CVE-2024-9680

Mozilla Firefox and Firefox ESR contain a use-after-free (CWE-416) in the browser's animation timelines component, which CISA describes as allowing code execution in the content process. The flaw is reachable through malicious web content: a crafted page can manipulate animation timelines so that an in-use object is freed, producing exploitable memory corruption. A successful attacker gains code execution in the content process, the sandboxed process that renders web pages, on the machine of the user who loaded the content. All users of Firefox and Firefox ESR are affected by the flaw itself. It is being actively exploited: the vulnerability was added to CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog on 2024-10-15 with known ransomware use, and EPSS assigns it a 23.2% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days (98th percentile).

What to do: Apply Mozilla's patched Firefox/Firefox ESR release immediately and verify the running version via the browser's About Firefox dialog, since many installs only pick up auto-updates after a restart (per CISA's required action: apply mitigations per vendor instructions or discontinue use). Given the known ransomware use, prioritize enterprise ESR rollout and check for managed-update failures, auto-update-disabled installs, or unmanaged Firefox copies on user machines. Note that no public proof-of-concept is known, but KEV listing confirms exploitation, so patching should not wait for PoC availability.