Cyber Resilience

CVE-2026-8401

Mozilla Firefox ≤ 150.0.3

Published
12 May 2026
Modified
15 July 2026
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 9.8
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS Score 0.0031 24th percentile
Risk Priority 70 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2026-8401 is a critical-severity Protection Mechanism Failure (CWE-693) vulnerability in Mozilla Firefox. Its CVSS base score is 9.8 (Critical).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Abuse Elevation Control Mechanism (T1548); ranked at the 24th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to AC-3 (Access Enforcement) and AC-4 (Information Flow Enforcement) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

Sandbox escape in the Profile Backup component. This vulnerability was fixed in Firefox 150.0.3, Firefox ESR 115.36, Firefox ESR 140.11, and Thunderbird 140.11.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1548 Abuse Elevation Control Mechanism Privilege Escalation
Adversaries may circumvent mechanisms designed to control privilege elevation to gain higher-level permissions.
T1553 Subvert Trust Controls Defense Impairment
Adversaries may undermine security controls that will either warn users of untrusted activity or prevent execution of untrusted programs.
T1553.005 Mark-of-the-Web Bypass Defense Impairment
Adversaries may abuse specific file formats to subvert Mark-of-the-Web (MOTW) controls.
T1600 Weaken Encryption Defense Impairment
Adversaries may compromise a network device’s encryption capability in order to bypass encryption that would otherwise protect data communications.
T1611 Escape to Host Privilege Escalation
Adversaries may break out of a container or virtualized environment to gain access to the underlying host.
T1689 Downgrade Attack Defense Impairment
Adversaries may downgrade or use a version of system features that may be outdated, vulnerable, and/or does not support updated security controls.
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2025-54143Same product: Mozilla Firefox
CVE-2025-6427Same product: Mozilla Firefox
CVE-2026-16406Same product: Mozilla Firefox
CVE-2026-24868Same product: Mozilla Firefox
CVE-2026-16394Same product: Mozilla Firefox
CVE-2026-8945Same product: Mozilla Firefox
CVE-2026-12295Same product: Mozilla Firefox
CVE-2026-6763Same product: Mozilla Firefox
CVE-2025-10528Same product: Mozilla Firefox
CVE-2026-16377Same product: Mozilla Firefox

Affected Assets

mozilla
firefox
≤ 150.0.3

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)

Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)
  • 16 hardening rules · 10 OS baselines
Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)
  • V6.3.3
  • V6.6.3
  • V10.2.2

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

AC-3 directly requires enforcement of access authorizations via the protection mechanism itself.

AC-4 mandates use of information flow enforcement mechanisms to control data movement.

SC-2 requires separation of user and system functionality as a protection mechanism.

SC-28 requires protection mechanisms for information at rest.

SC-3 requires isolation of security functions from non-security functions.

Process isolation maintains separate execution domains so one process cannot affect another’s privilege level.

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 full match
prevents

Least-privilege policy directly enforces separation of privilege levels and access rights.

PR.AA-03 mostly match
prevents

Enforcing authentication directly implements a core protection mechanism whose absence or misuse is the CWE.

PR.DS-01 mostly match
prevents

Cryptographic and integrity controls are protection mechanisms whose correct deployment mitigates the CWE.

PR.DS-02 mostly match
prevents

Encryption and integrity protections for transit are explicit protection mechanisms.

PR.IR-01 mostly match
prevents

Logical network protections are protection mechanisms whose failure matches the CWE.

PR.PS-01 partial match
prevents

Hardened configuration baselines ensure protection mechanisms are correctly applied and maintained.

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

Segregation of duties directly enforces separation of privilege levels and functions.

prevents

Network segregation is a classic technical control for isolating different privilege domains.

prevents

Secure system architecture principles explicitly call for isolation and least-privilege boundaries.

prevents

Separation of development, test and production environments is a direct application of compartmentalization.

degrades

Access control policies establish the boundaries that isolation must enforce.

degrades

Managing access rights is the operational mechanism for compartmentalizing privileges.

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).

Oracle Linux 8 (2 rules)
  • V-248524 OL 8 must implement NIST FIPS-validated cryptography for the following: To provision digital signatures, to generate cryptographic hashes, and to protect data requiring data-at-rest protections in accordance with applicable federal laws, Executive Orders, directives, policies, regulations, and standards. prevents CWE-693
  • V-248525 All OL 8 local disk partitions must implement cryptographic mechanisms to prevent unauthorized disclosure or modification of all information that requires at-rest protection. prevents CWE-693
Oracle Linux 9 (1 rule)
  • V-271452 OL 9 must use a Linux Security Module configured to enforce limits on system services. prevents CWE-653
RHEL 9 (2 rules)
  • V-258078 RHEL 9 must use a Linux Security Module configured to enforce limits on system services. prevents CWE-653
  • V-272496 RHEL 9 must elevate the SELinux context when an administrator calls the sudo command. prevents CWE-653
Windows 10 (3 rules)
  • V-220865 The Windows Remote Management (WinRM) service must not use Basic authentication. prevents CWE-693
  • V-220712 Only accounts responsible for the administration of a system must have Administrator rights on the system. prevents CWE-653
  • V-220812 Credential Guard must be running on Windows 10 domain-joined systems. prevents CWE-693
Windows 11 (2 rules)
  • V-253269 Only accounts responsible for the administration of a system must have Administrator rights on the system. prevents CWE-653
  • V-253418 The Windows Remote Management (WinRM) service must not use Basic authentication. prevents CWE-693
Windows Server 2016 (2 rules)
  • V-225012 Windows Server 2016 must be running Credential Guard on domain-joined member servers. prevents CWE-693
  • V-225007 Only administrators responsible for the member server or standalone or nondomain-joined system must have Administrator rights on the system. prevents CWE-653
Windows Server 2019 (1 rule)
  • V-205907 Windows Server 2019 must be running Credential Guard on domain-joined member servers. prevents CWE-693
Windows Server 2022 (1 rule)
  • V-254441 Windows Server 2022 must be running Credential Guard on domain-joined member servers. prevents CWE-693

References