Mozilla Addresses Multiple Vulnerabilities

• Mozilla Firefox
• Mozilla Thunderbird
• Mozilla SeaMonkey
• Netscape Browser

Other products based on Mozilla components may also be affected.

The Mozilla web browser and derived products contain several vulnerabilities, the most severe of which could allow a remote attacker to execute arbitrary code on an affected system.

Mozilla has released new versions of Firefox, Thunderbird, and SeaMonkey to address several vulnerabilities. Further details about these vulnerabilities are available from Mozilla and the Vulnerability Notes Database. An attacker could exploit these vulnerabilities by convincing a user to view a specially-crafted HTML document, such as a web page or HTML email message.

Impact

While the impacts of the individual vulnerabilities vary, the most severe could allow a remote, unauthenticated attacker to execute arbitrary code on a vulnerable system. An attacker may also be able to cause a denial of service.

Solution

Upgrade

These vulnerabilities are addressed in Mozilla Firefox 1.5.0.9, Mozilla Firefox 2.0.0.1, Mozilla Thunderbird 1.5.0.9, and SeaMonkey 1.0.7. Mozilla Firefox, Thunderbird, and SeaMonkey automatically check for updates by default.

Support for Firefox 1.5 is scheduled to end in April 2007. According to Mozilla:

Firefox 1.5.0.x will be maintained with security and stability updates until April 24, 2007. All users are strongly encouraged to upgrade to Firefox 2.

Disable JavaScript and Java

These vulnerabilities can be mitigated by disabling JavaScript and Java. For more information about configuring Firefox, please see the "Securing Your Web Browser" document. Netscape users should see the "Site Controls" document for details.

Thunderbird disables JavaScript and Java by default.

References

• US-CERT Vulnerability Notes - http://www.kb.cert.org/vuls/byid?searchview&query=mozilla_20061219
• Securing Your Web Browser - http://www.us-cert.gov/reading_room/securing_browser/browser_security.html#Mozilla_Firefox
• Mozilla Foundation Security Advisories - http://www.mozilla.org/security/announce/
• Known Vulnerabilities in Mozilla Products - http://www.mozilla.org/projects/security/known-vulnerabilities.html
• Mozilla Hall of Fame - http://www.mozilla.org/university/HOF.html
• Site Controls - http://browser.netscape.com/ns8/help/options-site.jsp

Revision History

• December 20, 2006: Initial release