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Gaping Holes In Fully Patched IE7, Firefox 2

Continent1106 writes "Hacker Michal Zalewski has ratcheted up his ongoing assault on Web browser security models, releasing details on serious flaws in fully patched versions of IE6, IE7 and Firefox 2.0. The vulnerabilities could cause cookie stealing, page hijacking, memory corruption, code execution, and URL bar spoofing attacks." Here is Zalewski's post to Full Disclosure.

65 of 303 comments (clear)

  1. Ah well by GFree · · Score: 5, Informative

    Gaping Holes In Fully Patched IE7, Firefox 2
    In other words, it doesn't matter which browser you use, you're gonna get F'd in the A regardless? Sounds painful.
    1. Re:Ah well by rts008 · · Score: 5, Informative

      RTFA...Try the demo's...It will reduce the FUD.

      I tried the demo page/file and got no response whatever.

      "2) Title : Firefox Cross-site IFRAME hijacking (MAJOR)
            Impact : keyboard snooping, content spoofing, etc
            Demo : http://lcamtuf.coredump.cx/ifsnatch/
            Bugzilla : https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=38268 6 [May 30]"
      from:(http://lcamtuf.coredump.cx/ifsnatch/) which is from:2) Title : Firefox Cross-site IFRAME hijacking (MAJOR)
            Impact : keyboard snooping, content spoofing, etc
            Demo : http://lcamtuf.coredump.cx/ifsnatch/
            Bugzilla : https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=38268 6 [May 30]"

      and this:"3) Title : Firefox file prompt delay bypass (MEDIUM)
            Impact : non-consentual download or execution of files
            Demo : http://lcamtuf.coredump.cx/ffclick2/
            Bugzilla : https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=37647 3 [Apr 04]"

      I tried both link's test button and got no response whatever.

      IMHO, this must be something related to running Windows, as my Kubuntu 7.04 Feisty w/ Firefox 2.0.04 (with NoScript, Adblock, Adblock Filterset, and Flashblock) just does not act on this.

      I guess I need to install some version of Windows to experience this...I feel deprived and left out!

      Does this work with Firefox w/ NoScript on Windows?

      From past experience, I have no doubts that it works with any version of IE on any Windows platform.

      --
      Down With Slashdot BETA!!! I've been around the corner and seen the oliphant; you can only abuse me from your perspecti
    2. Re:Ah well by Sizzlebeast · · Score: 3, Informative

      Firefox 2.0.0.4 w/ NoScript and it won't work on windows either. I guess i have to allow it...not gonna happen :) I guess I'm safe

    3. Re:Ah well by egr · · Score: 3, Interesting

      first two works on my Fedora 7 (Firefox 2.0.0.4 without NoScript), NoScript is not a part of Firefox so I think it should be really tested without it, however the last one didn't work, instead it asked me to download html page with download manager

    4. Re:Ah well by rts008 · · Score: 2, Funny

      Thanks for the info! :-)

      I can't convince my wife to switch to *nix/BSD, she is used to WinXP and IE 7 from work, and doesn't want to change. :-(

      I might be able to sneak Firefox in on her with some creative registry hacks, and some install/configure obfustications. We'll see.

      --
      Down With Slashdot BETA!!! I've been around the corner and seen the oliphant; you can only abuse me from your perspecti
    5. Re:Ah well by Kelson · · Score: 5, Funny

      I use wget.

      You have not truly experienced the web until you have experienced it using telnet to port 80.

    6. Re:Ah well by jez9999 · · Score: 4, Funny

      I might be able to sneak Firefox in on her with some creative registry hacks, and some install/configure obfustications. We'll see.

      I'm glad to see the art of practicing trust in marriage is alive and well!

    7. Re:Ah well by QuoteMstr · · Score: 2, Informative

      You couldn't be more wrong, sir. Error handling in CSS is defined in great detail in the CSS spec, and it's important that browsers handle it properly so that future CSS revisions can provide new properties and syntax without breaking old clients. ACID2 ensures that browsers are forward-compatible with future versions of CSS.

