New threats show browser vulnerabilities don't play favorites

“Browser vulnerabilities are making the rounds this week, as different threats have surfaced for Mozilla, Firefox, Netscape, and Internet Explorer. In this edition of the IT Locksmith, learn more about these various threats, find out how you can best protect your organization from these vulnerabilities, and see what else has recently surfaced in the security world.

New vulnerabilities are haunting Mozilla, Firefox, and Netscape browsers, while different threats have surfaced in Outlook and Internet Explorer. Meanwhile, IM and P2P threats surge.

Details

Secunia has reported, and Mozilla has confirmed, an information disclosure vulnerability in the Firefox browser—including the latest update (version 1.0.2), which is only a few weeks old (released March 21). In fact, troubles for the increasingly popular browser are coming so fast and furious that mozillaZine has reported that a new Firefox release candidate has already replaced the Firefox release candidate 1.0.3, which became available on April 5.

Mozilla released the new release candidate (also designated 1.0.3) the very next day. Be forewarned that this release candidate 1.0.3, and probably the eventual release version as well, will likely cause problems with a number of extensions.

Below are links to Secunia's reports about each threat:

• Mozilla
• Mozilla Firefox
• Netscape

The information disclosure vulnerability exposes random memory areas to malicious Web sites, and users would never be aware of it. As you would expect, it's mostly ASCII garbage, but there are definitely real information disclosures too, so this is a very real threat.

Secunia offers a Mozilla Products Arbitrary Memory Exposure Test to help you determine if your system is vulnerable to the new vulnerability.… ”

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