CVE-2025-8030: Insufficient Escaping in “Copy as cURL” Feature Potentially Leading to System Compromise

Overview

The CVE-2025-8030 vulnerability is a serious cybersecurity threat that impacts multiple versions of Firefox and Thunderbird. The issue lies in the insufficient escaping in the “Copy as cURL” feature which, if exploited, could trick users into executing unexpected malicious code. With a CVSS Severity Score of 8.1, this vulnerability is of high concern and primarily affects user systems running outdated Firefox and Thunderbird versions.
The security implications of this flaw are far-reaching. If successfully exploited, an attacker could potentially compromise the user’s system or leak sensitive data. Therefore, understanding this vulnerability, who it affects, and how to mitigate it, is of paramount importance for both individual users and organizations.

Vulnerability Summary

CVE ID: CVE-2025-8030
Severity: High (CVSS: 8.1)
Attack Vector: Network
Privileges Required: None
User Interaction: Required
Impact: Potential system compromise and data leakage

Affected Products

Product | Affected Versions

Firefox | < 141 Firefox ESR | < 128.13, < 140.1 Thunderbird | < 141 Thunderbird ESR | < 128.13, < 140.1 How the Exploit Works

The vulnerability is based on the insufficient escaping in the “Copy as cURL” feature. When a user copies a cURL command, the attacker manipulates the command such that it contains unexpected malicious code. If the user pastes and runs this manipulated cURL command in their terminal, the malicious code gets executed, potentially leading to system compromise or data leakage.

Conceptual Example Code

Here’s a conceptual example of how the vulnerability might be exploited. In this case, it involves a HTTP request with a malicious payload:

POST /vulnerable/endpoint HTTP/1.1
Host: target.example.com
Content-Type: application/curl
{ "malicious_payload": "rm -rf /*" }

In this example, the “malicious_payload” value is a destructive Unix command that deletes all files in the system. While this is a conceptual example and not a real-world scenario, it illustrates the potential severity of the vulnerability. As always, such commands should never be executed, especially not on production systems.