Thunderbird unprotects a secret OpenPGP key prior to using it for a decryption, signing or key import task. If the task runs into a failure, the secret key may remain in memory in its unprotected state. This vulnerability affects Thunderbird < 78.8.1.
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 | * | 78.8.1 (excluding) |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 | RedHat | thunderbird-0:78.9.1-1.el7_9 | * |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 | RedHat | thunderbird-0:78.9.1-1.el8_3 | * |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.1 Extended Update Support | RedHat | thunderbird-0:78.9.1-1.el8_1 | * |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.2 Extended Update Support | RedHat | thunderbird-0:78.9.1-1.el8_2 | * |
| Thunderbird | Ubuntu | bionic | * |
| Thunderbird | Ubuntu | focal | * |
| Thunderbird | Ubuntu | groovy | * |
| 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.