CVE-2007-1256 in website
Summary
by MITRE
Mozilla Firefox 2.0.0.2 allows remote attackers to spoof the address bar, favicons, and document source, and perform updates in the context of arbitrary websites, by repeatedly setting document.location in the onunload attribute when linking to another website, a variant of CVE-2007-1092.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 07/16/2019
This vulnerability represents a sophisticated cross-site scripting and user interface spoofing flaw that exploited the interaction between Firefox's document object model and the browser's address bar rendering mechanism. The vulnerability specifically affected Mozilla Firefox version 2.0.0.2 and stemmed from the browser's handling of the onunload event attribute when combined with repeated document.location assignments. Attackers could leverage this weakness to manipulate the browser's visual presentation and potentially deceive users into believing they were visiting a legitimate website when in fact they were interacting with malicious content.
The technical exploitation mechanism involved crafting web pages that would repeatedly set document.location within the onunload event handler when transitioning between websites. This created a race condition where the browser's address bar and favicon rendering would display information from the previous page while the actual content loaded from the new page. The vulnerability was classified as a variant of CVE-2007-1092, indicating a related pattern of address bar spoofing attacks that had been previously documented. This particular implementation specifically targeted the Firefox browser's rendering pipeline, where the timing of events during page transitions allowed for inconsistent display states between the address bar and actual document content.
The operational impact of this vulnerability was significant as it enabled attackers to create convincing phishing scenarios where users would see legitimate-looking addresses and favicons while actually interacting with malicious websites. This deception could be used to steal sensitive information including login credentials, personal data, or financial information from unsuspecting users. The vulnerability particularly affected the browser's security model by undermining user trust in the address bar as a reliable indicator of website authenticity. Users would be deceived into believing they were visiting trusted websites when they were actually interacting with attacker-controlled content, making this a particularly dangerous form of social engineering attack.
Security professionals should note that this vulnerability aligns with CWE-641 and CWE-79 categories, representing issues related to improper input validation and cross-site scripting vulnerabilities. The attack pattern corresponds to techniques documented in the ATT&CK framework under T1059 for command and scripting interpreter and T1531 for credential access. Organizations should implement immediate mitigation strategies including updating to patched versions of Firefox, implementing content security policies, and deploying browser security extensions that monitor for suspicious onunload behaviors. The vulnerability also highlights the importance of proper event handling in web applications and the need for robust browser sandboxing mechanisms to prevent such cross-site manipulation attacks.
This vulnerability demonstrated the complexity of modern browser security and the challenges of maintaining consistent user interface integrity across asynchronous page transitions. The issue required careful coordination between JavaScript event handling, DOM manipulation, and browser rendering engines to create the spoofing conditions. The exploitation techniques used in this vulnerability were particularly concerning because they could be implemented without requiring any special privileges or user interaction beyond normal browsing behavior, making them highly effective for large-scale phishing campaigns. The resolution involved Firefox developers implementing stricter validation of address bar updates during page transition events and improving the synchronization between document content and visual indicators.