How to update Firefox to protect yourself from a dangerous vulnerability that will soon be exploited by malware developers.
Mozilla was quick to release Firefox 58.0.1, a browser update that solves a serious vulnerability.
The security gap was discovered by Johann Hofmann, an engineer from Mozilla, who found that code inserted in a normal web page can be used to perform dangerous operations on the user’s PC and, potentially, take full control of it remotely.
The problem is with the chrome component of Firefox.
In spite of the homonymy with the Google browser, the chrome component was introduced in Firefox well before the presentation of the software of the Mountain View Company.
It deals with setting up and managing the functioning of user interface elements outside the browser area hosting the contents.
Among the objects managed by the chrome component of Firefox there are, for example, the menu bar, the title area of each window, the toolbars, the progress bars as well as the interface elements created and added by any add-ons.
Hoffmann explained that a malicious web page can leverage the vulnerabilities of the chrome component to run malicious code with SYSTEM rights, hence the highest ones available.
The security bug is very dangerous and certainly malware developers won’t fail to add it soon to their arsenal to install malicious software on users’ systems.
To defend against attacks the suggestion is to update Firefox immediately to the 58.0.1 release.
The vulnerable versions are Firefox 56.x, 57.x and 58.0.0 while Firefox for Android and Firefox 52 ESR (therefore also Tor Browser) are not affected by the problem.
To update Mozilla Firefox simply press the ALT key on the keyboard, click on the Help menu and then choose the item About Firefox.
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