CVE-2005-2871Firefox Vulnerability
Buffer overflow in the International Domain Name (IDN) support in Mozilla Firefox 1.0.6 and earlier, and Netscape 8.0.3.3 and 7.2, allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (crash) and possibly execute arbitrary code via a hostname with all "soft" hyphens (character…
Published Sep 9, 2005 · Updated Mar 9, 2026 · Also known as DEBIAN-CVE-2005-2871, DSA-837-1
Key Facts
Patch immediately- CVE-2005-2871 is a high-severity vulnerability (CVSS 7.5 v2) affecting Firefox (Mozilla), mozilla (debian), mozilla-firefox (debian) and 2 more products.
- It is not listed in any known-exploited vulnerabilities catalog. Public exploit code is available.
- EPSS estimates a 21% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days.
- Fixed versions are available, including Firefox 0:1.0.6-1.4.2, mozilla 1:1.7.8-1sarge3, mozilla-firefox 1.0.4-2sarge4.
- Brandefense priority: patch immediately, because public exploit code exists for a high-severity flaw.
Scores
CVSS v2
7.5
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P
EPSS (30-day exploit likelihood)
21%
Higher than 97.5% of all scored CVEs
Exploit maturity
Proof of concept
ATLAS score
36/100
Publication score, see How it works
Exploitation Verdict
KEV listed
Not listed
Federal due date
None
No federal due date
Ransomware use
Not reported
Attributed actors
None named
Exploit & Defence Guidance
Exploit maturity
Proof of concept
Public exploit code
1
Proof-of-concept links
In-the-wild evidence
2
Reports of active use
Advisories And Exploit References
- advisoryRHSA-2005:768
- advisoryRHSA-2005:791
Description
Buffer overflow in the International Domain Name (IDN) support in Mozilla Firefox 1.0.6 and earlier, and Netscape 8.0.3.3 and 7.2, allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (crash) and possibly execute arbitrary code via a hostname with all "soft" hyphens (character 0xAD), which is not properly handled by the NormalizeIDN call in nsStandardURL::BuildNormalizedSpec.
Affected Products
13 affected entries in total| Product | Affected versions | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|
| FirefoxMozilla | 1.0, 1.0.1, 1.0.2, 1.0.3, 1.0.4, 1.0.5, 1.0.6, 1.5-beta1 | 0:1.0.6-1.4.2 |
| mozilladebian | See advisory | 1:1.7.8-1sarge3 |
| mozilla-firefoxdebian | See advisory | 1.0.4-2sarge4 |
| mozilla-thunderbirddebian | See advisory | 1.0.2-2.sarge1.0.7 |
| thunderbirdredhat | See advisory | 0:1.0.7-1.4.1 |
Patched Releases
Firefox
0:1.0.6-1.4.2
mozilla
1:1.7.8-1sarge3
mozilla-firefox
1.0.4-2sarge4
mozilla-thunderbird
1.0.2-2.sarge1.0.7
thunderbird
0:1.0.7-1.4.1
Timeline
Publicly disclosed
Sep 9, 2005
Last updated
Mar 9, 2026
References
- advisoryRHSA-2005:768
- advisoryRHSA-2005:791
- exploitExploitDB-1224
- exploitsecurity-protocols.com · sp-x17-advisory.txt
- exploitsecurity-protocols.com · firefox-death.html
FAQ
Common Questions.
Buffer overflow in the International Domain Name (IDN) support in Mozilla Firefox 1.0.6 and earlier, and Netscape 8.0.3.3 and 7.2, allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (crash) and possibly execute arbitrary code via a hostname with all "soft" hyphens (character 0xAD), which is not properly handled by t…
Affected: Firefox (Mozilla) versions 1.0, 1.0.1, 1.0.2, 1.0.3, 1.0.4, 1.0.5, 1.0.6, 1.5-beta1; mozilla (debian); mozilla-firefox (debian), among others. The full list is in the CVE brief.
It is not listed in any known-exploited vulnerabilities catalog.
No, it is not currently listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog.
Public exploit code is available.
Fixed versions are available, including Firefox 0:1.0.6-1.4.2, mozilla 1:1.7.8-1sarge3, mozilla-firefox 1.0.4-2sarge4.
Brandefense priority: patch immediately, because public exploit code exists for a high-severity flaw.
Is CVE-2005-2871 On Your Attack Surface?
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