Mozilla issues fix for Firefox, SeaMonkey flaw
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(InfoWorld) - The Mozilla Foundation has published a fix for a "critical" JavaScript vulnerability in the Firefox browser and the SeaMonkey application suite. The fix, released Monday, targets Firefox versions 2.0.0.2 and 1.5.0.10, as well as SeaMonkey versions 1.1.1 and 1.0.8. An earlier fix for a JavaScript problem allowed scripts from Web content to execute arbitrary code, the Mozilla Foundation said in a security update. The vulnerability allowed uniform resource identifiers in image tags to be executed even if JavaScript was disabled in the program preferences, Mozilla said. Disabling JavaScript does not protect against the flaw, so the foundation recommended that users upgrade the applications to new versions. Mozilla's Thunderbird e-mail client was not affected by the vulnerability, it said. The fix comes on the heels ofÂ criticism from independent security researcher Michael Zalewski regarding Firefox vulnerabilities, including spoofing and phising threats aimed at the newly released Firefox version 2.0.0.2. Mozilla CSO Window SnyderÂ saidÂ she is seeing more customer feedback regarding browser security and hopes thatÂ more independent researchers and customer feedback will help the company patch flaws more quickly. "The browser is one of most critical pieces of software on the computer in terms of something attackers are going after," Snyder said. "Attacks are constantly changing and every software developer needs to recognize new threats as they emerge, but that's nothing new, we've always considered security to be a top priority." Matt Hines, a senior writer at InfoWorld, contributed to this report
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Mozilla issued 10 patches on Friday for its Firefox browser, including three for critical vulnerabilities. The latest version of Firefox is now 2.0.0.12.One of the critical vulnerabilities, MFSA 2008-06, is a problem in the way the browser handles images on certain Web pages.It&#39;s possible to exploit the flaw to steal a person&#39;s Web browsing history, forward that information and then crash the browser. It may also be possible to run arbitrary code on a machine, Mozilla said.A second critical vulnerability can enable a privilege escalation attack or remote code execution.The last critical problem involves a memory corruption flaw that &quot;we presume that with enough effort at least some of these could be exploited to run arbitrary code,&quot; Mozilla said.Also notable is a fix for a problem with Mozilla&#39;s &quot;chrome&quot; protocol, which is the term Mozilla uses for its user interface. The problem involves some of Firefox&#39;s add-ons, or applications that users can download which extend browser functionality.The vulnerability would let an attacker determine what applications are installed on a person&#39;s PC, which could give clues to how the machine could be compromised, Mozilla said. However, a victim would have to be lured to a special malicious Web page designed to take advantage of the flaw.&#160;
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The Mozilla Foundation has fixed 10 security bugs in its open-source Mozilla and Mozilla Firefox browsers and Thunderbird e-mail reader, with the release of new versions of all three products this week. Some of the vulnerabilities could allow attackers to run malicious code on a user's PC via a malicious e-mail, a specially crafted vCard or a malformed graphic on a Web site, project leaders said.
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The Mozilla Foundation has fixed 10 security bugs in its open-source Mozilla and Mozilla Firefox browsers and Thunderbird e-mail reader, with the release of new versions of all three products this week.
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Mozilla disclosed Monday that it had opened up a vulnerability with a previous security fix for its Firefox, Seamonkey, and Thunderbird clients. According to an advisory issued Monday, a new JavaScript issue was introduced that would allow coding from Web content to be exploited to execute arbitrary code.
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(InfoWorld) - The security team at Mozilla Corp. is looking into a flaw in its Firefox Web browser that hackers exposed at a conference in San Diego over the weekend. In a presentation at theÂ ToorCon hacker conference on Saturday, hackers Mischa Spiegelmock and Andrew Wbeelsoi demonstrated exploit code for a vulnerability in the way Firefox handles Javascript. On Monday, Mozilla said it was busy investigating the flaw, and did not offer any security researchers for comment because, according to spokeswoman Mary Colvig, they were all "heads down" on the problem. The company also said it will patch the flaw if it deems that action necessary. The vulnerability could allow someone to execute a memory corruption attack on Firefox if a user browsed to a Web site that contained the exploit code, said Ken Dunham, director of the rapid response team at security services company iDefense, a VeriSign company. "If you were to go to a Web site that contained the exploit code, it would fill up the available memory on the computer," he said. This would create an environment in which an attacker could take over the computer to do something harmful, he added. Dunham said that iDefense labs tested the exploit code, and it was "unreliable" and crashed the Firefox browser. Because of this, he does not consider the exploit to be a critical threat to Firefox. However, "someone could make some changes to the exploit code and make it more reliable," Dunham said. He added that there are other, more critical unpatched flaws in both Firefox and Microsoft Corp.'s Internet Explorer browser that are currently under attack by hackers.
