CVE-2008-5508

Mozilla Firefox 3.x before 3.0.5 and 2.x before 2.0.0.19, Thunderbird 2.x before 2.0.0.19, and SeaMonkey 1.x before 1.1.14 does not properly parse URLs with leading whitespace or control characters, which might allow remote attackers to misrepresent URLs and simplify phishing attacks.

Published: 2008-12-17 Last update: 2026-04-23 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2008-5508 is rated Moderate Risk (46.4/100): CVSS Medium severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 2.18%). Review affected assets and schedule remediation.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2008-5508

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2026-02-17 2.34% 2.18% -0.16%
2 2025-09-01 2.22% 2.34% +0.12%
3 2025-03-30 — 2.22% —

Full EPSS history (12 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2008-5508

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
4.3 2.0 MEDIUM
AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:N/I:P/A:N Click to expand
Access vector (AV:N)
Can be exploited remotely over network reachability.
Access complexity (AC:M)
Exploitation needs some favorable conditions, but not exceptional ones.
Authentication (AU:N)
No authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:N)
No confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:P)
Partial integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:N)
No availability impact.
 8.6 2.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2008-5508

OS Trackers for CVE-2008-5508

vendor priority summary link
gentoo high CVE-2008-5508: 1 GLSA(s) (201301-01), 14 atom(s) (dev-libs/nss, mail-client/mozilla-thunderbird, …); latest impact high. https://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=CVE-2008-5508
redhat low — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2008-5508
ubuntu low CVE-2008-5508 low priority: Ubuntu including 8 source packages (firefox, firefox-3.0, …), 80 status rows across 10 suites (dapper, gutsy, hardy, intrepid, jaunty, karmic, lucid, maverick, natty, upstream): DNE 36, released 36, ignored 5, needs-triage 3. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2008-5508

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2008-5508

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
mozilla firefox >= 2.0, < 2.0.0.19 cpe:2.3:a:mozilla:firefox:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
mozilla firefox >= 3.0, < 3.0.5 cpe:2.3:a:mozilla:firefox:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
mozilla seamonkey >= 1.0, < 1.1.14 cpe:2.3:a:mozilla:seamonkey:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
mozilla thunderbird >= 2.0, < 2.0.0.19 cpe:2.3:a:mozilla:thunderbird:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
canonical ubuntu_linux 6.06 cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:6.06:*:*:*:lts:*:*:*
canonical ubuntu_linux 7.10 cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:7.10:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
canonical ubuntu_linux 8.04 cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:8.04:*:*:*:lts:*:*:*
canonical ubuntu_linux 8.10 cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:8.10:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
debian debian_linux 4.0 cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:4.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
debian debian_linux 5.0 cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:5.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2008-5508

URL Tags
http://secunia.com/advisories/33184 Third Party Advisory
http://secunia.com/advisories/33188 Third Party Advisory
http://secunia.com/advisories/33189 Third Party Advisory
http://secunia.com/advisories/33203 Third Party Advisory
http://secunia.com/advisories/33204 Third Party Advisory
http://secunia.com/advisories/33205 Third Party Advisory
http://secunia.com/advisories/33216 Third Party Advisory
http://secunia.com/advisories/33231 Third Party Advisory
http://secunia.com/advisories/33408 Third Party Advisory
http://secunia.com/advisories/33415 Third Party Advisory
http://secunia.com/advisories/33421 Third Party Advisory
http://secunia.com/advisories/33433 Third Party Advisory
http://secunia.com/advisories/33434 Third Party Advisory
http://secunia.com/advisories/33523 Third Party Advisory
http://secunia.com/advisories/33547 Third Party Advisory
http://secunia.com/advisories/34501 Third Party Advisory
http://secunia.com/advisories/35080 Third Party Advisory
http://sunsolve.sun.com/search/document.do?assetkey=1-26-256408-1 Broken Link
http://sunsolve.sun.com/search/document.do?assetkey=1-26-258748-1 Broken Link
http://www.debian.org/security/2009/dsa-1696 Third Party Advisory
http://www.debian.org/security/2009/dsa-1697 Third Party Advisory
http://www.debian.org/security/2009/dsa-1704 Third Party Advisory
http://www.debian.org/security/2009/dsa-1707 Third Party Advisory
http://www.mandriva.com/security/advisories?name=MDVSA-2008:244 Third Party Advisory
http://www.mandriva.com/security/advisories?name=MDVSA-2008:245 Third Party Advisory
http://www.mandriva.com/security/advisories?name=MDVSA-2009:012 Third Party Advisory
http://www.mozilla.org/security/announce/2008/mfsa2008-66.html Vendor Advisory
http://www.redhat.com/support/errata/RHSA-2008-1036.html Third Party Advisory
http://www.redhat.com/support/errata/RHSA-2008-1037.html Third Party Advisory
http://www.redhat.com/support/errata/RHSA-2009-0002.html Third Party Advisory
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/32882 Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
http://www.securitytracker.com/id?1021426 Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/usn-690-2 Third Party Advisory
http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/usn-701-1 Third Party Advisory
http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/usn-701-2 Third Party Advisory
http://www.vupen.com/english/advisories/2009/0977 Third Party Advisory
https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=425046 Issue Tracking Vendor Advisory
https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=460803 Issue Tracking Vendor Advisory
https://exchange.xforce.ibmcloud.com/vulnerabilities/47414 Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
https://oval.cisecurity.org/repository/search/definition/oval%3Aorg.mitre.oval%3Adef%3A11040 Third Party Advisory
https://usn.ubuntu.com/690-1/ Third Party Advisory
cvelogic Threat Intelligence