Mozilla users warned--upgrade now

Rev. Rex · #1 (**permalink**) 19th April 2006, 06:07 PM

Quote:

Mozilla users warned--upgrade now
By Tom Espiner
URL: http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9588_22-6062713.html
Users have been urged to upgrade to the latest versions of Mozilla's software to protect themselves from a series of critical security holes.

The Computer Emergency Readiness Team (CERT) warned on Monday that earlier versions of Firefox, and other Mozilla software based on Firefox code, contain a clutch of vulnerabilities that expose users to attack.

The Mozilla Foundation released a new version of Firefox last week, version 1.5.0.2, which it said contained fixes for several security flaws.

According to security firm Secunia, there are a total of 21 flaws in the older versions of Firefox, such as Firefox 1.5, some of which it described as critical.

CERT advises people who use Mozilla's e-mail software, Thunderbird, and the Internet application suite Seamonkey to also upgrade to the latest versions (Thunderbird 1.5 and Seamonkey 1.0.1). CERT warned that any other products based on older Mozilla components, particularly the Gecko rendering engine, may also be affected.

Firefox has traditionally been seen as being more secure than other Web browsers such as Microsoft's Internet Explorer. This is thought to be the first time that multiple vulnerabilities have been reported in Firefox and the Mozilla suite.

Secunia warned that hackers could exploit the security holes to gain control of computer systems, conduct phishing attacks, and bypass security restrictions.

One error that occurs in Firefox would allow arbitrary JavaScript code to be injected into Web pages as they load.

The vulnerabilities were discovered by Mozilla researchers, including Bernd Mielke, Alden D'Souza and Martijn Wargers, as well as by 3Com researchers working on the TippingPoint Zero Day Initiative.

This initiative encourages "responsible disclosure of vulnerabilities" to vendors, to give them time to put out patches before holes are disclosed to the public. TippingPoint started to disclose the holes to Mozilla from December last year.

It would be a good idea to update, if you are using FireFox.

withdrawnmist · #2 (**permalink**) 19th April 2006, 06:17 PM

Thanks for the tip Rex.

I gather it was only a matter of time before Firefox was exploited.

Can I ask, is Mozilla the same as Firefox then ?

Rev. Rex · #3 (**permalink**) 19th April 2006, 06:31 PM

You are correct; as with anything, hackers go after the largest targets. While only a relatively few people used FireFox, it wasn't much worth the effort for them to target Firefox. But now, Firefox has a substantial number of users, so it becomes more of a target. It never was actually "safer" than IE, it just had fewer security breaches because so few hackers went after it.

Mozilla is to Firefox what Microsoft is to Internet Explorer. Mozilla produces the Firefox browser, and several other applications. You can get the update from either www.firefox.com or www.mozilla.com.

withdrawnmist · #4 (**permalink**) 19th April 2006, 06:35 PM

Thank you very much Rex. I never knew the relationship between Mozilla and Firefox.

I checked my update section of Firefox and fortunately it seems I'm up to date...but thanks for the warning..I hope others take heed too.

RHEMtron · #5 (**permalink**) 19th April 2006, 09:47 PM

geez! finally! ive been getting viruses through mozilla for the past 2 months. luckily my virus program catches em. thanks Rev. now i dont have to worry about checking my comp every **** day.

kiwimac · #6 (**permalink**) 26th April 2006, 07:20 PM

Why I use Opera

Rev. Rex · #7 (**permalink**) 26th April 2006, 07:24 PM

Opera is IE based, and much of the coding is actually IE coding, so it has many of the same security holes that IE has. It would be a good idea for opera users to make sure that they have the most recent updates available from Microsoft.

withdrawnmist · #8 (**permalink**) 1st May 2006, 06:33 PM

I don't know If I have posted this here before but here is a great link to all the applications I think you'll ever need http://100-downloads.com/ and if you click on this http://100-downloads.com/updates/ it should take you to a whole load of microsoft updates where I am now enjoying the new IE 7 (with tabs and all)...enjoy !!

The Ie update is beta (ver 2) ..

Rev. Rex · #9 (**permalink**) 3rd May 2006, 06:43 PM

Yet another build of FireFox is available, version 1.5.0.3. I'm not sure what differences there are, however there are a lot of reports that FireFox is not auto updating to this new version, so FireFox users might want to go grab it off the Mozilla web site.

Geshtinnanna · #10 (**permalink**) 4th May 2006, 09:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rev. Rex

Yet another build of FireFox is available, version 1.5.0.3. I'm not sure what differences there are, however there are a lot of reports that FireFox is not auto updating to this new version, so FireFox users might want to go grab it off the Mozilla web site.

I updated with the last one and tonight it automatically said there were updates. The only thing that sucked is I had to install a new spell check called aspellfox because my old one was no longer compatible.

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