Thunderbird's handling of the X-Mozilla-External-Attachment-URL header can be exploited to execute JavaScript in the file:/// context. By crafting a nested email attachment (message/rfc822) and setting its content type to application/pdf, Thunderbird may incorrectly render it as HTML when opened, allowing the embedded JavaScript to run without requiring a file download. This behavior relies on Thunderbird auto-saving the attachment to /tmp and linking to it via the file:/// protocol, potentially enabling JavaScript execution as part of the HTML. This vulnerability was fixed in Thunderbird 128.10.1 and Thunderbird 138.0.1.
CVSS Details
- CVSS 3.1 Base Score: 8.1
- CVSS 3.1 Vector: (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N)
Covered by Rapid7
| Product | Vendor Advisory | Solution File | Added | Published |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alma_linux | alma-upgrade-thunderbird | Jun 12, 2025 | May 14, 2025 | |
| Amazon Linux Ami 2 | amazon-linux-ami-2-upgrade-thunderbirdamazon-linux-ami-2-upgrade-thunderbird-debuginfo | May 30, 2025 | May 14, 2025 | |
| Debian | debian-upgrade-thunderbird | May 20, 2025 | May 14, 2025 | |
| Mozilla Thunderbird | mozilla-thunderbird-upgrade-138_0_1 | May 15, 2025 | May 13, 2025 | |
| Oracle_linux | — | oracle-linux-upgrade-thunderbird | May 29, 2025 | May 14, 2025 |
| Redhat_linux | no-fix-redhat-rpm-packageredhat-upgrade-thunderbirdredhat-upgrade-thunderbird-debuginforedhat-upgrade-thunderbird-debugsource | May 29, 2025 | May 14, 2025 | |
| Rocky_linux | rocky-upgrade-thunderbirdrocky-upgrade-thunderbird-debuginforocky-upgrade-thunderbird-debugsource | Sep 9, 2025 | Jul 29, 2025 | |
| Suse | — | suse-upgrade-mozillathunderbirdsuse-upgrade-mozillathunderbird-translations-commonsuse-upgrade-mozillathunderbird-translations-other | May 26, 2025 | May 14, 2025 |
| Ubuntu | ubuntu-upgrade-thunderbird | Jul 23, 2025 | May 14, 2025 |
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