Mozilla Suite, Firefox and Thunderbird Debug Mode Insecure Temporary File Creation Vulnerability

BID:14443

Info

Mozilla Suite, Firefox and Thunderbird Debug Mode Insecure Temporary File Creation Vulnerability

Bugtraq ID: 14443
Class: Design Error
CVE: CVE-2005-2353
Remote: No
Local: Yes
Published: Apr 29 2005 12:00AM
Updated: Jan 09 2007 07:01PM
Credit: Javier Fernández-Sanguino Peña <[email protected]> is credited with the discovery of this vulnerability.
Vulnerable: Ubuntu Ubuntu Linux 5.0 4 powerpc
Ubuntu Ubuntu Linux 5.0 4 i386
Ubuntu Ubuntu Linux 5.0 4 amd64
Ubuntu Ubuntu Linux 4.1 ppc
Ubuntu Ubuntu Linux 4.1 ia64
Ubuntu Ubuntu Linux 4.1 ia32
Mozilla Thunderbird 1.0.2
Mozilla Firefox 1.0
+ Gentoo Linux
+ Gentoo Linux
+ S.u.S.E. Linux Personal 9.2 x86_64
 + S.u.S.E. Linux Personal 9.2 x86_64
 + S.u.S.E. Linux Personal 9.2
+ S.u.S.E. Linux Personal 9.2
+ S.u.S.E. Linux Personal 9.1 x86_64
 + S.u.S.E. Linux Personal 9.1 x86_64
 + S.u.S.E. Linux Personal 9.1
+ S.u.S.E. Linux Personal 9.1
+ S.u.S.E. Linux Personal 9.0 x86_64
 + S.u.S.E. Linux Personal 9.0 x86_64
 + S.u.S.E. Linux Personal 9.0
+ S.u.S.E. Linux Personal 9.0
+ Slackware Linux 10.1
+ Slackware Linux 10.0
+ Slackware Linux 10.0
+ Slackware Linux 9.1
+ Slackware Linux 9.1
+ Slackware Linux -current
 + Slackware Linux -current
 Mozilla Browser 1.7.5
+ HP Tru64 5.1 B-2 PK4 (BL25)
 + HP Tru64 5.1 B-2 PK4
 + HP Tru64 5.1 B-2 PK4
 + HP Tru64 5.1 B PK4
 + HP Tru64 5.1 B PK4
 + HP Tru64 5.1 A PK6 (BL24)
 + HP Tru64 5.1 A PK6 (BL24)
 + HP Tru64 5.1 A PK6
 + HP Tru64 5.1 A PK6
 Mandriva Linux Mandrake 2006.0 x86_64
Mandriva Linux Mandrake 2006.0
Mandriva Linux Mandrake 10.2 x86_64
Mandriva Linux Mandrake 10.2
Debian Linux 3.1 sparc
Debian Linux 3.1 s/390
Debian Linux 3.1 ppc
Debian Linux 3.1 mipsel
Debian Linux 3.1 mips
Debian Linux 3.1 m68k
Debian Linux 3.1 ia-64
Debian Linux 3.1 ia-32
Debian Linux 3.1 hppa
Debian Linux 3.1 arm
Debian Linux 3.1 amd64
Debian Linux 3.1 alpha
Debian Linux 3.1
Not Vulnerable: Mozilla Thunderbird 1.0.5
Mozilla Firefox 1.0.1
+ Redhat Fedora Core3
 Mozilla Browser 1.7.6
+ HP HP-UX B.11.23
 + HP HP-UX B.11.23
 + HP HP-UX B.11.22
 + HP HP-UX B.11.22
 + HP HP-UX B.11.11
 + HP HP-UX B.11.11
 + HP HP-UX B.11.11
 + HP HP-UX B.11.11
 + HP HP-UX B.11.00
 + HP HP-UX B.11.00
 + Redhat Desktop 4.0
+ Redhat Desktop 4.0
+ Redhat Enterprise Linux AS 4
 + Redhat Enterprise Linux AS 4
 + Redhat Enterprise Linux ES 4
 + Redhat Enterprise Linux ES 4
 + Redhat Enterprise Linux WS 4
 + Redhat Enterprise Linux WS 4
 + Turbolinux Home
+ Turbolinux Home
+ Turbolinux Turbolinux 10 F...
 + Turbolinux Turbolinux Desktop 10.0
+ Turbolinux Turbolinux Desktop 10.0
+ Turbolinux Turbolinux Server 10.0
+ Turbolinux Turbolinux Server 10.0

Discussion

Mozilla Suite, Firefox and Thunderbird Debug Mode Insecure Temporary File Creation Vulnerability

Mozilla Suite, Firefox, and Thunderbird create temporary files in an insecure manner.

A local attacker would most likely take advantage of this vulnerability by creating a malicious symbolic link in a directory where the temporary files will be created. When the program tries to perform an operation on a temporary file, it will instead perform the operation on the file pointed to by the malicious symbolic link.

Exploitation would most likely result in loss of data or a denial of service if critical files are overwritten in the attack. Other attacks may be possible as well.

Note that this issue occurs only when the affected application is run in 'debug' mode.

Exploit / POC

Mozilla Suite, Firefox and Thunderbird Debug Mode Insecure Temporary File Creation Vulnerability

No exploit is required.

Solution / Fix

Mozilla Suite, Firefox and Thunderbird Debug Mode Insecure Temporary File Creation Vulnerability

Solution:
The vendor has addressed these issues in subsequent versions of the affected applications.

Please see the referenced vendor advisories for more information.


Mozilla Firefox 1.0

Mozilla Thunderbird 1.0.2

Mozilla Browser 1.7.5
  • Mozilla Suite 1.7.8

References

Mozilla Suite, Firefox and Thunderbird Debug Mode Insecure Temporary File Creation Vulnerability

References:

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