Mozilla Closes Down Critical Security Holes
The Mozilla Foundation has just released Firefox version 2.0.0.10 which resolves three critical vulnerabilities – but new issues have already reared their ugly heads.
One of the most serious vulnerabilities concerned handling of .jar files. An error in the Jar protocol implementation allowed cross-site scripting attacks on filters and other safeguards to grab login information and other data. Another scenario describes attacks with carefully crafted archives. Redirects allowed attackers to exploit the vulnerability. The second error to have been removed was exploitable by setting the "window.location" to redirect HTTP headers and thus launch cross-site scripting attacks.
The third error originated from a memory management bug which attackers could exploit to crash the browser or execute malicious code on the victim’s system. These vulnerabilities also affect Mozilla Seamonkey, a new version of which (1.1.7) will become available in the next few days.
But shortly after version 2.0.0.10 of Firefox was released, the next crop of bugs was identified. US-based developer Kevin Han has reported a bug that prevents the browser from displaying graphics embedded using Javascript. The new version responds to the "canvas.drawImage()" instruction with an error message of "NS_ERROR_NOT_AVAILABLE"; instead of displaying vector graphics, the method now draws pixel images in them.
Despite the new bug, the Firefox developers still advise users to update to the new version of the browser. The Mozilla Foundation servers have versions in various languages with distribution packages due to follow in the next few days.
Issue 226/2019
Buy this issue as a PDF
News
-
Linux Mint 19.2 “Tina” Released
The latest version of Linux Mint brings many performance improvements.
-
Gnome and KDE Coming Together
The two major Linux projects will work together to create a compatible ecosystem.
-
Fedora CoreOS Preview Released
The new distribution from Red Hat is targeted at containerized workloads.
-
SUSE Appoints New CEO
Melissa Di Donato replaces Nils Brauckmann, who will retire and leave SUSE.
-
Debian Buster Arrives
The latest release of Debian comes with tightened security.
-
IBM Acquires Red Hat
Red Hat becomes an independent entity within IBM.
-
Raspberry Pi 4 Is Here
A new operating system has been released to support the new device.
-
Ubuntu Takes A U-Turn with 32-Bit Support
Canonical will continue to support legacy applications and libraries.
-
Chromium-Based Browsers Will Ignore Google’s Ad-Blocking Ban
Brave Opera and Vivaldi will not implement Google’s changes that will cripple ad-blockers.
-
Zorin OS 15 Released
The new release is based on Ubuntu 18.04 LTS.