Vulnerability Note VU#263412

Mozilla products vulnerable to privilege escalation via a JavaScript watch() function

Overview

A vulnerability exists in Mozilla products that may allow a remote attacker to gain elevated privileges.

I. Description

Mozilla products contain a vulnerability in the way the JavaScript watch() function is handled that may result in privilege escalation. According to the Mozilla Foundation Security Advisory 2006-70:

Shutdown demonstrated that it was possible to use a JavaScript watch() to gain elevated privilege.

II. Impact

A remote, unauthenticated attacker may be able to gain elevated privileges.

III. Solution

Apply an update

According to the Mozilla Foundation Security Advisory 2006-70, this vulnerability is addressed in Firefox 2.0.0.1, Firefox 1.5.0.9, Thunderbird 1.5.0.9, and SeaMonkey 1.0.7.

Disable JavaScript

For instructions on how to disable JavaScript in Firefox, please refer to the Firefox section of the Securing Your Web Browser document.

Systems Affected

Vendor	Status	Date Updated
Fedora Project	Vulnerable	18-Jan-2007
Gentoo Linux	Vulnerable	18-Jan-2007
Mandriva, Inc.	Vulnerable	18-Jan-2007
Mozilla	Vulnerable	21-Dec-2006
Red Hat, Inc.	Vulnerable	18-Jan-2007
rPath	Vulnerable	18-Jan-2007
Slackware Linux Inc.	Vulnerable	18-Jan-2007
SUSE Linux	Vulnerable	18-Jan-2007
Ubuntu	Vulnerable	18-Jan-2007

References

Credit

This issue was reported in Mozilla Foundation Security Advisory 2006-70. Mozilla credits shutdown with providing information about this issue.

This document was written by Chris Taschner.

Other Information

Date Public	12/19/2006
Date First Published	01/18/2007 01:17:38 PM
Date Last Updated	02/02/2007
CERT Advisory
CVE Name	CVE-2006-6501
US-CERT Technical Alerts
Metric	24.30
Document Revision	21

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Produced 2007 by US-CERT, a government organization
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