Mozilla NNTP buffer overflow

mozilla-nntp-bo (18711) The risk level is classified as HighHigh Risk

Description:

Mozilla is vulnerable to a heap-based buffer overflow, caused by a vulnerability in the NNTP (Network News Transport Protocol) handling code. By creating a specially-crafted Web page, a remote attacker could overflow a buffer and cause the victim's browser to crash or execute arbitrary code on the system, once the malicious page is visited.

Platforms Affected:

  • Compaq, Tru64 5.1a
  • Compaq, Tru64 5.1b
  • Conectiva, Linux 10
  • Conectiva, Linux 9.0
  • Gentoo, Linux
  • Mozilla, Mozilla 0.8
  • Mozilla, Mozilla 0.9.2
  • Mozilla, Mozilla 0.9.2.1
  • Mozilla, Mozilla 0.9.3
  • Mozilla, Mozilla 0.9.4
  • Mozilla, Mozilla 0.9.4.1
  • Mozilla, Mozilla 0.9.5
  • Mozilla, Mozilla 0.9.6
  • Mozilla, Mozilla 0.9.7
  • Mozilla, Mozilla 0.9.8
  • Mozilla, Mozilla 0.9.9
  • Mozilla, Mozilla 1.0 rc1
  • Mozilla, Mozilla 1.0
  • Mozilla, Mozilla 1.0.1
  • Mozilla, Mozilla 1.0.2
  • Mozilla, Mozilla 1.1 Beta
  • Mozilla, Mozilla 1.1 Alpha
  • Mozilla, Mozilla 1.1
  • Mozilla, Mozilla 1.2
  • Mozilla, Mozilla 1.2 Beta
  • Mozilla, Mozilla 1.2 Alpha
  • Mozilla, Mozilla 1.2.1
  • Mozilla, Mozilla 1.3
  • Mozilla, Mozilla 1.3.1
  • Mozilla, Mozilla 1.4 Beta
  • Mozilla, Mozilla 1.4 Alpha
  • Mozilla, Mozilla 1.4
  • Mozilla, Mozilla 1.4.1
  • Mozilla, Mozilla 1.4.2
  • Mozilla, Mozilla 1.4.4
  • Mozilla, Mozilla 1.5
  • Mozilla, Mozilla 1.5 rc2
  • Mozilla, Mozilla 1.5 Alpha
  • Mozilla, Mozilla 1.5 rc1
  • Mozilla, Mozilla 1.5.1
  • Mozilla, Mozilla 1.6 Alpha
  • Mozilla, Mozilla 1.6 Beta
  • Mozilla, Mozilla 1.6
  • Mozilla, Mozilla 1.7
  • Mozilla, Mozilla 1.7 rc3
  • Mozilla, Mozilla 1.7 rc1
  • Mozilla, Mozilla 1.7 rc2
  • Mozilla, Mozilla 1.7 Beta
  • Mozilla, Mozilla 1.7 Alpha
  • Mozilla, Mozilla 1.7.1
  • Mozilla, Mozilla 1.7.2
  • Mozilla, Mozilla 1.7.3
  • RedHat, Enterprise Linux 2.1 WS
  • RedHat, Enterprise Linux 2.1 AS
  • RedHat, Enterprise Linux 2.1 ES
  • RedHat, Enterprise Linux 2.1 AW
  • RedHat, Enterprise Linux 3 Desktop
  • RedHat, Enterprise Linux 3 AS
  • RedHat, Enterprise Linux 3 ES
  • RedHat, Enterprise Linux 3 WS
  • RedHat, Linux Advanced Workstation 2.1 Itanium
  • SuSE, SuSE Linux 10.0
  • SuSE, SuSE Linux 9.1
  • SuSE, SuSE Linux 9.2
  • SuSE, SuSE Linux 9.3

Remedy:

Upgrade to the latest version of Mozilla (1.7.5 or later), available from the Mozilla Web site. See References.

For Gentoo Linux:
Upgrade to the latest version of mozilla (1.7.5 or 1.0 or 0.9 or later), as listed in GLSA 200501-03. See References.

For Red Hat Linux containing the mozilla package:
Upgrade to the latest mozilla package, as listed below. Refer to RHSA-2005:038-05 for more information. See References.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS, ES, WS (v. 3) and Desktop 3: 1.4.3-3.0.7 or later
Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS, ES, WS (v. 2.1) and Red Hat Linux Advanced Workstation 2.1: 1.4.3-2.1.5 or later

For SUSE Linux:
Refer to SUSE Security Announcement SUSE-SA:2006:022 for patch, upgrade, or suggested workaround information. See References.

For other distributions:
Contact your vendor for upgrade or patch information.

Consequences:

Gain Access

References:

  • BugTraq Mailing List, Wed Dec 29 2004 - 15:29:27 CST , Heap overflow in Mozilla Browser <= 1.7.3 NNTP code. at http://archives.neohapsis.com/archives/bugtraq/2004-12/0450.html.
  • CIAC Information Bulletin P-098, P-098: Updated Mozilla Packages Fix a Buffer Overflow at http://www.ciac.org/ciac/bulletins/p-098.shtml.
  • Mozilla Web site, Mozilla - Home of the Firefox web browser, Thunderbird and the Mozilla Suite at http://www.mozilla.org/.
  • BID-12131: Mozilla Browser Network News Transport Protocol Remote Heap Overflow Vulnerability
  • CVE-2004-1316: Heap-based buffer overflow in MSG_UnEscapeSearchUrl in nsNNTPProtocol.cpp for Mozilla 1.7.3 and earlier allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (application crash) via an NNTP URL (news:) with a trailing '\' (backslash) character, which prevents a string from being NULL terminated.
  • RHSA-2005-038: mozilla security update
  • SUSE-SA:2006:022: MozillaThunderbird various problems

Reported:

Dec 29, 2004

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