2022 organization created Active Directory Organizational Unit (OU) objects must have proper access control permissions. prevents CWE-281

References