Vulnerability Note VU#879056

Mozilla browsers fail to properly handle images

Original Release date: 11 Feb 2008 | Last revised: 11 Feb 2008

Overview

A vulnerability exists in Mozilla products that may allow a remote attacker to view browser history or cause a denial of service.

Description

Mozilla products contain a vulnerability in the browser engine that may result in information disclosure or a denial of service when handling malicious image files when a user leaves a page with designMode frames. According to the Mozilla Foundation Security Advisory 2008-06:

    The reported issue can be used to steal a user's navigation history, forward navigation information, and crash the user's browser. The crash showed evidence of memory corruption and might be exploitable to run arbitrary code.


Note that JavaScript must be enabled in order for this vulnerability to exist. JavaScript is enabled by default in the Firefox and Mozilla web browsers. Exploitation can occur by accessing a specially crafted web page with Firefox.

Impact

A remote, unauthorized attacker may be able to view browser history information or cause a denial of service.

Solution

Apply an update
According to the Mozilla Foundation Security Advisory 2008-06 this vulnerability is addressed in Firefox 2.0.0.12 and SeaMonkey 1.1.8

Disable JavaScript


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

Use NoScript

Using the Mozilla Firefox NoScript extension to whitelist web sites that can run scripts and access installed plugins will mitigate this vulnerability.

Systems Affected (Learn More)

VendorStatusDate NotifiedDate Updated
MozillaAffected-11 Feb 2008
If you are a vendor and your product is affected, let us know.

CVSS Metrics (Learn More)

Group Score Vector
Base N/A N/A
Temporal N/A N/A
Environmental N/A N/A

References

Credit

This vulnerability is addressed in Mozilla Foundation Security Advisory 2008-06. Mozilla credits David Bloom for reporting this issue.

This document was written by Chris Taschner.

Other Information

  • CVE IDs: CVE-2008-0419
  • Date Public: 07 Feb 2008
  • Date First Published: 11 Feb 2008
  • Date Last Updated: 11 Feb 2008
  • Severity Metric: 5.94
  • Document Revision: 21

Feedback

If you have feedback, comments, or additional information about this vulnerability, please send us email.