NVD / CVE Program· CNA mozilla

CVE-2023-28163: When downloading files through the Save As dialog on Windows with suggested filenames containing environment variable names, Windows would…

MediumCVSS 6.5 · v3.1—No exploit Fix available

Noroxi assessment

Priority: Monitor (action score 26/100)

The sources we track (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, Metasploit, Nuclei, GitHub) show no public exploit code or exploitation in the wild.
Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days: 0.79% (FIRST EPSS); higher than 57% of all records.
Anyone who can reach it over the internet can trigger it. No account or password is required. A user must open a link or visit a page. No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.
Fixed version: firefox-esr (Alpine:v3.18) 102.9.0-r0; MozillaFirefox (openSUSE:Leap 15.4) 102.9.0-150200.152.81.1; MozillaThunderbird (openSUSE:Leap 15.4) 102.9.1-150200.8.110.2.

Low priority for now. Upgrade to firefox-esr (Alpine:v3.18) 102.9.0-r0; MozillaFirefox (openSUSE:Leap 15.4) 102.9.0-150200.152.81.1; MozillaThunderbird (openSUSE:Leap 15.4) 102.9.1-150200.8.110.2 or later.

Generated automatically from the record's data: CVSS (NVD and CNA), CISA KEV and SSVC, FIRST EPSS, exploit sources, fixed versions. How we calculate it

Primary sources: NVD · CVE.org · FIRST EPSS

When downloading files through the Save As dialog on Windows with suggested filenames containing environment variable names, Windows would have resolved those in the context of the current user. <br>*This bug only affects Firefox on Windows. Other versions of Firefox are unaffected.*. This vulnerability affects Firefox < 111, Firefox ESR < 102.9, and Thunderbird < 102.9.

Published: Jun 2, 2023
Updated: Oct 23, 2026
EPSS: 0.7% · 57th percentile
CWE: CWE-22

Report tools

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Action score

Monitor

Low priority for now.

CVSS: 26 / 40 · 6.5 / 10
CISA KEV: 0 / 30 · Not listed
EPSS: 0 / 30 · 0.7%

CISA SSVC decision

Exploitation: proof of concept
Automatable: no
Technical impact: partial

Vulnrichment: CISA's decision-tree inputs.

CNA vs NVD score

NVD: 6.5
CNA · mozilla: 6.5; agree

The score given by the assigning authority versus NVD’s independent score. A gap means the severity is contested.

Get told when this record changes

Not in KEV: no record of exploitation in the wild
No public exploit code on record
A fix has been released

If any of these changes, we'll tell you in the daily email digest.

Is your version affected? Check it

Noroxi analysis

What does it mean in your environment?

The assessment above is generated automatically from the record's data; it doesn't know your environment. Our team verifies on your systems whether this vulnerability is actually exploitable and which mitigation is enough.

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Affected systems

Is your version affected?

Pick the product and type the version you run. It's compared with this record's version ranges in your browser; the version isn't sent anywhere.

Vendor	Product	CPE
mozilla	firefox	cpe:2.3:a:mozilla:firefox
mozilla	firefox esr	cpe:2.3:a:mozilla:firefox_esr
mozilla	thunderbird	cpe:2.3:a:mozilla:thunderbird

Versions reported by the vendor

Affected version ranges reported by the assigning authority (mozilla). Independent of NVD's CPE analysis and usually ahead of it.

Mozilla Firefox
- unspecified and later · before 111affected
Mozilla Firefox ESR
- unspecified and later · before 102.9affected
Mozilla Thunderbird
- unspecified and later · before 102.9affected

Affected versions

NVD version ranges (for catalog products). Add the product to your stack with a version and matching uses these.

mozilla firefoxbefore 111.0
mozilla firefox esrbefore 102.9
mozilla thunderbirdbefore 102.9

Package-level exposure

OSV and GitHub Advisory data: ecosystem, package and range. SBOM matching uses this table.

Ecosystem	Package	Affected range	Fix
Alpine:v3.18	firefox-esr	before 102.9.0-r0	102.9.0-r0
openSUSE:Leap 15.4	MozillaFirefox	before 102.9.0-150200.152.81.1	102.9.0-150200.152.81.1
openSUSE:Leap 15.4	MozillaThunderbird	before 102.9.1-150200.8.110.2	102.9.1-150200.8.110.2
openSUSE:Tumbleweed	MozillaFirefox	before 111.0.1-1.1	111.0.1-1.1
openSUSE:Tumbleweed	MozillaThunderbird	before 102.9.0-1.1	102.9.0-1.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP1-LTSS	MozillaFirefox	before 102.9.0-150000.150.79.1	102.9.0-150000.150.79.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Module for Desktop Applications 15 SP4	MozillaFirefox	before 102.9.0-150200.152.81.1	102.9.0-150200.152.81.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Module for Package Hub 15 SP4	MozillaThunderbird	before 102.9.1-150200.8.110.2	102.9.1-150200.8.110.2
SUSE:OpenStack Cloud 9	MozillaFirefox	before 102.9.0-112.153.1	102.9.0-112.153.1

Same product

mozilla: all records

Other highest-scoring records for the same primary product.

