# CVE-2013-1690: Mozilla Firefox and Thunderbird Denial-of-Service

> Remote attackers can cause application crashes or execute arbitrary code via crafted websites due to improper handling of onreadystatechange events.

- **Severity:** High 8.8 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Yes, since 28 Mar 2022 (CISA KEV)
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** A user has to click or open something
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 26 Jun 2013
- **Updated:** 22 Oct 2025
- **Also known as:** GHSA-m5w3-m6g8-4mhf

## What is CVE-2013-1690?

CVE-2013-1690 is a high-severity memory corruption vulnerability in Canonical Ubuntu Linux, published on 26 Jun 2013. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.

### Official description

Mozilla Firefox before 22.0, Firefox ESR 17.x before 17.0.7, Thunderbird before 17.0.7, and Thunderbird ESR 17.x before 17.0.7 do not properly handle onreadystatechange events in conjunction with page reloading, which allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (application crash) or possibly execute arbitrary code via a crafted web site that triggers an attempt to execute data at an unmapped memory location.

Weakness: CWE-119 (Improper Restriction of Operations within the Bounds of a Memory Buffer)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2013-1690?

It affects 15 products.


Products: Canonical Ubuntu Linux, Debian Debian Linux, Mozilla Firefox, Mozilla Thunderbird, Mozilla Thunderbird Esr, Opensuse Opensuse, Redhat Enterprise Linux Desktop, Redhat Enterprise Linux Eus, Redhat Enterprise Linux Server, Redhat Enterprise Linux Server Aus, Redhat Enterprise Linux Workstation, Redhat Gluster Storage Server for On-Premise, Suse Linux Enterprise Desktop, Suse Linux Enterprise Server, Suse Linux Enterprise Software Development Kit.

## How do I fix CVE-2013-1690?

Upgrade to a fixed version. US federal agencies must fix it by 18 Apr 2022.

## Is CVE-2013-1690 being exploited?

Yes. Attackers have exploited CVE-2013-1690 in the wild since at least 28 Mar 2022.

Public exploit code:

- Annotated FBI exploit for the Tor Browser Bundle from mid-2013 (CVE-2013-1690) (github_poc): https://github.com/vlad902/annotated-fbi-tbb-exploit
- Firefox onreadystatechange Event DocumentViewerImpl Use After Free (metasploit)
- Mozilla Firefox - onreadystatechange Event DocumentViewerImpl Use-After-Free (Metasploit) (exploitdb)
- Academic cybersecurity research project analyzing and restoring the FBI's 2013 Tor Browser deanonymization exploit, focusing on CVE-2013-1690, Firefox use-after-free vulnerabilities, exploit mechanisms, and historical forensic analysis. (github_poc): https://github.com/Diamond975-py/FBI-Tor-Exploit-CVE-2013-1690

## Other vulnerabilities in Canonical Ubuntu Linux

- [CVE-2020-11651](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-11651/): SaltStack Salt Authentication Bypass (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2020-7247](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-7247/): OpenSMTPD Remote Code Execution (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2019-16928](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-16928/): Exim Out-of-bounds Write (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2018-6789](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-6789/): Exim Buffer Overflow (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2015-2590](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-2590/): Oracle Java SE and Java SE Embedded Remote Code Execution (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2013-1690 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2013-1690 is a high-severity memory corruption vulnerability in Canonical Ubuntu Linux, published on 26 Jun 2013. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.
Exploitation: Yes. Attackers have exploited CVE-2013-1690 in the wild since at least 28 Mar 2022.

Affected product: Canonical Ubuntu Linux. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-1690/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-1690/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2013-1690
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2013-1690
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2013-1690

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-1690/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.