    8. Re:Ah well by MrSenile · · Score: 3, Funny

      New to marrage, are we? :)

  2. Re:And Opera by WilliamSChips · · Score: 4, Funny

    Naw, Opera just randomly crashes and then has a default behavior of restarting the site that causes it to randomly crash.

    --
    Please, for the good of Humanity, vote Obama.
  3. Woot! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    Wow, I'm so glad I installed Firefox so I'm immune to all of these IE bugs!

    Oh, wait, what did that say?

    -AC

    1. Re:Woot! by Mark_in_Brazil · · Score: 4, Funny

      Wow, I'm so glad I installed Firefox so I'm immune to all of these IE bugs!

      Oh, wait, what did that say?
      It said the only critical flaw in the bunch is in MSIE 6 only.

      This has been another edition of Easy Answers to Stupid Astroturfer Questions.
      --
      "It is nice to know that the computer understands the problem. But I would like to understand it too." --Eugene Wigner
  4. Victim Statistics? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Perhaps I'm ignorant, but does anyone ever find themselves a victim of these "gaping holes"? I can't say as I've ever browsed on to a site and found myself the victim of a compromised computer or ended up with viruses. Is there a site/blog that reports such statistics?

    1. Re:Victim Statistics? by eli+pabst · · Score: 2, Informative

      There are a shitload of sites that host malicious code to intentionally infect vulnerable browsers. Even regular sites are occasionally hacked to host malicious code. The most recent big name one I can think of is the Miami Dolphins football team website during the last superbowl. A few years back a number of sites that produce banner advertisements were hacked, which resulted in widespread malicious banners getting hosted on tons of otherwise secure sites. I don't know of any database of malicious websites, but http://isc.sans.org/ usually has a good daily handlers report that lists widespread nastiness and other new developments.

      Link to info on the Dolphins hack:
      http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/02/02/HNdolphi nssiteshacked_1.html

  5. Gaping holes? by Paktu · · Score: 5, Funny

    Article tagged as goatse.

    1. Re:Gaping holes? by evanbd · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Is it just me, or are the more humorous / inane tags showing up less? "duh" "haha" "itsatrap" and friends. Is this because the slashdot editors changed something, or because people are using them less?

    2. Re:Gaping holes? by dkf · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Taco changed the code; I'm guessing to disallow the stupid tags that got put on almost every story, like those you mentioned. Maybe to greylist those who kept tagging that way, too.
      I think there's a list of tags that are permitted (blacklisting tags would be easier to route around by finding alternate things that mean the same thing) but as far as I can see, there's no downside to using a non-blessed tag; it just gets dropped on the floor.

      I think it's a shame though; the old tagging system added a good bit of fun to the site, and the "joke" tags were sometimes very appropriate indeed. The new system is just boring crap that reproduces what is already in there from the article categories or a simple search of the part of the story on the front page; a search engine could do those tags, or even plain old grep, and so they add nothing of value. The old system was better because it provided a snapshot of what people thought about the story, despite being much more open to abuse.

      Bring back the open tags! Please!
      --
      "Little does he know, but there is no 'I' in 'Idiot'!"
  6. Didn't learn lesson from javascript by mrcaseyj · · Score: 5, Insightful
    They said they could make javascript secure but it's still a huge source of holes. Instead of learning our lesson, Flash, another executable web format is taking over. Don't use flash because it's cool. Only use it if you really need it for your web page.


    And if Ubuntu was really concerned about security they would ship it by default with a web browser already set up under a separate username with strict selinux policies.

    1. Re:Didn't learn lesson from javascript by foniksonik · · Score: 2, Interesting

      When the browsers provide support for seamless SVG that gets push data from a socket connection I'll stop using Flash. When browsers provide seamless client side data validation and inline error prompting for forms, I'll stop using Javascript.

      Any web page that can't benefit from the above uses of the technology probably isn't all that more informative than an email would be.

      Static information is useful but stateless information is becoming useless. This is interactive media... not a book that you can access over a phone line. Keeping state on the server is too slow... it's great for long term session storage but very bad for user-time interaction.

