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posted by janrinok on Tuesday August 11 2015, @02:06AM   Printer-friendly
from the they-never-stop-trying dept.

http://www.smh.com.au/digital-life/consumer-security/major-firefox-vulnerability-lets-hackers-steal-your-files-using-dodgy-web-ads-20150809-givb77.html

If you needed another reason to install an ad-blocker on your web browser, read on.

Mozilla Firefox users are this week being urged to update to the latest version after an exploit was found being used in the wild which allowed the scooping up of files from users' computers via an ad without leaving a trace behind of the hack.

In a blog post, Mozilla said the ad, found on a Russian news website, was "serving up a Firefox exploit" which allowed code to be run on a user's computer to search files, which were then uploaded to a server in Ukraine. The exploit affects Windows and Linux users; Mac users weren't specifically targeted this time around, but the company warned Mac users "would not be immune" should a hacker decide to target them using the same vulnerability.

And the worst part is, if you're targeted you'll have no way of knowing, because the exploit leaves no trace it has been run on your computer.

If you're like the one million Australians who use ad-blocking software, however, you "may have been protected" from the malicious exploit depending on the type of software you use and the level of filtering, Mozilla has advised. The vulnerability relates to Firefox's PDF viewer, so products without a PDF viewer, such as Firefox for Android mobile devices, were not at risk, it said.

Mozilla is urging anyone using Firefox on Windows or Linux to install the latest Firefox — versions 39.0.3 for personal users and Firefox ESR 38.1.1 for enterprise — which include a patch for the vulnerability.


Original Submission

-- submitted from IRC

 
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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 11 2015, @05:56PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 11 2015, @05:56PM (#221341)

    Perhaps this is too obvious an answer, but have you tried just opening a new tab and "browsing" to about:config? Is not the complete list of options listed within such a tab?

    This news was the final straw for me, and I've personally finished switching over to Pale Moon. Stupid Mozilla Foundation: I'd have thought you'd have learned by now that when you try to drag users around by the nose (insane self-signed SSL cert warnings, horrific "mandatory" UI changes, insidious auto-update behavior, future plans to "obsolete" HTTP, etc.), such users will eventually tell you to get stuffed and then find shelter elsewhere. Such overbearing behavior is half the reason most of us started using phoenix/firebird/firefox in the first place! I suppose I shouldn't be surprised in light of the fact that social justice warrior activism has been allowed to supplant a simple meritocracy at Mozilla.