A security hole in the Netscape Navigator and Mozilla Web browsers
could allow attackers to view documents on a user's PC, according
to Israeli security group GreyMagic Software.
Netscape acknowledged the vulnerability and said its engineers are
working to fix the problem.
"We expect to have a resolution in the near future," said Andrew
Weinstein, spokesperson for AOL Time Warner, the parent company of
Netscape.
The vulnerability affects the XMLHttpRequest component of both
Navigator and Mozilla, which is used primarily to retrieve XML
(Extensible Markup Language) documents from Web servers, GreyMagic
said.
An attacker could exploit the vulnerability by sending the Web
browsers to a Web site that included hostile code, which would then
allow the attacker to view documents on a user's hard drive, the
group said.
Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser was also vulnerable to a less
serious version of the same attack, which Microsoft patched in
February.
The Navigator and Mozilla vulnerability affects Netscape versions
6.1 and above, and version 0.9.7 to 0.9.9 of Mozilla.
The scope of the vulnerability is likely to be limited by the
number of users who run either Netscape or Mozilla.
Netscape holds about 7% of the worldwide market for Web browsers,
according to research firm WebSideStory. Mozilla, an open-source
Web browser whose first final version has yet to be released,
commands a smaller market share.
Mozilla was created after Netscape made its source code available
to developers in 1998. AOL uses much of the same code that powers
Mozilla in Navigator.
GreyMagic's warning also carried harsh words for Netscape which,
GreyMagic says, reneged on a pledge to give $1,000 per serious bug
discovered by researchers.
GreyMagic said that Netscape had ignored an e-mail sent by the
group detailing this vulnerability and that in the future,
GreyMagic would release any bugs it finds in Netscape without
contacting the company and would recommend against the use of its
browser.
Weinstein said that Netscape did acknowledge GreyMagic's e-mail,
but that the group submitted its report on last Wednesday and only
waited until Monday to release the report publically.
"Our bug bounty program remains robust and we encourage anyone who
discovers [a bug] to bring it to our attention," he said.