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TechWeb - A new proof-of-concept code is circulating for a Firefox vulnerability that was fixed in Mozilla's security update that was released last week.
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Update to "critical" Internet Explorer patch repairs a serious security flaw introduced by the original version.
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Cure worse than disease The Mozilla Foundation has patched a faulty patch that was itself subject to a security vulnerability.â¦
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Blog: Updates address some critical vulnerabilities in the popular browser.
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While Microsoft's Internet Explorer has become the bane of computer security, switching to Mozilla may not be the simple answer after all. Security firm Secunia has issued a "highly critical" advisory that details 10 separate vulnerabilities found in Mozilla, Firefox and Thunderbird. The flaws can be exploited remotely, allowing an attacker to compromise a system and expose sensitive data. Mozilla users are urged to upgrade to the latest releases of each application, which contain the necessary fixes.
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MyPhish.com The latest versions of both Firefox and Internet Explorer are vulnerable to an unpatched flaw that allows hackers to snaffle users' login credentials via automated phishing attacks.â¦
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A Firefox 'flaw' revealed at the Toorcon hacker conference over the weekend was a joke, one of the hackers admited to Mozilla officials.
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(InfoWorld) - MozillaÂ has released an update to its Firefox browser, fixing a number of security flaws in the product. The Firefox 2.0.0.2 release includes a fix for a bug disclosed by security researcher Michal Zalewsky last week. That flaw can be exploited by attackers to manipulate cookie information in the Firefox browser, making it probably the most important fix in the update, according to Window Snyder, Mozilla's head of security strategy. "The potential to compromise a user's account is almost as serious as compromising their machine," she said Friday via instant message. "Since the details of how to exploit the vulnerability are publicly available, the risk to users is increased." The updates also include a fix for a previously undisclosed memory corruption flaw in the browser that could be exploited to run unauthorized software on a Firefox user's computer. This flaw could also affect Thunderbird users who have configured their mail client to run JavaScript automatically, something that Mozilla does not recommend. Thunderbird is Mozilla's free e-mail client. The patches were released on Friday afternoon and should soon be delivered via Firefox's automatic software update mechanism, Snyder said. Mozilla has patched a total of seven Firefox bugs and is also addressing two bugs in Thunderbird. The latest browser release also includes enhancements to make it run better with Windows Vista as well as support for the Afrikaans, Belarusian, Georgian, and Kurdish languages.
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(InfoWorld) - With the release of its latest Firefox 2.0.0.5 browser, open-source software maker Mozilla claims to have fixed a number of potentially serious vulnerabilities in its flagship product. According to the firm's chief security officer, the company is working harder than ever to keep its users protected. Through the launch of Firefox 2.0.0.5 late on July 17, Mozilla moved to patch nine individual flaws resident in previous iterations of the program. Patches built into 2.0.0.5 included those meant to address multiple memory corruption bugs, a cross-site scripting vulnerability, and a flaw that could give attackers access to the browser's cache. Among the other problems the company addressed in the update was even an unusual vulnerability that could cause malicious code to run on a PC if the browser is launched using Microsoft's rival Internet Explorer software -- a flaw that Mozilla could have easily pinned on Microsoft, despite denials from the software maker that it is at all responsible for mending the issue. And while some security experts still maintain that open-source products are ill-fitted for use inside enterprise businesses as they may leave the door open to savvy attackers who can take advantage of the readily-available nature of the products' widely-published source code, Window Snyder, whose official title is "chief security something-or-other" at Mozilla, claims that the firm's very makeup has led Firefox and the vendor's other products to offer stronger protection for end-users than proprietary systems with which they compete. "Transparency has been one of the key factors to our success in improving security; some see doing development with the whole world watching as an obstacle, and at times it can be a challenge, but we see it as a unique strength," Snyder said. The security expert, herself a former employee of Microsoft, said that Mozilla currently enlists more than 10,000 people in regular security testing of its nightly product builds. Compared to a standard Web browser development team operating under one company's roof, the virtual legion of open-source contributors provides a far deeper pool of talent to try to assault its products to find any vulnerabilities, she said. Companies including Microsoft often point to the comparatively large numbers of bugs reported in Mozilla products by security researchers as an indicator that