      --
      A fool throws a stone into a well and a thousand sages can not remove it.
  7. alternatives by sudo · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Well there's always Opera?

  8. Lynx by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    I use Lynx, you insolent clod! Get off my lawn!

    1. Re:Lynx by rustalot42684 · · Score: 2, Funny

      If you can't do it from the command line, you shouldn't do it at all! Who needs pictures, anyways?

  9. One of the demos on Firefox doesn't work by ericferris · · Score: 4, Informative

    I am using the latest Firefox 1.5. I went to the demo page : http://lcamtuf.coredump.cx/ifsnatch/ . The first test shows that it is possible to rewrite the content of an iframe. That is rather dangerous in situations involving trusted messages.

    The 2nd demo was supposed to snoop on the keyboad, but it invoked a pop-up, which was immediately blocked by the pop-up blocker. So unconfimed as far as I know. However, the demo page did open a CNN.com page.

    Anyone has better "luck" to demo the keyboard snooping?

    --
    Fantasy: http://ferrisfantasy.blogspot.com/
  10. Sounds like Terrorist to me. by 3seas · · Score: 5, Funny

    cookie STEALING, page HIJACKING, memory CORRUPTION, code EXECUTION, and URL bar spoofing ATTACKS.

    So where the fuck is home land security when you need them.

    1. Re:Sounds like Terrorist to me. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      what's so terrible about urls?

  11. Go old NoScript by Nutsquasher · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Keeps all of that Firefox JavaScript nastiness at bay, plus flash ads to boot. :)

    1. Re:Go old NoScript by Bender0x7D1 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Yes, that is a solution, but it isn't a good solution.

      If we continue down that line of thought we end up at the point where we just go back to static pages with no scripting. Now, in general, I prefer static pages without all the extra "eye-candy", but I also understand the benefits of having scripting, (and even flash) running. By even having a preference for static pages, I think I am in the minority of people on the Internet. Let's face it, the average person likes all of the "extras" that come with scripting.

      With this preference for synamic content, we also have to accept that there are going to be some security problems. We can blame Microsoft. We can blame the users. We can blame the Flying Spaghetti Monster for forsaking us. We can blame the hackers who produce the infectious content. However, what matters is that with new things on the web appearing so quickly, there hasn't been time to stop, take a deep breath and look for the security holes that exist. This means that the bad guys have the advantage and we have problems. If you don't like it, use Lynx and practice safe hex.

      --
      Reading code is like reading the dictionary - you have to read half of it before you can go back and understand it.
    2. Re:Go old NoScript by MLease · · Score: 3, Insightful

      When I want to allow flash or a script to run, it's easy enough to do. The point of NoScript is that nothing runs without my explicit consent, just because I happened to visit a website. If I allow something malicious to run, it's my own fault.

      -Mike

      --
      I'm sorry; I don't know what I was thinking!
    3. Re:Go old NoScript by tomhudson · · Score: 4, Funny

      "When are people going to wake-up to this bullshit? "Web apps" give you all the performance of regular apps running on an old 286, with half the features. Wow!"

      Hey, I'm running this on a 286, you insensitive clod!

    4. Re:Go old NoScript by Kelson · · Score: 2, Insightful

      When are people going to wake-up to this bullshit? "Web apps" give you all the performance of regular apps running on an old 286, with half the features. Wow!

      The point of web applications isn't performance, it's ubiquity. Hotmail (and remember, it was one of the first big web apps, even before Microsoft bought it) didn't take off because it performed better or had more features than Eudora, Outlook, Netscape or Pegasus -- it took off because you didn't need to install it and you could access it from any computer with an Internet connection and a web browser.

      But you knew that, didn't you?

  12. And Elinks by gumpish · · Score: 2, Funny

    No holes for elinks? Oh well...

