HSTS bypass via incorrect ancestor policy lookup
Published Jan 23, 2024 · Updated Jun 7, 2025
HSTS enforcement in Firefox before 122, Firefox ESR before 115.7, and Thunderbird before 115.7 allows remote attackers to bypass HSTS. The HSTS lookup stops at the first ancestor with policy data and treats its missing includeSubDomains directive as overriding a higher ancestor's directive. Exploitation requires nested domains with conflicting policies and browser navigation to an HTTP descendant, permitting unencrypted access and exposure of non-Secure cookies.
Summary
What happened
HSTS enforcement in Firefox before 122, Firefox ESR before 115.7, and Thunderbird before 115.7 allows remote attackers to bypass HSTS. The HSTS lookup stops at the first ancestor with policy data and treats its missing includeSubDomains directive as overriding a higher ancestor's directive. Exploitation requires nested domains with conflicting policies and browser navigation to an HTTP descendant, permitting unencrypted access and exposure of non-Secure cookies.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2024-0753
- Published
- Jan 23, 2024
- Updated
- Jun 7, 2025
- Vendor
- Mozilla
- Product
- Firefox
- Classifications
- T1557
- Attack vector
- network
- Privileges
- unauthenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Jan 23, 2024CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Jun 7, 2025Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
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Is a vulnerable build present?
Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.
- Affected versionversion=unspecified <122
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Attacks
What attackers are doing with it
Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.
Weakness, pattern, technique
Public exploit references
- Mozilla nested-subdomain HSTS reproductionproof of concept · demonstrated
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Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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