# CVE-2022-3033: Cross-site scripting in Thunderbird

> Crafted HTML emails can execute JavaScript in Thunderbird, allowing attackers to read and modify message contents, including decrypted data, and exfiltrate them.

- **Severity:** High 8.1 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** A user has to click or open something
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 22 Dec 2022
- **Updated:** 15 Apr 2025
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2022-3033, GHSA-q68w-fq74-6jp9, UBUNTU-CVE-2022-3033

## What is CVE-2022-3033?

CVE-2022-3033 is a high-severity cross-site scripting vulnerability in Mozilla Thunderbird, published on 22 Dec 2022. 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

If a Thunderbird user replied to a crafted HTML email containing a <code>meta</code> tag, with the <code>meta</code> tag having the <code>http-equiv="refresh"</code> attribute, and the content attribute specifying an URL, then Thunderbird started a network request to that URL, regardless of the configuration to block remote content. In combination with certain other HTML elements and attributes in the email, it was possible to execute JavaScript code included in the message in the context of the message compose document. The JavaScript code was able to perform actions including, but probably not limited to, read and modify the contents of the message compose document, including the quoted original message, which could potentially contain the decrypted plaintext of encrypted data in the crafted email. The contents could then be transmitted to the network, either to the URL specified in the META refresh tag, or to a different URL, as the JavaScript code could modify the URL specified in the document. This bug doesn't affect users who have changed the default Message Body display setting to 'simple html' or 'plain text'. This vulnerability affects Thunderbird < 102.2.1 and Thunderbird < 91.13.1.

Weakness: CWE-79 (Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2022-3033?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Mozilla Thunderbird.

## How do I fix CVE-2022-3033?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

## Is CVE-2022-3033 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-3033 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Mozilla Thunderbird

- [CVE-2026-92238](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-92238/): Ambiguous parsing of mail headers (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2026-84637](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-84637/): Calendar invitation attachments could launch local executables (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2021-43529](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-43529/): Memory corruption in Thunderbird (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2019-11703](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-11703/): Memory corruption in Thunderbird (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2019-11704](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-11704/): Memory corruption in Thunderbird (critical 9.8)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2022-3033 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2022-3033 is a high-severity cross-site scripting vulnerability in Mozilla Thunderbird, published on 22 Dec 2022. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-3033 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Mozilla Thunderbird. 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-2022-3033/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-3033/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2022-3033
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-3033
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2022-3033

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From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-3033/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.