the technologies are less secure than their own. However, the volume of issues being uncovered in Firefox and other open-source products is actually an illustration of the high level of scrutiny such applications receive, which is more than their proprietary counterparts, Snyder maintains. Microsoft sends out a set of patches only once every month, but the virtual Firefox security testing team is helping Mozilla turnaround updates almost as quickly as it receives reports of any flaws, she said. Patching vulnerabilities as quickly as possible is a more effective approach to thwarting attacks as hackers often have longer periods of time to craft assaults on proprietary systems before they are fixed, according to the expert. Mozilla has also added real-time vulnerability updates for its users in the past year, easing the burden on people to stay abreast of any fixes on their own. "This community approach is the reason we're able to ship patches so quickly. It's more important to communicate with people and let them know what is going on versus waiting and sitting on the information," said Snyder. "If people start looking at the amount of time it takes for companies to get updates out as the best measurement of overall security versus the number of problems that may be identified, more people are going to change their minds about whether open source is indeed the most secure model." Questioned as to whether it becomes a challenge to respond to 10,000 independent security contributors helping in the review of its programs, Snyder said that an unofficial hierarchy has created itself among the people who regularly make helpful suggestions to Mozilla. "It's a challenge and an opportunity trying to do development with that many different voices, and often the most adamant people make significant contributions, but people also make points and build a consensus and ideas bubble up through the group that way," she said. "Even if it makes for more work, we think it's always better to listen to the voices of many than it is to limit the process to only a few."
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A zero-day flaw in Firefox and third-party Windows patches turn up the heat for Net users. Plus: Buyout boom in security.
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(InfoWorld) - Mozilla late yesterday patched Firefox to fix nine bugs, including the controversial critical vulnerability that involved both the open source Web browser and Microsoft's Internet Explorer. Firefox 2.0.0.5, which can be downloaded in versions for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux in 42 localized editions, fixes the "firefoxurl://" vulnerability that can be exploited only on systems where Firefox is installed but IE is the primary browser. For the past week, researchers have quarreled over whether Mozilla or Microsoft was responsible for the flaw and which company should patch its software. In the security advisory, one of eight issued yesterday that outline the nine bugs, Mozilla again refrained from expressly putting the onus on Microsoft. But as before, it came close. "Other Windows applications can be called in this way and also manipulated to execute malicious code," read the advisory. "This fix only prevents Firefox and Thunderbird from accepting bad data. This patch does not fix the vulnerability in Internet Explorer." And more blunt was the single suggested work-around. "Mozilla highly recommends using Firefox to browse the Web to prevent attackers from exploiting this problem in Internet Explorer," it said. One of the researchers who last week pinned blame on Microsoft had not changed his tune as of yesterday. "This [Firefox patch] does not actually fix the flaw in Internet Explorer, but simply patches one of the myriads of attack vectors," said Thor Larholm, a Danish researcher who publicized the exploit. "I can definitely understand the initial reaction from Microsoft. Most of the emphasis in the public vulnerability reports were dealing with Firefox, the '-chrome' command-line argument, and how to properly escape the exploit code. "However, I can still automatically launch a wide range of external applications from Internet Explorer and provide them with arbitrary command-line arguments, [including] AcroRd32.exe (Adobe Acrobat PDF Reader), aim.exe (AOL Instant Messenger), Outlook.exe, msimn.exe (Outlook Express), netmeeting.exe, HelpCtr.exe (Windows Help Center), mirc.exe, Skype.exe, wab.exe (Windows Address Book), and wmplayer.exe (Windows Media Player), just to name a few," Larholm wrote. Microsoft's position last week has been that IE is not buggy and so wouldn't be patched. "Microsoft has thoroughly investigated the claim of a vulnerability in Internet Explorer and found that this is not a vulnerability in a Microsoft product," a spokesman said last Thursday. Other patches put into place by 2.0.0.5 included multiple memory corruption bugs. "With enough effort ... some of these could be exploited to run arbitrary code," a cross-site scripting vulnerability and a flaw that could give attackers access to the browser's cache. Mozilla picked up the pace to push Firefox 2.0.0.5 out to users earlier than scheduled. On Monday, Mozilla developers pegged the update as a "fire drill release" because of the critical nature of the firefoxurl:// bug. At the time, July 19 was the target for 2.0.0.5's release. "But we might be able to accelerate the release," notes from a weekly status meeting read. This is the first update to Firefox since support for the older 1.5.x line was discontinued. Earlier this month, users of that version were offered an automatic update to Firefox 2.0.0.4.