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Actively Exploited Bug in Fully Updated Firefox is Sending Users Into a Tizzy

posted by chromas on Thursday November 07 2019, @06:10AM   Printer-friendly
from the update-your-browser-now^W-in-a-release-or-two-when-they-finally-release-a-fix dept.

upstart writes for soylent_red

Actively exploited bug in fully updated Firefox is sending users into a tizzy

Scammers are actively exploiting a bug in Firefox that causes the browser to lock up after displaying a message warning the computer is running a pirated version of Windows that has been hacked.

The message, which appears without any user interaction upon visiting a site, reads:

Please stop and do not close the PC... The registry key of your computer is locked. Why did we block your computer? The Windows registry key is illegal. The Windows desktop is using pirated software. The Window desktop sends viruses over the Internet. This Windows desktop is hacked. We block this computer for your safety.

The message then advises the person to call a toll-free number in the next five minutes or face having the computer disabled.

[...] The attack works on both Windows and Mac versions of the open source browser. The only way to close the window is to force-close the entire browser using either the Windows task manager or the Force Close function in macOS. Even then, Firefox will reopen previously open tabs, resulting in an endless loop. (Update: as a commenter pointed out, restore tabs is turned off by default.) To resolve the problem, users must force-close Firefox and then, immediately upon restarting it, quickly close the tab of the scammer site before it has time to load.

Jérôme Segura, head of threat intelligence at security provider Malwarebytes, said the Firefox bug is being exploited by several sites, including d2o1sv4d11x6bc[.]cloudfront[.]net/firefox/index.html. He said the offending code on the site was written specifically to target the browser flaw.

On Monday, Segura reported the bug to the Bugzilla forum. He said he has since received word Mozilla is actively working on a fix. In a statement sent seven hours after this post went live, a Mozilla representative wrote: ""We are working on a fix to the authentication prompt bug (https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1593795) that we expect to land in the next couple of releases (either in Firefox 71 or 72)."

Original Submission

 
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  • (Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 07 2019, @07:15AM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 07 2019, @07:15AM (#917242)

    If only my Windows registry key was illegal! I pine for the day when my Microsoft software was illegal, prohibited, and quite wrong in many ways! So they managed to rope in some clueless Mac users, ha! Servers them right! For the rest of us, I only run Windows recognizable servers filled with Windows malware, to accelerate the demise of the beast. I will add this one.

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  • (Score: 2) by SDRefugee on Thursday November 07 2019, @01:57PM

    by SDRefugee (4477) on Thursday November 07 2019, @01:57PM (#917309)

    I'm waiting to see this bug, I'll laugh my ass off if/when I do... You see, I DO use Firefox BUT I don't use Windows.. Only Linux.

    --
    America should be proud of Edward Snowden, the hero, whether they know it or not..