diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/nss/3.53.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/nss/3.53.nix
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..dcd9ade629b7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/nss/3.53.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,169 @@
+{ stdenv, fetchurl, nspr, perl, zlib, sqlite, darwin, fixDarwinDylibNames, buildPackages, ninja
+, # allow FIPS mode. Note that this makes the output non-reproducible.
+  # https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Mozilla/Projects/NSS/NSS_Tech_Notes/nss_tech_note6
+  enableFIPS ? false
+}:
+
+let
+  nssPEM = fetchurl {
+    url = "http://dev.gentoo.org/~polynomial-c/mozilla/nss-3.15.4-pem-support-20140109.patch.xz";
+    sha256 = "10ibz6y0hknac15zr6dw4gv9nb5r5z9ym6gq18j3xqx7v7n3vpdw";
+  };
+  version = "3.53.1";
+  underscoreVersion = builtins.replaceStrings ["."] ["_"] version;
+
+in stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
+  pname = "nss";
+  inherit version;
+
+  src = fetchurl {
+    url = "mirror://mozilla/security/nss/releases/NSS_${underscoreVersion}_RTM/src/${pname}-${version}.tar.gz";
+    sha256 = "05jk65x3zy6q8lx2djj8ik7kg741n88iy4n3bblw89cv0xkxxk1d";
+  };
+
+  depsBuildBuild = [ buildPackages.stdenv.cc ];
+
+  nativeBuildInputs = [ perl ninja (buildPackages.python3.withPackages (ps: with ps; [ gyp ])) ]
+    ++ stdenv.lib.optionals stdenv.hostPlatform.isDarwin [ darwin.cctools fixDarwinDylibNames ];
+
+  buildInputs = [ zlib sqlite ];
+
+  propagatedBuildInputs = [ nspr ];
+
+  prePatch = ''
+    # strip the trailing whitespace from the patch line and the renamed CKO_NETSCAPE_ enum to CKO_NSS_
+    xz -d < ${nssPEM} | sed \
+       -e 's/-DIRS = builtins $/-DIRS = . builtins/g' \
+       -e 's/CKO_NETSCAPE_/CKO_NSS_/g' \
+       -e 's/CKT_NETSCAPE_/CKT_NSS_/g' \
+       | patch -p1
+
+    patchShebangs nss
+
+    for f in nss/coreconf/config.gypi nss/build.sh nss/coreconf/config.gypi; do
+      substituteInPlace "$f" --replace "/usr/bin/env" "${buildPackages.coreutils}/bin/env"
+    done
+
+    substituteInPlace nss/coreconf/config.gypi --replace "/usr/bin/grep" "${buildPackages.coreutils}/bin/env grep"
+  '';
+
+  patches =
+    [
+      # Based on http://patch-tracker.debian.org/patch/series/dl/nss/2:3.15.4-1/85_security_load.patch
+      ./85_security_load.patch
+      ./ckpem.patch
+      ./fix-cross-compilation.patch
+    ];
+
+  patchFlags = [ "-p0" ];
+
+  postPatch = stdenv.lib.optionalString stdenv.hostPlatform.isDarwin ''
+     substituteInPlace nss/coreconf/Darwin.mk --replace '@executable_path/$(notdir $@)' "$out/lib/\$(notdir \$@)"
+     substituteInPlace nss/coreconf/config.gypi --replace "'DYLIB_INSTALL_NAME_BASE': '@executable_path'" "'DYLIB_INSTALL_NAME_BASE': '$out/lib'"
+   '';
+
+  outputs = [ "out" "dev" "tools" ];
+
+  preConfigure = "cd nss";
+
+  buildPhase = let
+    getArch = platform: if platform.isx86_64 then "x64"
+          else if platform.isx86_32 then "ia32"
+          else if platform.isAarch32 then "arm"
+          else if platform.isAarch64 then "arm64"
+          else if platform.isPower && platform.is64bit then (
+            if platform.isLittleEndian then "ppc64le" else "ppc64"
+          )
+          else platform.parsed.cpu.name;
+    # yes, this is correct. nixpkgs uses "host" for the platform the binary will run on whereas nss uses "host" for the platform that the build is running on
+    target = getArch stdenv.hostPlatform;
+    host = getArch stdenv.buildPlatform;
+  in ''
+    runHook preBuild
+
+    sed -i 's|nss_dist_dir="$dist_dir"|nss_dist_dir="'$out'"|;s|nss_dist_obj_dir="$obj_dir"|nss_dist_obj_dir="'$out'"|' build.sh
+    ./build.sh -v --opt \
+      --with-nspr=${nspr.dev}/include:${nspr.out}/lib \
