# CVE-2017-5409: Privilege escalation in Firefox

> A local attacker can exploit the Mozilla Maintenance Service to delete arbitrary files, leading to privilege escalation.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.5 (`CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N`)
- **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:** 11 Jun 2018
- **Updated:** 5 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-3pwm-r9r6-wpwp

## What is CVE-2017-5409?

CVE-2017-5409 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Mozilla Firefox, published on 11 Jun 2018. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

The Mozilla Windows updater can be called by a non-privileged user to delete an arbitrary local file by passing a special path to the callback parameter through the Mozilla Maintenance Service, which has privileged access. Note: This attack requires local system access and only affects Windows. Other operating systems are not affected. This vulnerability affects Firefox ESR < 45.8 and Firefox < 52.

Weakness: CWE-269 (Improper Privilege Management)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2017-5409?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Mozilla Firefox.

## How do I fix CVE-2017-5409?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

## Is CVE-2017-5409 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2017-5409 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## 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-2017-5409 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2017-5409 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Mozilla Firefox, published on 11 Jun 2018. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2017-5409 in the wild and no public exploit code.

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-2017-5409/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-5409/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2017-5409
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2017-5409
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2017-5409

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-5409/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.