# CVE-2015-4481: Race condition in n/a

> Local attackers can exploit a race condition in the Firefox Maintenance Service to write arbitrary files and escalate privileges.

- **Severity:** Low 3.3 (`AV:L/AC:M/Au:N/C:N/I:P/A:P`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 16 Aug 2015
- **Updated:** 6 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-fpjx-8wc2-5w5g

## What is CVE-2015-4481?

CVE-2015-4481 is a low-severity vulnerability in Mozilla Firefox, published on 16 Aug 2015. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

Race condition in the Mozilla Maintenance Service in Mozilla Firefox before 40.0 and Firefox ESR 38.x before 38.2 on Windows allows local users to write to arbitrary files and consequently gain privileges via vectors involving a hard link to a log file during an update.

Weakness: CWE-362 (Concurrent Execution using Shared Resource with Improper Synchronization)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2015-4481?

It affects 3 products.


Products: Mozilla Firefox, Opensuse Opensuse, Oracle Solaris.

## How do I fix CVE-2015-4481?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

## Is CVE-2015-4481 being exploited?

It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2015-4481 exists.

Public exploit code:

- Mozilla - Maintenance Service Log File Overwrite Privilege Escalation (exploitdb)

## Other vulnerabilities in Mozilla Firefox

- [CVE-2019-11708](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-11708/): Mozilla Firefox and Thunderbird Sandbox Escape (critical 10.0, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2010-3765](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2010-3765/): Mozilla Multiple Products Remote Code Execution (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2022-26486](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-26486/): Mozilla Firefox Use-After-Free (critical 9.6, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2022-26485](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-26485/): Mozilla Firefox Use-After-Free (high 8.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2019-11707](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-11707/): Mozilla Firefox and Thunderbird Type Confusion (high 8.8, exploited in the wild)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2015-4481 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2015-4481 is a low-severity vulnerability in Mozilla Firefox, published on 16 Aug 2015. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2015-4481 exists.

Affected product: Mozilla Firefox. 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-2015-4481/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-4481/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2015-4481
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2015-4481
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2015-4481

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-4481/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.