[ news_security_news ] Firefox Open To New XSS Flaw
David Utter Staff Writer
2006-11-21
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An in-the-wild phish found on MySpace exposes unwary users to a flaw in Mozilla's Password Manager that allows a cross site scripting exploit to steal login information.
The report by Robert Chapin called the newly discovered problem a reverse cross-site request in describing the problem. He noted that while the attack targets Internet Explorer, the behavior of the Password Manager in Firefox "makes the attack much more likely to succeed."
Chapin submitted the report on Bugzilla, Mozilla's bug-tracking database, where he described the problem in specific and general terms, the latter we will list here:
1. Create two login forms on domain A. One of them has an action on domain A and the other has an action on domain B.
2. View the first form at domain A and save a username and password.
3. Both forms will now behave the same, except one form is delivering your credentials to the correct party, the other is not.
Actual Results:
Cross-site forms behave identically to same-site forms.
Expected Results:
1. Cross-Site Form Element Warning
2. Cross-Site Password Manager Warning
3. Cross-Site Submit Warning
4. Given all the hype about FF2 anti-phishing technology, one might also expect
some sort of anti-phishing message ;)
"The underlying method was so obvious that it should have raised multiple warnings," said Chapin. "There were none at all."
Chapin's colleague, David Runion, also provided some comments about the exploit on Bugzilla:
FireFox's Password Manager does not check the display property for the elements before filling them in. Therefore an otherwise-normal looking MySpace page could retrieve and populate your myspace U/P fields in hidden fields. Additionally it would probably be possible to use something like { position: absolute; top: -20px; } on your form fields to keep them from showing.
A fix was not available as of press time, and may take some time to build. Users should make note of the URLs appearing in their address bars, particularly when visiting any type of frequently visited forum or discussion sites where people tend to allow Password Manager to store their login information.
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Tag: Firefox
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About the Author:
David Utter is a business and technology writer for SecurityProNews, WebProNews, and InternetFinancialNews.
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