Mozilla Security Alert: Get ShellBlock

Posted on July 8, 2004

If you’re using any version of Mozilla up to Firefox 0.9.1 or Mozilla 1.7 on Windows XP, you need to take a moment and go install the just-released ShellBlock extension. This extension closes an exploit that was discovered yesterday that could potentially allow sites to execute malicious code through your browser.

Alternately, you can just update your browser — there’s already a fresh Firefox 0.9.2 (Windows only) ready for downloading at mozilla.org, with the ShellBlock patch baked right in. (Updated versions of the Mozilla Suite and Mozilla Thunderbird are also available.)

Mozilla.org has also posted a document explaining exactly what you need to know about the issue, and what you need to do to ensure your security.

So — let’s review. Within 24 hours of a major vulnerability being discovered in Mozilla, we have new versions available of all their major products with the bug fixed; patches to close the bug for users of older versions; and a clear explanation of what went wrong, and how to make it right.

Compare that to… well, compare that to anybody, it’s damn impressive no matter what.

It’s work like this that makes otherwise reasonable geeks like me into such annoying Mozilla fanboys 🙂