CVE-2004-0902 in Firefox
Summary
by MITRE
Multiple heap-based buffer overflows in Mozilla Firefox before the Preview Release, Mozilla before 1.7.3, and Thunderbird before 0.8 allow remote attackers to cause a denial of service (application crash) or execute arbitrary code via (1) the "Send page" functionality, (2) certain responses from a malicious POP3 server, or (3) a link containing a non-ASCII hostname.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 03/09/2021
The vulnerability described in CVE-2004-0902 represents a critical heap-based buffer overflow issue affecting multiple Mozilla products including Firefox, Mozilla Suite, and Thunderbird. This flaw resides in the memory management handling of these applications, specifically within their network protocol processing and HTML rendering components. The vulnerability stems from insufficient bounds checking when processing user-supplied data, creating opportunities for malicious actors to manipulate memory allocation and execution flow. The affected versions of these browsers and email clients were particularly susceptible due to inadequate input validation mechanisms that failed to properly sanitize incoming data before processing.
The technical exploitation of this vulnerability occurs through three distinct attack vectors that leverage different aspects of the applications' functionality. The first vector involves the "Send page" functionality where maliciously crafted page data can trigger buffer overflows during HTML processing and rendering. The second vector targets email clients through malicious POP3 server responses that exploit buffer overflow conditions when parsing email headers and content. The third vector exploits non-ASCII hostname handling in URL parsing, where international domain names or encoded hostnames can cause memory corruption during DNS resolution and connection establishment. All three attack paths ultimately result in heap corruption that can be leveraged for arbitrary code execution or denial of service conditions.
From an operational impact perspective, this vulnerability presents significant security risks to users of affected Mozilla products. The potential for remote code execution means that attackers could gain complete control over vulnerable systems, allowing for data theft, system compromise, and persistence mechanisms. The denial of service aspect creates availability risks that can disrupt user productivity and potentially enable more sophisticated attacks through service disruption. The attack vectors are particularly concerning because they can be triggered through normal browsing and email activities, making them difficult to defend against through user awareness alone. The vulnerability affects both desktop and mobile users of these applications, with the potential for widespread exploitation across different operating systems and network environments.
Organizations and individual users should implement immediate mitigation strategies to protect against this vulnerability. The primary recommendation involves upgrading to patched versions of Mozilla Firefox, Mozilla Suite, and Thunderbird as soon as possible, with version 1.7.3 for Mozilla and 0.8 for Thunderbird being the minimum recommended releases. Network administrators should consider implementing firewall rules and content filtering to block potentially malicious email traffic and web content that could trigger these vulnerabilities. Additional protective measures include enabling security features within the browsers such as popup blockers, disabling automatic downloads, and implementing strict email validation policies. Security monitoring should focus on detecting unusual network traffic patterns, unexpected application crashes, and system behavior that might indicate exploitation attempts. This vulnerability aligns with CWE-121 heap-based buffer overflow classification and represents a typical attack pattern that would be catalogued under ATT&CK technique T1059 for command and scripting interpreter usage. The vulnerability demonstrates the importance of proper input validation and memory management practices in preventing exploitation of fundamental software security flaws that can lead to complete system compromise.