Firefox update fixes four critical flaws

Laggard 2.x users urged to upgrade

Users of Firefox need to update their browser software again following the publication of patches by Mozilla on Wednesday.

Both supported versions of Firefox need patching but the 2.x version of the popular open source browser is most in need of a retool. Firefox 2.0.0.18 addresses 11 security vulnerabilities, six of which are classified as critical. Meanwhile, on the other track, Firefox 3.0.4 lances nine security vulnerabilities, four of which are critical.

The critical flaws in Firefox 3.x cover a vulnerability in the session restore feature that could allow cross-site scripting attacks and a separate memory corruption flaw as well as code injection risks involving the nsFrameManager and http-index-format parser of the browser. Mozilla's advisory explains the bugs in greater depth here.

Firefox 3.0.4 also fixes a slew of stability and performance glitches.

Mozilla's developers urge those left behind on the Firefox 2.x release to upgrade to Firefox 3.x, warning that it will stop issuing stability and security patches for the older release next month.

The SeaMonkey internet application suite evolved from the same code base as Mozilla's Application Suite and needs patching against the same 11 flaws as Firefox 2.x. Seamonkey, a community-driven project separate from Mozilla since, advises users to upgrade to Seamonkey 1.1.13. ®