+      --system-sqlite \
+      --enable-legacy-db \
+      --target ${target} \
+      -Dhost_arch=${host} \
+      -Duse_system_zlib=1 \
+      --enable-libpkix \
+      ${stdenv.lib.optionalString enableFIPS "--enable-fips"} \
+      ${stdenv.lib.optionalString stdenv.isDarwin "--clang"} \
+      ${stdenv.lib.optionalString (stdenv.hostPlatform != stdenv.buildPlatform) "--disable-tests"}
+
+    runHook postBuild
+  '';
+
+  NIX_CFLAGS_COMPILE = "-Wno-error -DNIX_NSS_LIBDIR=\"${placeholder "out"}/lib/\"";
+
+  installPhase = ''
+    runHook preInstall
+
+    rm -rf $out/private
+    find $out -name "*.TOC" -delete
+    mv $out/public $out/include
+
+    ln -s lib $out/lib64
+
+    # Upstream issue: https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=530672
+    # https://gitweb.gentoo.org/repo/gentoo.git/plain/dev-libs/nss/files/nss-3.32-gentoo-fixups.patch?id=af1acce6c6d2c3adb17689261dfe2c2b6771ab8a
+    NSS_MAJOR_VERSION=`grep "NSS_VMAJOR" lib/nss/nss.h | awk '{print $3}'`
+    NSS_MINOR_VERSION=`grep "NSS_VMINOR" lib/nss/nss.h | awk '{print $3}'`
+    NSS_PATCH_VERSION=`grep "NSS_VPATCH" lib/nss/nss.h | awk '{print $3}'`
+    PREFIX="$out"
+
+    mkdir -p $out/lib/pkgconfig
+    sed -e "s,%prefix%,$PREFIX," \
+        -e "s,%exec_prefix%,$PREFIX," \
+        -e "s,%libdir%,$PREFIX/lib64," \
+        -e "s,%includedir%,$dev/include/nss," \
+        -e "s,%NSS_VERSION%,$NSS_MAJOR_VERSION.$NSS_MINOR_VERSION.$NSS_PATCH_VERSION,g" \
+        -e "s,%NSPR_VERSION%,4.16,g" \
+        pkg/pkg-config/nss.pc.in > $out/lib/pkgconfig/nss.pc
+    chmod 0644 $out/lib/pkgconfig/nss.pc
+
+    sed -e "s,@prefix@,$PREFIX," \
+        -e "s,@MOD_MAJOR_VERSION@,$NSS_MAJOR_VERSION," \
+        -e "s,@MOD_MINOR_VERSION@,$NSS_MINOR_VERSION," \
+        -e "s,@MOD_PATCH_VERSION@,$NSS_PATCH_VERSION," \
+        pkg/pkg-config/nss-config.in > $out/bin/nss-config
+    chmod 0755 $out/bin/nss-config
+  '';
+
+  postFixup = let
+    isCross = stdenv.hostPlatform != stdenv.buildPlatform;
+    nss = if isCross then buildPackages.nss.tools else "$out";
+  in
+  (stdenv.lib.optionalString enableFIPS (''
+    for libname in freebl3 nssdbm3 softokn3
+    do '' +
+    (if stdenv.isDarwin
+     then ''
+       libfile="$out/lib/lib$libname.dylib"
+       DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH=$out/lib:${nspr.out}/lib \
+     '' else ''
+       libfile="$out/lib/lib$libname.so"
+       LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$out/lib:${nspr.out}/lib \
+     '') + ''
+        ${nss}/bin/shlibsign -v -i "$libfile"
+    done
+  '')) +
+  ''
+    moveToOutput bin "$tools"
+    moveToOutput bin/nss-config "$dev"
+    moveToOutput lib/libcrmf.a "$dev" # needed by firefox, for example
+    rm -f "$out"/lib/*.a
+
+    runHook postInstall
+  '';
+
+  meta = with stdenv.lib; {
+    homepage = "https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/NSS";
+    description = "A set of libraries for development of security-enabled client and server applications";
+    license = licenses.mpl20;
+    platforms = platforms.all;
+  };
+}
diff --git a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
index e2efe9633b92..8236c4f07f91 100644
--- a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
+++ b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
@@ -14896,6 +14896,9 @@ julia_15 = callPackage ../development/compilers/julia/1.5.nix {
   nss_3_44 = lowPrio (callPackage ../development/libraries/nss/3.44.nix { });
   nssTools = nss.tools;
 
+  # required for stable thunderbird and firefox-esr-78
+  nss_3_53 = lowPrio (callPackage ../development/libraries/nss/3.53.nix { });
+
   nss_wrapper = callPackage ../development/libraries/nss_wrapper { };
 
   nsss = skawarePackages.nsss;