WebProNews

Mozilla, direct challenger to Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser, is experiencing something familiar to IE: potential security vulnerabilities.

The company's Internet products, Firefox, the Mozilla browser, and Thunderbird, are at risk from flaws that, when executed, can allow malicious users to either spy on or take over an at risk computer.In a report by PCWorld.com, we learn,

"The most serious bug affects all versions of Mozilla earlier than 1.7.5, and could result in a system crash or the execution of malicious code, the Mozilla Project said. A boundary error in the way Mozilla handles "news://" addresses can be used to cause a heap-based buffer overflow, which crashes the application and may allow for code execution, according to an advisory from Maurycy Prodeus of iSEC Security Research, who discovered the flaw."

Users of the popular Firefox browser and Thunderbird mail client are at risk from additional, less hazardous vulnerabilities. One of the flaws attacked the way the browser stored temporary Internet files, making them accessible to snooping.

Although, both Firefox and Thunderbird have been successfully secured against their flaws.

Chris Richardson is a search engine writer and editor for WebProNews. Visit WebProNews for the latest search news.