    (sits back in corner with large grin on face)

  13. read b4 clicking, warning , danger ! by weighn · · Score: 4, Funny
    http://impoll.net/cgi-bin/v.cgi?p=1585&r=0
    http://impoll.net/cgi-bin/v.cgi?p=1585&r=1

    following could cause cookie stealing, page hijacking, memory corruption, code execution or URL bar spoofing attacks !!

    --
    Mongrel News all the news that fits and froths
  14. Re:But in order to be affected... by afidel · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Hacker hijacks web server of popular site, but instead of simply defacing the front page the slip in a little bit of code to release a botnet installer or adware installer based on this type of vulnerability. It happens all the time.

    --
    There are 4 boxes to use in the defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, ammo. Use in that order. Starting now.
  15. AND LYNX! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    No holes for Lynx? Oh well...
    (sits back with biggest grin on face)

  16. Re:And Opera by Lisandro · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I had Opera crashing on me on, say, 50-60 times in the past 5 years i've been using it (back from version 6). Of those, 60% were issues with that piece of shit Flash plugin for Linux, and even that got much better. Opera crashed? No problem, just hit "resume" when you restart.

    Opera is as stable as FF (and way more stable than IE) with a fraction of the system requirements - and faster than both. Try an up to date version, you'll be surprised.

  17. First to fix? by doctor_nation · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Anyone want to wager on who has this hole fixed first, IE or Firefox?

    1. Re:First to fix? by KarmaMB84 · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Microsoft has to be a lot more careful about breaking third party crap with a browser fix so obviously Firefox will get patched first.

  18. Slashdot responses by Frankie70 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    1) If Article Posted about IE security bugs
        - Regular mudfest, everyone throwing mud on Microsoft
    & IE. Everyone saying I have FF/Linux/Safari whatever,
    so I am safe. Nobody talks about changing settings,
    disabling javascript or Activex as a good workaround.

    2) If Article Posted about FF security bugs
        - Lot of workarounds posted - disable Javascript,
    get some plugin, change some settings, don't go to
    the website etc. How great that the it is open source,
    someone will fix the bug in one hour & release patch.
    Bugs are avenues to show how great open source is.

    Now both are posted together, let's collate responses
    at the end of the day

  19. Re:And Opera by QuietLagoon · · Score: 2, Insightful
    Opera just randomly crashes and then has a default behavior of restarting the site that causes it to randomly crash.

    More than likely, Opera restarts with the site before the one that caused the crash.

    Unfortunately for Opera, most sites are written according to IE's buggy standards. While Opera does try to accomodate the poor HTML written by web programmers who think the Internet is viewed only through IE-colored glasses, sometimes it is difficult to accomodate to flagrant stupidily that is IE's rendering engine.

  20. probably NoScript by r00t · · Score: 3, Insightful

    You're a rare weirdo. Much of the web won't work without scripting, or at least won't work well.

    You're missing out on the nicer wiki/blog editors, live updates to the price of a computer purchase as you add/remove components, tolerable web mail interfaces, and (if your CPU is fast) the experimental slashdot interface.

    Those are just the nerd things. I'm told there are numerous non-nerd things on the web as well, with far more scripting.

    1. Re:probably NoScript by MightyYar · · Score: 2, Informative

      But you can use NoScript and still allow useful scripts... that's the whole point! The whole advantage of NoScript is that you can click on any shady site that you wish with little-to-no chance of compromising your machine. Presumably, you won't allow scripts from said shady site... when you get to YouTube and the videos won't play, then you enable scripting.

      --
      W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
    2. Re:probably NoScript by Barny · · Score: 3, Informative

      Yup, noscript doesn't let such nasties run, unless you give them permission, which seems to be half the problem for most internet users.

      As for the person saying noscript is hard to use, its usually a matter of just clicking the script item (like a youtube vid that is being blocked) and it allows it to run temporarily, should be built in standard imho.

      Combine it with a nice ad server blocker (kerio personal firewall for instance) and the web just suddenly starts working as it was meant to :)

      --
      ...
      /me sighs
    3. Re:probably NoScript by TheSeer2 · · Score: 2, Interesting

      NoScript blocks certain activities by default without any option of re-enabling them. I used to use NoScript but after it interfered with a website I used regularly (this was on my NoScript allow list) I had to abandon it.

