First published: Tue May 21 2019(Updated: )
If hyperthreading is not disabled, a timing attack vulnerability exists, similar to previous Spectre attacks. Apple has shipped macOS 10.14.5 with an option to disable hyperthreading in applications running untrusted code in a thread through a new sysctl. Firefox now makes use of it on the main thread and any worker threads. *Note: users need to update to macOS 10.14.5 in order to take advantage of this change.*. This vulnerability affects Thunderbird < 60.7, Firefox < 67, and Firefox ESR < 60.7.
Credit: security@mozilla.org
Affected Software | Affected Version | How to fix |
---|---|---|
Mozilla Firefox | <67 | 67 |
<67 | 67 | |
<60.7 | 60.7 | |
<60.7 | 60.7 | |
Mozilla Firefox | <67.0 | |
Mozilla Firefox ESR | <60.7 | |
Mozilla Thunderbird | <60.7 | |
Apple macOS |
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(Found alongside the following vulnerabilities)
CVE-2019-9815 is a timing attack vulnerability that exists if hyperthreading is not disabled, similar to previous Spectre attacks.
Mozilla Firefox versions up to 67.0, Mozilla Firefox ESR versions up to 60.7, and Mozilla Thunderbird versions up to 60.7 are affected by CVE-2019-9815.
The severity of CVE-2019-9815 is high with a CVSS score of 8.1.
To mitigate CVE-2019-9815, it is recommended to update to Mozilla Firefox version 67.0, Mozilla Firefox ESR version 60.7, or Mozilla Thunderbird version 60.7.
More information about CVE-2019-9815 can be found on the Mozilla Bugzilla website (https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1546544) and the Mozilla Security Advisories website (https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/security/advisories/mfsa2019-13/).