CVE-2012-4180

Heap-based buffer overflow in the nsHTMLEditor::IsPrevCharInNodeWhitespace function in Mozilla Firefox before 16.0, Firefox ESR 10.x before 10.0.8, Thunderbird before 16.0, Thunderbird ESR 10.x before 10.0.8, and SeaMonkey before 2.13 allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via unspecified vectors.

Published: 2012-10-10 Last update: 2026-04-29 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2012-4180 is rated Moderate Risk (64.4/100): CVSS Critical severity, with high exploitation likelihood (EPSS 9.49%, 92th percentile). EPSS ranks this CVE among the most likely to be exploited in the near term. High exploitation likelihood—assess exposure and prioritize 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-2012-4180

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 2025-03-30 18.87% 9.49% -9.39%
2 2025-03-29 9.49% 18.87% +9.39%
3 2025-03-17 — 9.49% —

Full EPSS history (7 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2012-4180

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
9.3 2.0 HIGH
AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C 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:C)
Complete confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:C)
Complete integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:C)
Complete availability impact.
 8.6 10.0 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2012-4180

OS Trackers for CVE-2012-4180

vendor priority summary link
gentoo high CVE-2012-4180: 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-2012-4180
redhat critical — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2012-4180
suse medium CVE-2012-4180 severity moderate: SUSE including 67 source package names (MozillaFirefox, MozillaFirefox-10.0.9-0.3.1, …), 118 product×package rows across 43 product lines (SUSE CaaS Platform 4.0, SUSE Enterprise Storage 6, … (43 product lines)): Fixed 87, Known Not Affected 31. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2012-4180/
ubuntu medium CVE-2012-4180 medium priority: Ubuntu including 4 source packages (firefox, seamonkey, thunderbird, xulrunner-1.9.2), 36 status rows across 9 suites (hardy, lucid, natty, oneiric, precise, quantal, raring, saucy, upstream): released 17, DNE 9, ignored 9, needs-triage 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2012-4180

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2012-4180

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
mozilla firefox < 10.0.8 cpe:2.3:a:mozilla:firefox:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
mozilla thunderbird_esr < 10.0.8 cpe:2.3:a:mozilla:thunderbird_esr:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
mozilla firefox < 16.0 cpe:2.3:a:mozilla:firefox:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
mozilla thunderbird < 16.0 cpe:2.3:a:mozilla:thunderbird:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
mozilla seamonkey < 2.13 cpe:2.3:a:mozilla:seamonkey:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
canonical ubuntu_linux 10.04 cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:10.04:*:*:*:-:*:*:*
canonical ubuntu_linux 11.04 cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:11.04:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
canonical ubuntu_linux 11.10 cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:11.10:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
canonical ubuntu_linux 12.04 cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:12.04:*:*:*:esm:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_desktop 5.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_desktop:5.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_desktop 6.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_desktop:6.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_eus 6.3 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_eus:6.3:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_server 5.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_server:5.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_server 6.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_server:6.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_workstation 5.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_workstation:5.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_workstation 6.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_workstation:6.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
debian debian_linux 6.0 cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:6.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
suse linux_enterprise_desktop 10 cpe:2.3:o:suse:linux_enterprise_desktop:10:sp4:*:*:*:*:*:*
suse linux_enterprise_desktop 11 cpe:2.3:o:suse:linux_enterprise_desktop:11:sp3:*:*:*:*:*:*
suse linux_enterprise_sdk 10 cpe:2.3:o:suse:linux_enterprise_sdk:10:sp4:*:*:*:*:*:*
suse linux_enterprise_server 10 cpe:2.3:o:suse:linux_enterprise_server:10:sp4:*:*:*:*:*:*
suse linux_enterprise_server 11 cpe:2.3:o:suse:linux_enterprise_server:11:sp3:*:*:*:*:*:*
suse linux_enterprise_server 11 cpe:2.3:o:suse:linux_enterprise_server:11:sp3:*:*:*:vmware:*:*

References for CVE-2012-4180

URL Tags
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2012-10/msg00010.html Mailing List Third Party Advisory
http://osvdb.org/86099 Broken Link
http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2012-1351.html Third Party Advisory
http://secunia.com/advisories/50856 Third Party Advisory
http://secunia.com/advisories/50892 Third Party Advisory
http://secunia.com/advisories/50904 Third Party Advisory
http://secunia.com/advisories/50935 Third Party Advisory
http://secunia.com/advisories/50936 Third Party Advisory
http://secunia.com/advisories/50984 Third Party Advisory
http://secunia.com/advisories/51181 Third Party Advisory
http://secunia.com/advisories/55318 Third Party Advisory
http://www.debian.org/security/2012/dsa-2565 Third Party Advisory
http://www.debian.org/security/2012/dsa-2569 Third Party Advisory
http://www.debian.org/security/2012/dsa-2572 Third Party Advisory
http://www.mandriva.com/security/advisories?name=MDVSA-2012:163 Third Party Advisory
http://www.mozilla.org/security/announce/2012/mfsa2012-85.html Vendor Advisory
http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-1611-1 Third Party Advisory
https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=785720 Issue Tracking
https://exchange.xforce.ibmcloud.com/vulnerabilities/79158 Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
https://oval.cisecurity.org/repository/search/definition/oval%3Aorg.mitre.oval%3Adef%3A16428 Third Party Advisory
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