Computer Tips -Tech Info

Tag: firefox

  • Clamav and Firefox updates

    In the last couple days there have been new security releases of both clamantivirus (0.88.2 is now the current) and Mozilla-Firefox (1.0.3 is the current release over there). If you use either of these programs you should be looking to update. I’ve been busy looking at getting src.rpm’s recompiled here for various Mandr-ake/iva’s and if time allows I’ll even upload the latest. It sure feels like firefox has been getting rebuilt about every week or two lately though.

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  • IE exploit unofficial patches

    While we wait for Microsoft to release a patch for the MOST recent Internet Explorer vulnerability….. it looks as though MS is “planning” to release a patch on their routine patch day of April 11th. (However they could always change their mind…) As before though there are some 3rd party patches. I’ve got to say I’m slightly uncomfortable with the prospect of a third party patch when there are workarounds (use another browser, disable active scripting….) However, for some those aren’t enough options. I know of two unofficial patches.

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  • Using ssh to protect web browsing over wireless or other hostile networks

    This really could be used to encyrpt web traffic over any “hostile” network. Here’s what I’m talking about. Laptop using wireless. Within our internal network we would LIKE all our web traffic to be encrypted at least from the laptop to a wired host. (From there to the outside world it will be open.) At the minimum we would like to have the traffic encrypted over the wireless leg of the journey. Here’s the most straightforward approaches uing ssh.

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  • Mozilla Firefox 1.5 for Mandriva 2006

    Mandriva 2006 released without Mozilla Firefox 1.5, it came with 1.0.6 (which included security fixes and other patches from 1.0.7)…. anyway, source rpm’s for Firefox 1.5 became available in cooker, so I’ve built rpm’s for Mandriva 2006 for easy management on my systems. I’ll post links here as they may be of use to others as well. …. These are provided as is, with no warranty express or implied, etc. etc. etc. The src.rpm is straight from cooker, so, if you like, you could build it yourself….

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  • Workaround for the critical WMF zero-day exploit

    The Windows Meta File (WMF) zero-day (0-day) exploit is apparently, VERY nasty, no user intervention required (unless running firefox or opera). Just VISITING a malicous site (viewing a malicious email with image…) would be enough to get the system owned. It sounds as though a FULL reinstall is the best solution. Sunbelt has had some coverage…

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  • More on Firefox 1.5 “vulnerability”

    I put vulnerability in quotes because it’s looking less like a problem. (Correct me if I’m wrong.) Here’s the situation. Both Sans and Mozilla have failed to duplicate the crash although have duplicated extremely slow browser performance. Here’s the official response from mozilla.org…

    We have investigated this issue and can find no basis for claims that variants of this denial-of-service attack can cause an exploitable crash, and no evidence for this claim has been offered. There does not appear to be any risk to users or their computers beyond the temporary unresponsiveness at startup.

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  • Firefox 1.5 vulnerability

    Incidents.org has reported on the first announced vulnerability with Mozilla Firefox 1.5 since it’s release. The vulnerability is along these lines. History of visited sites is kept in a file called history.dat IF a URL for a visited site is long enough it will cause a buffer overflow and denial of service. (After visiting such a url, the browser will crash on each attempted start. (until history.dat is deleted.))

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  • Good article on what OpenOffice could learn from Firefox

    There’s a good writeup on what OpenOffice.org could learn from firefox. It raises some interesting points. One of which is that software can be designed to meet the needs of say, 60% of the market, the framework firefox has for extenstions helps that other 40% find a way that the browser can meet their needs.

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  • Apple Security Update

    13 Seperate vulnerabilities are addressed by the latest Apple security updates. 9 vulnerabilites exist in network facing services like the web server, a couple in the web browser, another couple in SSL (secure socket layer) handling. In other words, get updating.

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  • Adsense Firefox referrals available for those outside the US

    For those of you using adsense for your sites outside of the U.S. I’ve just read that adsense firefox referrals are now available internationally. This is coming from the official Google adsense blog. The referral program was opened up in the last month offering site/content owners to add referral links into their content alongside the traditional ad blocks, or ad links. The rollout of the referral service was initially in the U.S. for Firefox referral’s. Google also launched referral links for it’s adsense program. The payout varies for each program, but the Firefox referrals can pay up to $1 each.

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