Mozilla fixes 10 security flaws

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The latest releases of the Mozilla and Firefox browsers, along with the Thunderbird email software, fix 10 security issues, including three critical vulnerabilities, according to the Mozilla Foundation, which develops the software.

The three critical flaws could let an attacker run code on the victim's computer, according to information published by the Mozilla Foundation on Tuesday. The vulnerabilities are caused by the improper handling of electronic business cards, known as vCards; overly large images in the bit map (BMP) format; and links that have host names using nonprintable characters.

The issues are fixed in the latest versions of the Mozilla Foundation's open-source software products: Mozilla 1.7.3, Firefox release candidate 1.0 and Thunderbird 0.8.

Security information provider Secunia gave the set of 10 holes a "highly critical" rating, its second-highest grade for Internet threats.

The plethora of new security issues comes a month after the Mozilla Foundation started offering money to researchers who found verifiable security problems in the browser. On Tuesday, the open-source group released its latest version of its software packages.

The Firefox browser in particular has benefited from the perception that its rival, Microsoft's Internet Explorer, suffers from security problems. A flaw revealed on Tuesday by Microsoft could put users of Internet Explorer at risk of having their PCs compromised by malicious Web sites.

Talkback

Hmmm....security flaws in Mozilla??? Wow...you mean Microsoft aren't the only ones??? Time to wake up, more people use MS products so flaws get shouted about quickly and loudly...this proves they're all vulnerable. Internet explorer is still my browser of choice for compliance and integration.

via Facebook 16 September, 2004 11:02
Reply

Give them a chance. Firefox isn't formally released yet.

Besides, everyone knows that all software has bugs in. The fact is MS software appears to have far more of them. And some of those are really stupid. You can smell the lack of testing.

via Facebook 16 September, 2004 12:48
Reply

Compare the Mozilla security fix process to the Microsoft security fix process. In my opinion, Mozilla wins hands down on openness, transparency, and speed of response to any bug found. Their public bug bounty, in particular, is an excellent way of getting the white hats to find any bugs before the black hats get to them. You can judge for yourself about Microsoft's behavior.

via Facebook 16 September, 2004 14:05
Reply

Think back to the SHELL problem earlier this year, both browsers had it. Microsoft had a patch in a week, Mozilla took a few hours. MS is fighting a battle it can't possibly win.

via Facebook 17 September, 2004 13:44
Reply

To the guy who said

"Internet explorer is still my browser of choice for compliance and integration."

Are you sane? IE's integration is responsible for many of it's security issues, and compliance? IE's W3C compliance is shocking, and the cause of MANY lost work hours for me.

via Facebook 17 September, 2004 18:24
Reply

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