CVE-2010-3765Mozilla Firefox 3.5.x through 3.5.14 and 3.6.x through 3.6.11, Thunderbird 3.1.6 before 3.1.6 and 3.0.x before 3.0.10, and SeaMonkey 2.x…KEV
94Now
CVE-2019-11708Insufficient vetting of parameters passed with the Prompt:Open IPC message between child and parent processes can result in the…KEV
87Now
CVE-2015-4495The PDF reader in Mozilla Firefox before 39.0.3, Firefox ESR 38.x before 38.1.1, and Firefox OS before 2.2 allows remote attackers to…KEV
86Now

Published before and after this one in the same product

← EarlierCVE-2023-25752Jun 2, 2023 · When accessing throttled streams, the count of available bytes needed to be checked in the calling function to be within bounds.
26Monitor
← EarlierCVE-2023-28162Jun 2, 2023 · While implementing AudioWorklets, some code may have casted one type to another, invalid, dynamic type.
35Monitor
Later →CVE-2023-28164Jun 2, 2023 · Dragging a URL from a cross-origin iframe that was removed during the drag could have led to user confusion and website spoofing attacks.
26Monitor

Remediation

Which version to upgrade to

Fix versions compiled from the vendor, package registries and Microsoft. Verify the vendor's note before upgrading.

Product / package	Fixed version	Source
alpine:firefox-esr	102.9.0-r0 · Alpine:v3.18	Package registry (OSV)
opensuse:MozillaFirefox	102.9.0-150200.152.81.1 · openSUSE:Leap 15.4	Package registry (OSV)
opensuse:MozillaThunderbird	102.9.1-150200.8.110.2 · openSUSE:Leap 15.4	Package registry (OSV)
suse:MozillaFirefox	102.9.0-150000.150.79.1 · SUSE:Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP1-LTSS	Package registry (OSV)
suse:MozillaFirefox	102.9.0-150200.152.81.1 · SUSE:Linux Enterprise Module for Desktop Applications 15 SP4	Package registry (OSV)
suse:MozillaThunderbird	102.9.1-150200.8.110.2 · SUSE:Linux Enterprise Module for Package Hub 15 SP4	Package registry (OSV)

Exploit status

No known public exploit

No public exploit has been observed yet. That doesn't mean you're safe, only that the bar is a little higher.

Research context

For pentesters and researchers: attack profile, score disagreement, timeline, patch commits, credits, variant and chain candidates, bug bounty scope. All derived from existing data; no exploit code.

Timeline

From publication to today: proof of concept, Metasploit module, CISA KEV and fix record. Dates are as reported by the sources.

No dated events beyond publication.

Not on record for this CVE: EPSS history · patch commit or PR link · researcher credit · variant or chain candidate · public bounty program.

Technical details

Attack conditions

Anyone who can reach it over the internet can trigger it.
No account or password is required.
A user must open a link or visit a page.
No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.

If successful

Confidentiality: none
Integrity: high · data or configuration can be modified
Availability: none

Attack vector: Network
Attack complexity: Low
Privileges required: None
User interaction: Required
Scope: Unchanged
Confidentiality impact: None
Integrity impact: High
Availability impact: None

Weakness class (CWE)

CWE-22 · Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal')

CVSS vector

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N

nvd-primary

Root cause

A user-supplied file name is joined with the allowed directory, but the result is never checked to confirm it is still inside that directory.

The bug in code

The whole CWE-22 class

A representative example of this vulnerability class. Not the vendor's source code; it shows the faulty pattern and its fix.

Vulnerable

1const file = path.join(ROOT, req.query.name);
2res.sendFile(file);

Fixed

1const file = path.resolve(ROOT, req.query.name);
2if (!file.startsWith(ROOT + path.sep)) {
3  return res.sendStatus(400);
4}
5res.sendFile(file);

Attack context

MITRE CAPEC attack patterns and ATT&CK techniques for this weakness class (CWE). A starting point for detection rules and threat hunting.

Attack patterns (CAPEC)

ATT&CK techniques

—

Change log (1)

Fix✗ → ✓Sep 28, 2026, 10:46 PM UTC

For records you follow, these changes also arrive as notifications. →

References

bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1817768

Show all references (3 more)

Vendor advisories and official records. Exploit/PoC links are deliberately left out.

All records