Request forgery in Mozilla Thunderbird via news: links
Key facts
- Attack vector
- Network
- Privileges required
- None
- User interaction
- Required
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Impact type
- —
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- High · High · High
- Fix status
- Partial Red Hat: 5 without a fix
Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · CISA ADP. Fix status from CNA and Red Hat.
Summary
Mozilla Thunderbird builds before the fixes in 153.6 and 159 are affected. Clicking a news: or snews: link makes Thunderbird connect without asking to the host and port in the link, and snews: links connect without TLS. Line breaks in the message-ID reach the server unmodified, so a remote attacker who lures a user into clicking a crafted link can send arbitrary commands to reachable services (CWE-20).
Written with Claude Haiku 5.5 from the sources below · 2026-11-06
Description from the CNA
Clicking a news: or snews: link that referenced a message-ID made Thunderbird connect, without asking, to the host and port given in the link, even if it was not a configured news server. Line breaks in the message-ID were sent to the server unmodified, so a crafted link could send arbitrary commands to services reachable from the user's network. In addition, snews: links to such servers connected without TLS. This vulnerability was fixed in Thunderbird 159 and Thunderbird 153.6.
Why it matters now
SSVC decision points
CISA ADP · SSVC 2.0.3
- Exploitation
- None
- Automatable
- No
- Technical impact
- Total
The decision (Track, Attend, Act) also depends on your mission and well-being impact; see CISA's SSVC guide.
Affected products
Remediation
Upgrade Mozilla Thunderbird to version 153.6 or 159, which fix the flaw. Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 and 7 have no fix planned, and Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8, 9 and 10 have no fix available.
Written with Claude Haiku 5.5 from the sources below · 2026-11-06
- Fix · CNA Thunderbird (Mozilla) Fixed in 153.6, 159
Vendor assessments
Red Hat
Red Hat rating: Moderate. Red Hat's page for this CVE →
| Product | Status | Plan or fix |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 | Affected | No fix yet |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 | Affected | No fix planned: Out of support scope |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 | Affected | No fix planned: Out of support scope |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
Timeline
- 2026-10-27 Threatist record created from CVE-2026-118179
- 2026-10-27 Fix available: Mozilla/[email protected] · CNA
- 2026-10-27 1 new reference · CNA
- 2026-10-27 Alias added: GHSA-gm4x-83qc-5rx5
- 2026-10-29 Affected versions changed · Red Hat
- 2026-10-29 CVSS score added · Red Hat
- 2026-10-30 Affected versions changed · Red Hat
- 2026-10-30 CVSS score changed · Red Hat
- 2026-11-02 Affected versions changed · Red Hat
- 2026-11-04 CVSS score added · CISA ADP
- 2026-11-04 Weakness changed · CISA ADP
- 2026-11-04 CISA SSVC decision points changed
- 2026-11-06 Priority changed: LOW → MEDIUM
- 2026-11-06 Affected versions changed · Red Hat
References
More Mozilla vulnerabilities
- TI-2024-08981 Use after free in Mozilla Firefox KEVCVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.8
- TI-2022-09832 Use after free in Mozilla Firefox KEVCVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.6
- TI-2019-08769 Improper input validation in Mozilla Firefox ESR KEVCVSS 3.1CRITICAL 10.0
- TI-2010-03577 Mozilla Firefox 3.5.x through 3.5.14 and 3.6.x through 3.6.11, Thunderbird 3.1.6 before… KEVCVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.8
- TI-2023-04799 Out-of-bounds write in Google Chrome KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.8
- TI-2023-04477 Out-of-bounds write in Google Chrome KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.8
Sources
- CVE-2026-118179 · CVE Program
- CVE-2026-118179 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-gm4x-83qc-5rx5 · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
- CVE-2026-118179 · Red Hat security data · CC BY 4.0
This product uses the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD. Sources and licences