    4. Re:probably NoScript by Keeper+Of+Keys · · Score: 2, Informative

      You might find they've fixed that. NoScript is under very active development and release a couple of updates a month. I have to agree with all the positive things that are said about it. I tend to enable scripting permanently only for trusted sites which I know require javascript (and smile a smug standardista smile to myself to think that I would never let a bit of javascript functionality go un-fall-backed). You see a lot less ads with NoScript, too.

  21. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 4, Informative

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  22. Another Firefox vulnerability posted today by whitehatlurker · · Score: 3, Informative

    Thor Larholm also announced a Firefox hole today. Wasn't completely patched in the last release.

    --
    .. paranoid crackpot leftover from the days of Amiga.
  23. Re:But in order to be affected... by snowraver1 · · Score: 5, Informative

    It's called a Man-in-the-middle attack. Say you go to google.ca (I'm Canadian) It goes something like this:

    You> Yo DNS server, I wanna Talk to google.

    DNS> Roger that! Go to 72.14.253.103.

    You> Yo 72.14.253.103 Whacha got?

    72.14.253.103>Index.html

    You> Looks like Index.html says I need the google picture.

    Eve (Eve is sitting at the same coffee shop as you. Eve is bad)> Ahem, err, sir, I have this envelope for you. It's from google. It contains your picture. *Sniker*. (You don't notice the snicker)

    You> OH N0E$! TH3 P1CtUr3 us3d a buff3r ov3rflow vuln3rab1lity and n0w you have a virus that mak3s you typ3 lik3 a n00b!

    For more information look here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man_in_the_middle_att ack

    --
    Copyright 2010. All rights reserved. This comment may not be copied in any way including, but not limited to caching.
  24. Are you sure? by kybred · · Score: 5, Insightful
    I can't say as I've ever browsed on to a site and found myself the victim of a compromised computer or ended up with viruses that I know of.

    There, fixed that for you.

  25. Re:crashes: probably exploitable by Lisandro · · Score: 3, Interesting

    On my experience, most of the crashes are plugin related. I was conservative with the (pulled off my ass :) 60% figure - Flash, until recent versions, was a guaranteed way of hanging your browser. I had some memory leaks back with version 7, which were promptly fixed in an update, and a crash when you opened and closed tabs in a certain way, which was also fixed quickly.

    Other than that, i can't honestly recall major problems with Opera. Not that i had a lot of issues with Firefox either (outside Flash, that is), but it does run much faster and with less memory requirements.

  26. CrashZilla by EEPROMS · · Score: 2, Informative

    Ive renamed Firefox "CrashZilla", it would be nice to browse the web for more than 1 hour without it freezing up or crashing. Yes I have the latest version and all the latest plugins. I have no issues with Konqueror on KDE 3.5.7 (using the same plugins) and Firefox 1.5.* ran for days without crashes.

  27. Re:Poll by digitalchinky · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Sorry, posting to undo an accidental negative moderation.

  28. Re:But in order to be affected... by Bob+of+Dole · · Score: 5, Interesting
    Don't be so sure that avoiding "shady" sites will protect you.
    I run a few perfectly un-shady sites (an imageboard, a specialized search engine, and a funny images repository), but recently some users started complaining about the popups that were trying to install spyware.
    I don't have any popups on my sites! (I don't even use target="_new"!) but still users were getting spyware popups. The popups were so evil that the only way to avoid getting redirected to the spyware site was to disable javascript (Even in firefox. in IE it just installed the spyware automatically, but firefox at least you had to click "download". Still, it made my site unusable)

    I went into my advertisers control panel, checked for anything remotely shady. Nothing. I tried turning off all third party advertisers (like doubleclick), figuring maybe one of them was redirecting users. Nope, some users still got popups. Worst of all, I NEVER got the popup, no matter what browser I was using.

