Mozilla Fixes Critical Firefox Flaws

Mozilla released fixes for two critical security vulnerabilities Friday, which covered the way for hackers to begin malicious attacks that could crash a browser or take complete control of a user's computer.

The latest Firefox version 3.0.8, which initially was slated for release April 1, addresses critical errors affecting multiple versions of the Firefox 3 Web browser.

One of the critical Firefox updates repaired a critical flaw, made public during the renowned pwn2own contest at the CanSecWest 2009 hacker conference earlier in March that could allow hackers to launch a drive-by attack in the context of the browser.

The flaw was publicly demonstrated by a German hacker known only as Nils, 25, who successfully hacked the browser in exchange for a Sony Vaio machine running Windows 7.
The second critical bug, affecting Firefox version 3.0.7, stems from a XSLT vulnerability that resulted from improper handling of errors when transforming an XML document. The flaw, which was first brought to light by security researcher Guido Landi, could potentially be exploited by attackers who enticed unsuspecting users to open a malicious file using the affected Firefox browser. Once the victim viewed an infected file, attackers could then execute arbitrary code on the user's computer to crash the browser or initiate a denial of service attack.

While the execution of arbitrary code hasn't been proven in the XSLT flaw, it is also not entirely ruled out, Secunia researchers said in blog post.

Mozilla said in its advisory Thursday that it had been investigating both issues and was in the process of undergoing quality assurance testing for the impending fixes, implying that they would be forthcoming soon.

Security experts recommended that users update their browsers with the latest version of Firefox in order to protect vulnerable systems from attack. Additionally, Secunia researchers advised in a blog post that users avoid opening untrusted Web sites or clicking on unsolicited links, which might contain malware.

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How to troubleshoot installation problems during Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2

In this addition if you cannot install Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2 and facing problem, to troubleshoot its follow these steps:

1. Restart your computer so that any pending updates that require a restart can be installed.
2. Make sure that the Windows Update service is running. To do this, follow these steps:
1. Click Start, click Run, type services.msc, and then press ENTER.
2. In the Services list, locate the Windows Update service. If the Windows Update service is not running, start it.

Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2 may need the following updates, depending on the operating system that you are running. The Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2 Setup program automatically installs the necessary updates for the system.

* Hotfix 932823:
932823 You may be unable to use Windows Internet Explorer to download files on a computer that is running Windows Server 2003 or Windows XP
Install this hotfix to resolve an issue in which a user cannot use Internet Explorer 7 to download files. This issue occurs on computers that are running Windows XP with Input Method Editor enabled.
* Update 946501:
946501 An access violation occurs when an application exits on a Windows XP SP2-based multi-core computer
Install this update to resolve an issue in which a window that has a language bar crashes when it exits. This issue occurs on multi-core computers that are running Windows XP Service Pack 2.
* Update 943302:
943302 December 2007 Windows Vista Application Compatibility Update
Install this update to resolve a set of known application compatibility issues with Windows Vista.
* Update 956586:
956586 Software updates that are required to be installed before you install Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2 on a Windows Vista-based computer
* Update 937287:
937287 A software update is available for the Windows Vista installation software feature
The Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2 Setup program does not automatically install this update. However, it is a required update for x64-based versions of Windows Vista. Install this update to enable future updates to be installed successfully on all editions of Windows Vista.

When you install Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2, you may receive the following error message:
Setup cannot continue because one or more updates required to install Windows Internet Explorer 8 are not present. Double-click the “Internet Explorer Troubleshooting” shortcut on your desktop to install them separately and then reinstall Windows Internet Explorer 8.
To work around this issue, you must install the Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2 prerequisites manually.

source: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/318378