CVE-2026-117865
Description
A flaw was found in Firefox and Thunderbird. The Mozilla Foundation's Security Advisory describes the following issue: Use-after-free in the JavaScript: GC component
Statement
Red Hat Product Security rates the severity of this flaw as determined by the Mozilla Foundation Security Advisory.
Mitigation
--- CME Mitigation Guidance (2026-11-02) ---
Disclaimer: The following mitigation solutions are provided as a courtesy, pending the application of an official patch. This content was generated utilizing AI tools in conjunction with data from https://cmetaxonomy.org. Customers are advised to independently evaluate and test these temporary mitigations within their own infrastructure.
The highest-value action is to disable or restrict untrusted JavaScript execution within browser and application contexts to prevent triggering garbage collection memory corruption: upgrade to Firefox 159, Firefox ESR 153.6, and Thunderbird 159 (or the corresponding fixed Red Hat builds), which resolves the use-after-free memory corruption condition within the JavaScript garbage collection component, closing malicious JavaScript execution triggering garbage collection. Until patched, this is only a concern on Firefox and Thunderbird deployments running untrusted JavaScript in browser or application contexts — Standard Thunderbird email reading where scripting is disabled are unaffected — so Restrict execution of untrusted scripts and prevent users from browsing untrusted sites in contexts where JavaScript is enabled. As a compensating measure, Enable Address Space Layout Randomization to randomize process memory layout and hinder reliable exploitation of memory corruption. These controls limit blast radius and contain exploitation, but they do not fix the underlying use-after-free defect — apply the upstream patch to fully remediate.
Highest-impact CME: CME-1309 Script Engine Restriction (Sandbox / Disable) (high)
Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) Score Details
Info alert:Important note
CVSS scores for open source components depend on vendor-specific factors (e.g. version or build chain). Therefore, Red Hat's score and impact rating can be different from NVD and other vendors. Red Hat remains the authoritative CVE Naming Authority (CNA) source for its products and services (see Red Hat classifications).
The following CVSS metrics and score provided are preliminary and subject to review.
CVSS v3 Score Breakdown
| Red Hat | NVD | cve.org | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Base Score | 7.5 | N/A | 6.3 |
| Attack Vector | Network | N/A | Network |
| Attack Complexity | High | N/A | Low |
| Privileges Required | None | N/A | None |
| User Interaction | Required | N/A | Required |
| Scope | Unchanged | N/A | Unchanged |
| Confidentiality | High | N/A | Low |
| Integrity Impact | High | N/A | Low |
| Availability Impact | High | N/A | Low |
Vector
Red Hat: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
cve.org: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:L
Understanding the Weakness (CWE)
Confidentiality
Technical Impact: Read Memory
If the expired pointer is used in a read operation, an attacker might be able to control data read in by the application.
Availability
Technical Impact: DoS: Crash, Exit, or Restart
If the expired pointer references a memory location that is not accessible to the product, or points to a location that is "malformed" (such as NULL) or larger than expected by a read or write operation, then a crash may occur.
Integrity,Confidentiality,Availability
Technical Impact: Execute Unauthorized Code or Commands
If the expired pointer is used in a function call, or points to unexpected data in a write operation, then code execution may be possible.
Frequently Asked Questions
Not sure what something means? Check out our Security Glossary.
Want to get errata notifications? Sign up here.
