Vulnerability Note VU#519317

Mozilla Firefox fails to properly perform security checks on "_search" target

Overview

A vulnerability in Mozilla Firefox may allow a remote attacker to install malicious code on or read protected information from a vulnerable system.

I. Description

The Firefox web browser features the ability to open a hyperlink in the "search" web panel. Firefox fails to perform adequate security checks on links opened in the web panel. According to the Mozilla advisory on this issue:

Sites can use the _search target to open links in the Firefox sidebar. Two missing security checks allow malicious scripts to first open a privileged page (such as about:config) and then inject script using a javascript: url. This could be used to install malicious code or steal data without user interaction.

Updated versions of the Firefox browser disallow javascript: and data: URIs from being opened in the search Web panel. They also perform an additional security check to prevent privileged pages, such as about:plugins, from being opened in the search Web panel.

II. Impact

A remote attacker may be able to install malicious code on or read protected information from a vulnerable system.

III. Solution

Upgrade

The Mozilla Software Foundation has published Mozilla Foundation Security Advisory 2005-39 in response to this issue. Users are encouraged to review this advisory and upgrade to the versions of the affected software it refers to.

Workarounds

Users who are unable to upgrade to a fixed version of the software are encouraged to disable Javascript in their browsers.

Systems Affected

Vendor	Status	Date Notified	Date Updated
Mozilla, Inc.	Vulnerable	22-Dec-2005
Red Hat, Inc.	Vulnerable	22-Dec-2005

References

http://www.mozilla.org/security/announce/mfsa2005-39.html
https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=290079
http://secunia.com/advisories/14938/
http://secunia.com/advisories/14992/

Credit

Thanks to the Mozilla Foundation for reporting this vulnerability. The Mozilla Foundation, in turn, credits Kohei Yoshino with reporting this issue to them.

This document was written by Chad Dougherty and Will Dormann based on information provided by the Mozilla Foundation.

Other Information

Date Public:	2005-04-15
Date First Published:	2005-04-20
Date Last Updated:	2005-12-22
CERT Advisory:
CVE-ID(s):	CAN-2005-1158
NVD-ID(s):	CAN-2005-1158
US-CERT Technical Alerts:
Metric:	18.90
Document Revision:	12

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