CVE-2018-5168

Sites can bypass security checks on permissions to install lightweight themes by manipulating the "baseURI" property of the theme element. This could allow a malicious site to install a theme without user interaction which could contain offensive or embarrassing images. This vulnerability affects Thunderbird < 52.8, Thunderbird ESR < 52.8, Firefox < 60, and Firefox ESR < 52.8.

Published: 2018-06-11 Last update: 2025-11-25 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2018-5168 is rated Moderate Risk (48/100): CVSS Medium severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 1.03%). 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-2018-5168

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 2025-11-21 1.08% 1.03% -0.05%
2 2025-11-18 1.03% 1.08% +0.05%
3 2025-03-30 — 1.03% —

Full EPSS history (11 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2018-5168

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
5.3 3.0 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:N)
Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way.
Integrity (I:L)
Attackers could change some data, but it’s limited—not everything goes.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
 3.9 1.4 [email protected]
5.0 2.0 MEDIUM
AV:N/AC:L/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:L)
Exploitation conditions are straightforward and predictable.
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.
 10.0 2.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2018-5168

OS Trackers for CVE-2018-5168

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2018-5168 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 3 source packages (firefox, firefox-esr, thunderbird), 11 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 11. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2018-5168
gentoo normal CVE-2018-5168: 2 GLSA(s) (201810-01, 201811-13), 4 atom(s) (mail-client/thunderbird, mail-client/thunderbird-bin, www-client/firefox, www-client/firefox-bin); latest impact normal. https://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=CVE-2018-5168
redhat medium — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2018-5168
ubuntu medium CVE-2018-5168 medium priority: Ubuntu including 2 source packages (firefox, thunderbird), 10 status rows across 5 suites (artful, bionic, trusty, upstream, xenial): released 10. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2018-5168

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2018-5168

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
debian debian_linux 7.0 cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:7.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
debian debian_linux 8.0 cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:8.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
debian debian_linux 9.0 cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:9.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
mozilla firefox < 52.8.0 cpe:2.3:a:mozilla:firefox:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
mozilla firefox < 60.0 cpe:2.3:a:mozilla:firefox:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
mozilla thunderbird < 52.8.0 cpe:2.3:a:mozilla:thunderbird:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
mozilla thunderbird_esr < 52.8.0 cpe:2.3:a:mozilla:thunderbird_esr:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
canonical ubuntu_linux 14.04 cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:14.04:*:*:*:lts:*:*:*
canonical ubuntu_linux 16.04 cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:16.04:*:*:*:lts:*:*:*
canonical ubuntu_linux 17.10 cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:17.10:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
canonical ubuntu_linux 18.04 cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:18.04:*:*:*:lts:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_desktop 6.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_desktop:6.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_desktop 7.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_desktop:7.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_server 6.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_server:6.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_server 7.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_server:7.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_server_aus 7.6 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_server_aus:7.6:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_server_eus 7.5 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_server_eus:7.5:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_server_eus 7.6 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_server_eus:7.6:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_server_tus 7.6 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_server_tus:7.6:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_workstation 6.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_workstation:6.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_workstation 7.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_workstation:7.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2018-5168

URL Tags
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/104136 Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
http://www.securitytracker.com/id/1040896 Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2018:1414 Third Party Advisory
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2018:1415 Third Party Advisory
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2018:1725 Third Party Advisory
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2018:1726 Third Party Advisory
https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1449548 Issue Tracking Permissions Required Vendor Advisory
https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2018/05/msg00007.html Mailing List Third Party Advisory
https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2018/05/msg00013.html Mailing List Third Party Advisory
https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/201810-01 Third Party Advisory
https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/201811-13 Third Party Advisory
https://usn.ubuntu.com/3645-1/ Third Party Advisory
https://usn.ubuntu.com/3660-1/ Third Party Advisory
https://www.debian.org/security/2018/dsa-4199 Third Party Advisory
https://www.debian.org/security/2018/dsa-4209 Third Party Advisory
https://www.mozilla.org/security/advisories/mfsa2018-11/ Vendor Advisory
https://www.mozilla.org/security/advisories/mfsa2018-12/ Vendor Advisory
https://www.mozilla.org/security/advisories/mfsa2018-13/ Vendor Advisory
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