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Threats / Mozilla / CVE-2020-6819
CVE-2020-6819 · EUVD no mirror located · GCVE no mirror located Verified 2026-06-22

Mozilla Firefox and Thunderbird vulnerability

Mozilla Firefox and Thunderbird contain a race condition in the nsDocShell destructor that creates a use-after-free vulnerability, enabling arbitrary code execution.

Verdict

Today item — known-exploited.

A race condition vulnerability in Firefox and Thunderbird allows attackers to trigger use-after-free conditions during object destruction, potentially achieving code execution. The vulnerability has been exploited in the wild.

CISA KEV Yes · 2021-11-033EPSS 0.02978 (verify live)4
01

Is it exploitable?

— the evidence, ranked above the score
Reported exploitation
2 independent public reports of in-the-wild exploitation are cataloged.Distinct reporting sources (vendor, incident response, government); open them for the underlying claims.
Exploited in the wild
Listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog (added 2021-11-03).
CISA KEV ↗Confirmed
Probability (EPSS)
EPSS 0.02978 — modeled likelihood of exploitation activity.EPSS is a daily-changing model output — open the source for today's value.
Severity / affected
Affected: Mozilla, Firefox and Thunderbird. Confirm exact fixed builds in the vendor advisory.
NVD ↗Reported
Weakness (CWE)
Mapped to CWE-362 Race Condition, CWE-416 Use After Free — weakness family: Memory safety.CWE assignment from the public NVD record; the weakness class drives how the flaw is exploited.
NVD ↗Reported
02

Who’s exploiting it?

— attribution turns risk into urgency
Attribution not established

No confirmed (advisory-backed) threat-actor attribution is established for this record. Absence of a named actor is not absence of compromise — see Coverage & confidence.

03

Why it matters

— the attack path, told twice: adversary, then board
1

Front door — unauthenticated access narrative 1

Attacker
I craft a malicious webpage or email that triggers concurrent access to the nsDocShell destructor under specific timing conditions.
Business
Users visiting compromised websites or opening malicious email attachments face arbitrary code execution risk, compromising system integrity and data confidentiality.
2

Keys to the kingdom — privilege/identity takeover narrative 2

Attacker
I exploit the race condition to access freed memory regions, allowing me to read sensitive data or overwrite critical structures.
Business
Attackers gain unauthorized access to user credentials, browsing history, and personal information stored in browser memory.
3

Lateral reach — past segmentation narrative 3

Attacker
I leverage the use-after-free to execute arbitrary code with the privileges of the browser process.
Business
System compromise enables lateral movement, malware installation, and persistent unauthorized access to affected endpoints.
04

What to do

— defensible action
  • Remediate per the vendor advisory — confirm the fixed build for your version and verify exposure.1
Say it to the boardA vulnerability with this evidence profile is a defensible budget line, not a backlog ticket — fund the change against the proof above.
05

Coverage & confidence

— what we know, and what we don’t

Established (cited)

  • KEV listing (CISA)
  • EPSS probability (FIRST)
  • 2 reported-exploitation source(s)
  • CWE weakness mapping (NVD)
  • Catalogued by mozilla (CNA)
  • Coverage gaps — stated, not hidden

  • No EUVD / GCVE mirror in feed — single-authority dependency for the identifier.
  • EPSS & exposure are time-varying; verify live at the source.
  • Threat-actor attribution not established from feed data — absence of a name is not absence of compromise.
  • No finder/reporter credit recorded in the public CVE entry — the work behind this find is unattributed.
  • Disclosure & credit2
    Catalogued by mozillaCNA
    Credited with finding itNo finder named in the public CVE record — the work behind this find is unattributed.