| Critical security fixes arrive for Firefox 2 and 3 |
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| by Stephen Withers | |
| Thursday, 17 July 2008 | |
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Page 1 of 2
New updates to Firefox 2 and 3 include security patches for critical flaws that could expose users to remote code execution. The Firefox 3 update also includes bug fixes for stability and other issues.Featured Whitepaper
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This flaw was reported to Mozilla by TippingPoint's Zero Day Initiative, which pays security researchers for new vulnerabilities and then reveals the details to the vendor concerned under self-imposed 'responsible disclosure' guidelines. The other issue provides a way of partially bypassing a previous Firefox patch. Passing a command line URI containing "|" symbols caused Firefox to open multiple tabs, which could be used to launch chrome: URIs from the command line. This is undesirable as chrome is not supposed to be opened by applications for security reasons. Another Internet-connected application could use this technique to cause Firefox to open files stored in known or guessable locations, for instance files that had been downloaded by a Safari 'carpet bombing' attack. These attacks can only work if Firefox is not already running. Firefox 3 flaws fixed by the 3.0.1 update cover the pair described above, plus a Mac OS X-specific issue whereby rendering a maliciously crafted GIF file causes a crash and potential arbitrary code execution. More foxy fixes on page 2! |
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