Race condition in the Mozilla Maintenance Service in Mozilla Firefox before 40.0 and Firefox ESR 38.x before 38.2 on Windows allows local users to write to arbitrary files and consequently gain privileges via vectors involving a hard link to a log file during an update.
CVE-2015-4481
This CVE was only ever scored under CVSS v2.0. NVD CVSS v2.0 base 3.3 — v2 rates that LOW (v2 bands: LOW 0.0–3.9 / MEDIUM 4.0–6.9 / HIGH 7.0–10.0; v2 has no CRITICAL band). Vector AV:L/AC:M/Au:N/C:N/I:P/A:P. CVSS v2 is an older, coarser metric than v3.1/v4.0 (no Scope, no User Interaction, no Attack Requirements), so it is not directly comparable to a v3 or v4 score. NVD has never re-scored this record under v3. EPSS predicts 0.8% exploitation probability in the next 30 days, which is reflected in EG Risk but does not lift the v2 base. Confidence: LOW.
- Lower severity and no public exploit yet
No vendor fix yet — apply a workaround or compensating control (WAF / firewall / segmentation) and watch for a patch.
- CVSS v2.0 (legacy)
- 3.3LOWNVD never assigned a CVSS v3 rating to this CVE
- EG Score
- 3.3(low)
- EG Risk
- 45(Track)EG Risk 45/100SSVC: Track
EG Risk is EchelonGraph's 0–100 priority score: it fuses intrinsic severity with real-world exploitation and automatability so you can rank equal-severity CVEs and fix the most dangerous first. Higher = act sooner. Distinct from the 0–10 EG Score (severity).
How it’s computedSeverity33% × 45%Exploitation65% × 40%Automatability30% × 15%Action: Routine — remediate on your standard cadence. - EPSS PROB
- 1%
- EPSS %ILE
- 54%
- KEV
- Not listed
Published
August 16, 2015
Last Modified
May 6, 2026
References (22)
- security@mozillahttp://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2015-08/msg00014.html
- security@mozillahttp://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2015-08/msg00015.html
- security@mozillahttp://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-updates/2015-08/msg00030.html
- security@mozillahttp://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-updates/2015-08/msg00031.html
- security@mozillahttp://www.mozilla.org/security/announce/2015/mfsa2015-84.html
- security@mozillahttp://www.oracle.com/technetwork/topics/security/bulletinapr2016-2952098.html
- security@mozillahttp://www.securitytracker.com/id/1033247
- security@mozillahttp://www.securitytracker.com/id/1033372
- security@mozillahttps://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1171518
- security@mozillahttps://security.gentoo.org/glsa/201605-06
- security@mozillahttps://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/37925/
- af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2015-08/msg00014.html
- af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2015-08/msg00015.html
- af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-updates/2015-08/msg00030.html
- af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-updates/2015-08/msg00031.html
Data Freshness Timeline
(refreshed 6× in last 7d / 24× in last 30d)
Each row is a source pipeline that fetched or updated this CVE on that date, with what changed. For example, "NVD update" means NVD published or revised its analysis for this CVE; "MITRE cvelistV5" means we ingested or refreshed it from the CNA feed. Most recent first.
Showing the most recent 100 of 119 total refreshes for this CVE.
- 2026-08-20 22:50 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-19 16:59 UTCEPSS rescore
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- 2026-07-26 13:54 UTCEG score recompute▲ 3.30
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- 2026-07-23 01:18 UTCEG score recompute
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Publicly available exploits
(1 reference)Working exploit code is in the public domain (1 Exploit-DB entry). Defenders should treat patch urgency accordingly — public PoCs typically lead to mass-exploitation within 24-72 hours.
- Exploit-DBEDB-37925✓ verifiedFirst seen Aug 21, 2015
Mozilla - Maintenance Service Log File Overwrite Privilege Escalation
Open source ↗
Frequently asked(4)
What is CVE-2015-4481?
When was CVE-2015-4481 disclosed?
Is CVE-2015-4481 actively exploited?
How do I remediate CVE-2015-4481?
Dependency Blast Radius
Explore the affected products and dependency analysis for CVE-2015-4481
Is Your Infrastructure Affected by CVE-2015-4481?
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