Firefox 3.0.7 targets security issues

Mozilla on Wednesday released an update to the Firefox web browser that its developers said fixes eight security issues found in Firefox 3.0.6, six of which were rated critical.

The most serious of the vulnerabilities fixed in Version 3.0.7 could allow attackers to run arbitrary code on a victim's computer, Mozilla warned in security advisories Wednesday.

The six critical flaws affected the browser's garbage collection — which monitors how Firefox modules use the computer's memory — as well as the browser's PNG libraries and in the layout and JavaScript engines.

Mozilla developers said they weren't sure the layout and JavaScript flaws could be exploited.

"Some of these crashes showed evidence of memory corruption under certain circumstances and we presume that with enough effort at least some of these could be exploited to run arbitrary code," Mozilla said in an advisory.

Updates for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux are available at the Mozilla site. Firefox 3 users will receive an update notification within 48 hours, or they can download the update manually by selecting "Check for Updates" from the Help menu.

The update — Mozilla's second this year — comes as Firefox continues to chip away at Internet Explorer's market dominance. Mozilla now has 21.77 percent of the global browser market share, compared to Internet Explorer now has 67.44 percent, a drop of more than 7 percentage points in a year, according to figures from web metrics company Net Applications.

Talkback 3 comments

    Blah Mel Sommersberg -- 09/03/09

    Every upgrade to Firefox has targetted security proving that it is no more secure than any other web browser.

    Firefox is a waste of disc space.

    Waste of Disc space? Anonymous -- 09/03/09 (in reply to #320125122)

    I would have thought Internet Explorer was more of a waste. I love the FireFTP and the Ad-Block Plus plugins that make Firefox so much more useful. I only use IE now for accessing sites like the ATO that demand a Microsoft browser.

    Firefox Addons Rule Anonymous -- 10/03/09

    I have used Firefox since 0.9 and love it. It has had problems with memory leaks that force me to close it every 48Hrs or so, but Addons like Adblock Plus, Flashblock, Web Developer, Internet Usage Item, FireFTP and Colorzilla make it useful and safe.

    I have the quickjava Addon, and it allows me to quickly disable Javascript if I hit a malicious web site, and get control of the tab back.

    I install Firefox on all my customers Windows computers (with their permission) and most of them love it and enjoy the peace of mind of knowing they are not exposed to Active-X mayhem, etc.

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