Firefox Remote Exploit: Highly Critical URL Domain Name Buffer Overflow

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Discussion Overview

The discussion centers around a critical vulnerability in Firefox related to a buffer overflow caused by URL domain names. Participants explore the implications of this vulnerability, potential solutions, and personal experiences with the issue across different operating systems and configurations.

Discussion Character

  • Technical explanation
  • Debate/contested
  • Homework-related

Main Points Raised

  • One participant notes that the vulnerability may not affect all users, depending on their Firefox setup and operating system, specifically mentioning Gentoo Linux with a specific configuration.
  • Another participant shares an observation about a file being downloaded from NOAA's website, which seems unrelated to the main topic.
  • There is a proposed solution involving changing a setting in Firefox's configuration to disable IDN, with some participants asking for clarification on how to implement this change.
  • A participant mentions that they did not experience a crash when testing the vulnerability link, suggesting variability in how the exploit affects different users.
  • One participant provides a link to an official patch from Mozilla, indicating that users who have already disabled IDN may not need it.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express differing experiences regarding the vulnerability's impact, indicating that there is no consensus on whether all users are affected or the effectiveness of the proposed solutions.

Contextual Notes

Some participants reference specific configurations and versions of Firefox, which may limit the applicability of their experiences to broader user scenarios. The discussion includes various assumptions about user setups and the effectiveness of patches.

Who May Find This Useful

Users of Firefox, particularly those concerned about security vulnerabilities, as well as developers and technical users interested in browser configurations and patches.

dduardo
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Firefox URL Domain Name Buffer Overflow

Rating: Highly Critical

http://secunia.com/advisories/16764/

See if your vulnerable by clicking the the following link (Note: Firefox might crash) :

http://www.security-protocols.com/firefox-death.html

Depending on your Firefox setup this may or may not effect you. This did not affect me (Gentoo Linux, FF 1.06 compiled with fstack-protector-all).

Solution:

1) In the url bar go to about:config
2) Click on network.enableIDN to set to false

[edit] Mozilla has been planning to disable IDN for some time now since it is a broken standard. The patch Mozilla will be releasing shortly will disable IDN for good. You can actually go to Mozilla's Bugzilla and download the xpi patch.

https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/attachment.cgi?id=195467
 
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Its kinda weird it tries to download a file from NOAA's website

and the line in that file says

Matt Foster - SHV 1.2e
 
What are you talking about? The patch? The patch comes straight from bugzilla.mozilla.org.
 
dduardo said:
Solution:

1) In the url bar go to about:config
2) Click on network.enableIDN to set to false[/url]
And how do I set it to false?
 
Monique said:
And how do I set it to false?

Does that mean you're using Firefox now?

Just double click it and it should be set to false.
 
Thanks for the heads up Dduardo. I had to change it.
 
hypnagogue said:
Does that mean you're using Firefox now?
*Shhhhhhhht!*


Actually, I found a skin that solved some critical problems I had.

Just double click it and it should be set to false.
Right, next time I should just go to sleep at 3 am.
 
dduardo said:
See if your vulnerable by clicking the the following link (Note: Firefox might crash) :

http://www.security-protocols.com/firefox-death.html

I use Firefox 1.0.6 on winXPsp2 and network.enableIDN to set to true, but the link does not crash Firefox it just gives me an empty page.
 
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