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  • From: Thomas HOUSSIN <thomas.houssin AT gmail.com>
  • To: sm-security <sm-security AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [SM-Security] Mozilla Firefox and Mozilla Suite: buffer overflow
  • Date: Wed, 14 Sep 2005 12:45:23 +0200

Synopsis
========
Mozilla Firefox and Mozilla Suite are vulnerable to a buffer overflow.

Background
==========
Mozilla and Mozilla Firefox are two Web browsers that are being
developed by the Free Software Community.

Description
===========
CAN-2005-2871:
Buffer overflow in Mozilla Firefox and Mozilla Suite and earlier
allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (crash) and
possibly execute arbitrary code via a hostname with all dashes, which
is not properly handled by the NormalizeIDN call in
nsStandardURL::BuildNormalizedSpec.

Impact
======
An attacker could create a specially crafted HTML file, which when
viewed by the victim would cause Firefox to crash or possibly execute
arbitrary code.

Workaround
==========
See https://addons.mozilla.org/messages/307259.html for the instructions :

There are two methods for resolving this problem. The first method is
to install a small download and the second method is to manually
change the browser configuration. You only need to do one of the two.

Installing the Patch

* To install the security patch for Firefox or the Mozilla Suite,
follow these instructions:
1. Firefox and Mozilla Suite users click this link:
http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/firefox/releases/1.0.6/patches/307259.xpi
2. In the Software Installation window, click the "Install Now"
button.
3. Exit and restart your Mozilla or Firefox browser.
* To verify the fix in Firefox and the Mozilla Suite, be sure to
restart the browser and then follow these steps:
1. In Firefox Click Help -> About Mozilla Firefox and verify
that the user agent string contains "(noIDN)"
2. In the Mozilla Suite Click Help -> About Mozilla and
verify that the user agent string contains "(noIDN)"

Manually Configuring the Browser

* To manually change the browser configuration for Firefox or the
Mozilla Suite, follow these instructions:
1. Type about:config into the address field and hit Enter.
2. In the Filter toolbar, type network.enableIDN.
3. Right click on the the network.enableIDN item and select
toggle to change value to false.
* To verify the fix in your Firefox or Mozilla application, be
sure to restart the browser and then follow these steps.
1. Type about:config into the address field and hit Enter.
2. In the Filter toolbar, type network.enableIDN.
3. Ensure that the the value for this item is set to false.

Affected packages
=================
firefox and mozilla in all grimoires are affected. There is no proper
fix for now for this issue.

References
==========
[ 1 ] CAN-2005-2871
http://nvd.nist.gov/nvd.cfm?cvename=CAN-2005-2871
[ 2 ] What Firefox and Mozilla users should know about the IDN
buffer overflow security issue
https://addons.mozilla.org/messages/307259.html

--
Thomas Houssin

Security Team Leader Source Mage GNU/Linux (http://www.sourcemage.org)
Key fingerprint = 3CB8 3FC4 840D B272 E623 BCB8 54DB F4E3 4240 4C36
http://pgp.mit.edu:11371/pks/lookup?op=get&search=0x42404C36



  • [SM-Security] Mozilla Firefox and Mozilla Suite: buffer overflow, Thomas HOUSSIN, 09/14/2005

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