Description
Firefox before 1.0.5, Mozilla before 1.7.9, and Netscape 8.0.2 and 7.2 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (access violation and crash), and possibly execute arbitrary code, by calling InstallVersion.compareTo with an object instead of a string.
Fixed in Linux distributions
Distributions backport fixes, so the version that fixes this vulnerability differs per release — upgrade to at least the version shown. From the distributions' security trackers and advisories.
Debian
Security tracker ↗Red Hat
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| RHEL 4 | devhelp +1 | 0.9.2-2.4.6 | RHSA-2005:587 |
| RHEL 4 | firefox +1 | 1.0.6-1.4.1 | RHSA-2005:601, RHSA-2005:586 |
Public exploits
Exploit or proof-of-concept code for this vulnerability is publicly available, which lowers the bar for attackers. Treat it as a reason to patch sooner.
Third-party code, not reviewed by us. Public PoCs are sometimes fake or contain malware. Read the code first and run it only in an isolated lab, against systems you are authorised to test.
Metasploit 1 module
-
Mozilla Suite/Firefox compareTo() Code Execution
exploit/multi/browser/mozilla_compareto
Exploit-DB 2
- Mozilla Suite/Firefox - InstallVersion->compareTo() Code Execution (Metasploit) EDB-16306 · remote · Sep 20, 2010 · verified
- Mozilla Suite/Firefox < 1.0.5 - compareTo Code Execution (Metasploit) EDB-9947 · remote · Jul 13, 2005 · verified
Sources: PoC-in-GitHub, Metasploit Framework, Exploit-DB — updated daily. Only links are listed; no exploit code is hosted here.
Advisories 9
- RHSA-2005:601 Red Hat Security Advisory: thunderbird security update Red Hat Security Advisories (RHSA) · Jun 26, 2026
- RHSA-2005:587 Red Hat Security Advisory: mozilla security update Red Hat Security Advisories (RHSA) · Jun 26, 2026
- RHSA-2005:586 Red Hat Security Advisory: firefox security update Red Hat Security Advisories (RHSA) · Jun 26, 2026
- DSA-779-2 mozilla-firefox - several Debian Security (DSA / DLA) · Mar 9, 2026
- DSA-810-1 mozilla - several Debian Security (DSA / DLA) · Mar 9, 2026
- DSA-781-1 mozilla-thunderbird - several Debian Security (DSA / DLA) · Mar 9, 2026
- DSA-779-1 mozilla-firefox - several Debian Security (DSA / DLA) · Mar 9, 2026
- DTSA-8-2 mozilla-firefox - several vulnerabilities (update) Debian Security (DSA / DLA) · Mar 9, 2026
- DTSA-14-1 mozilla - several Debian Security (DSA / DLA) · Mar 9, 2026
References
- DSA-810 vendor-advisory
- SUSE-SR:2005:018 vendor-advisory
- P-252 third-party-advisory government-resource
- http://www.mozilla.org/security/announce/mfsa2005-50.html
- FLSA:160202 vendor-advisory
- 19823 third-party-advisory
- RHSA-2005:587 vendor-advisory
- 16059 third-party-advisory
- 16044 third-party-advisory
- ADV-2005-1075 vdb-entry
- RHSA-2005:601 vendor-advisory
- oval:org.mitre.oval:def:10397 vdb-entry signature
- http://www.networksecurity.fi/advisories/netscape-multiple-issues.html
- SUSE-SA:2005:045 vendor-advisory
- 14242 vdb-entry
- https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=295854
- RHSA-2005:586 vendor-advisory
- 16043 third-party-advisory
- SUSE-SA:2006:022 vendor-advisory
- oval:org.mitre.oval:def:417 vdb-entry signature
- oval:org.mitre.oval:def:781 vdb-entry signature
- oval:org.mitre.oval:def:100008 vdb-entry signature