If a user saved passwords before Thunderbird 60 and then later set a master password, an unencrypted copy of these passwords is still accessible. This is because the older stored password file was not deleted when the data was copied to a new format starting in Thunderbird 60. The new master password is added only on the new file. This could allow the exposure of stored password data outside of user expectations. This vulnerability affects Thunderbird < 68.5.
The product stores sensitive information in cleartext within a resource that might be accessible to another control sphere.
| Name | Vendor | Start Version | End Version |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thunderbird | Mozilla | * | 68.5.0 (excluding) |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 | RedHat | thunderbird-0:68.5.0-1.el6_10 | * |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 | RedHat | thunderbird-0:68.5.0-1.el7_7 | * |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 | RedHat | thunderbird-0:68.5.0-1.el8_1 | * |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.0 Update Services for SAP Solutions | RedHat | thunderbird-0:68.5.0-1.el8_0 | * |
| Thunderbird | Ubuntu | bionic | * |
| Thunderbird | Ubuntu | devel | * |
| Thunderbird | Ubuntu | eoan | * |
| Thunderbird | Ubuntu | trusty | * |
| Thunderbird | Ubuntu | upstream | * |
| Thunderbird | Ubuntu | xenial | * |
Because the information is stored in cleartext (i.e., unencrypted), attackers could potentially read it. Even if the information is encoded in a way that is not human-readable, certain techniques could determine which encoding is being used, then decode the information. When organizations adopt cloud services, it can be easier for attackers to access the data from anywhere on the Internet. In some systems/environments such as cloud, the use of “double encryption” (at both the software and hardware layer) might be required, and the developer might be solely responsible for both layers, instead of shared responsibility with the administrator of the broader system/environment.