CVE-2005-2871

CVE-2005-2871 is a high-severity vulnerability in Mozilla Firefox with a CVSS 2.0 base score of 7.5. Its EPSS exploit-prediction score of 21% places it in the 97th percentile, indicating an elevated likelihood of exploitation.

Key facts

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.

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2005-2871?
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.
How severe is CVE-2005-2871?
CVE-2005-2871 has a CVSS 2.0 base score of 7.5, rated high severity.
Is CVE-2005-2871 being actively exploited?
It is not currently listed in CISA's KEV catalog. Its EPSS exploit-prediction score is 21% (97th percentile), an estimate of the probability of exploitation in the next 30 days.
What products are affected by CVE-2005-2871?
CVE-2005-2871 primarily affects Mozilla Firefox. In total, 8 product configurations (CPEs) are listed as vulnerable; see the affected-products list for the exact versions.
How do I fix CVE-2005-2871?
Review the linked vendor and NVD advisories for patched versions and mitigations, then upgrade or apply the recommended workaround. Given its high severity, prioritise patching exposed systems.
When was CVE-2005-2871 published?
CVE-2005-2871 was published on 2005-09-09 and last updated on 2026-06-16.

References

Affected products (8)

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