Security hole found in Mozilla browser
Last modified: July 8, 2004, 9:40 PM PDT
By Robert Lemos and John Borland
update Developers at the open-source Mozilla Foundation have confirmed that the latest version of their Web browsers have a security flaw that could allow attackers to run existing programs on the Windows XP operating system.
The flaw, known as the "shell" exploit, was publicized Wednesday on a security mailing list, along with a link to a fix for the problem. Updated versions of the affected software programs, which include the Mozilla, Firefox and Thunderbird browsers, have been released.
Developers said the flaw affects only Windows users, not computers running the Macintosh and Linux operating systems. Like recent Internet Explorer vulnerabilities, this flaw only allows the attacker the ability to run an existing program and requires that security problems in other applications be exploited to gain further access.
