CVE-2024-8383Public exploitNetwork attack vector

Application launch via unprompted external protocol handling

Published Sep 3, 2024 · Updated Nov 4, 2025

External protocol handling in Firefox before 130 and Firefox ESR before 128.2 or 115.15 allows remote attackers to launch registered applications. The File Handling component exempted news: and snews: from external-protocol confirmation, passing either scheme to the operating system's registered handler. Exploitation requires a previously downloaded program to register one of those schemes; visiting its serving website then starts that program without Firefox confirmation.

CVSS severity7.5
High
EPSS probability0.64%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
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Summary

What happened

External protocol handling in Firefox before 130 and Firefox ESR before 128.2 or 115.15 allows remote attackers to launch registered applications. The File Handling component exempted news: and snews: from external-protocol confirmation, passing either scheme to the operating system's registered handler. Exploitation requires a previously downloaded program to register one of those schemes; visiting its serving website then starts that program without Firefox confirmation.

The record

CVE
CVE-2024-8383
Published
Sep 3, 2024
Updated
Nov 4, 2025
Vendor
Mozilla
Product
Firefox
Classifications
CWE-1188, T1189
Attack vector
network
Privileges
unauthenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Sep 3, 2024CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. Nov 4, 2025Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.

Exploitability

Present is not the same as exploitable

Compare your product and version with the public record. A matching version still requires validation against your environment.

Is a vulnerable build present?

Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.

  1. Affected versionversion=0 <130
  2. Affected versionversion=unspecified <130

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectornetwork
Required privilegesunauthenticated

What is affected?

Mozilla · Firefoxversion=0 <130; version=unspecified <130
Mozilla · Firefox ESRversion=0 <115.15; version=0 <128.2; version=unspecified <115.15; version=unspecified <128.2

Published CVSS scores

7.5CISA-ADPCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N
7.5NIST NVDCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N

CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.

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.

Daily unique IPsNo honeypot observations are available for this CVE in the selected window.

No observations available

Sep 10, 2026Sep 16, 2026
Latest reporting daySep 16, 2026
Latest daily unique IPsUnavailable
Prior 30-day averageUnavailable
SourceShadowserver honeypots (KEV)
Vectornetwork
Privilegesunauthenticated
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitPublished

Weakness, pattern, technique

CWE-1188Insecure Default Initialization of Resource
T1189Drive-by Compromise

Public exploit references

Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.

Technologies

Your stack

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Your stack

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