    It turns out it's cause I'm an American. The advertiser had specified that the advert with the embedded redirect only show up in every country except America. That stopped me from seeing it on the site, but what about the control panel? I could see all the ads there, even the ones not targeted at my location. Here's what they did in actionscript: (pseudocode)

    if getTimeZone() in EUROPE_TIMEZONES:
        redirectToSpyware()
    else:
        displayHarmlessAdvert()

    So even when I checked the ads in the control panel they looked fine.

    My point is, don't think there's a scary corner of the internet where all the spyware/exploits hang out. The bastards making this crap know that most people don't go to those kinds of places, so they'll do anything they can to sneak their crap onto legitimate sites. (MySpace got hit with one of these a few months back, I think)
  29. Command line? Hah! by spun · · Score: 2, Funny

    You young whippersnappers and your fancy shell doo-dads. In my day, we had to lick a live 10Base5 cable to browse gopher and that's the way we liked it!

    --
    - None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
  30. Re:And Opera by Kelson · · Score: 2, Insightful

    It's a bit simplistic to assume that $browser will always keep you safe. On the other hand, it's important to remember that there are many alternatives available. The good thing about this is that each engine has its own vulnerabilities, so for the same malware to target Firefox, IE, Opera and Safari, it would have to target four different exploits. At least with intended behavior of HTML/DOM/CSS, Gecko, Trident, etc. are (ostensibly) aiming at the same target.

    Ever notice that the only vulnerabilities which are really cross-browser tend to be misuse of functionality (like the Unicode domain spoofing attacks a few years back), rather than exploits of bugs?

  31. Re:crashes: probably exploitable by Kelson · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I've actually found Flash to be less stable lately. It's not uncommon for a couple of Flash ads to start chewing up all my CPU until I have a chance to close the tab.

    I'm seriously considering backing down to Flash 7, despite the horrible audio sync problems with the Linux version.

  32. Re:But in order to be affected... by beyondkaoru · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ok, i'm not a web developer so i wouldn't know, but is there any way to force your advertisers (malicious or otherwise) to not use javascript/flash/whatever? since it's essentially running code we don't trust on the client's computer...

    essentially, do the noscript thing on your own servers, or host ads (i assume they're mostly just pictures with links) on your own servers somehow.

    --
    the privacy of one's mind is important.
    you do have something to hide.
  33. No holes? by Kelson · · Score: 5, Funny

    No holes for Opera?

    Are you serious? Have you looked at that icon? There's a huge hole right in the middle, and no one seems to acknowledge it!

  34. I've had something similar with nedstat ... by freaker_TuC · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I've been using their "free" basic service for years; it was always their small little 16x16/32x32 icon; not really intrusive.

    Then suddenly my pages using their stats service had a nasty pop-under. I've seen this at other sites too and found out the "new" advertisement ways after a few weeks when I started getting bothered seeing the same pop-unders over and over while I wasn't even on any other sites.

    These pop-unders were all activated under Firefox and it's clearly in their TOS they can advertise on websites; only; which I had on my website was all except "good" for my site; the pop-under involved pornography because of a reference to some articles about STD's a couple of years ago. It made me sick to always get that XXX-commercial on my own website and got rid of Nedstat ever since.

    webalizer for the win! less eye candy but still enough stats to chew on without all the nastyness...

    --
    --- I am known for the ones who want to find me on the net. Is that a privacy risk or a privilege? One might wonder..
  35. Brilliant by zCyl · · Score: 4, Interesting

    ok, i'm not a web developer so i wouldn't know, but is there any way to force your advertisers (malicious or otherwise) to not use javascript/flash/whatever? since it's essentially running code we don't trust on the client's computer...

    essentially, do the noscript thing on your own servers, or host ads (i assume they're mostly just pictures with links) on your own servers somehow.

    That's the most brilliant idea I've seen in this entire thread so far. We need a <noscript>, or perhaps a <sandbox></sandbox> tag which allows us to specify what can be done inside of a frame, embedded object, or anything else linked to from a remote site.

    That would make a huge difference.
  36. Re:Well... by jez9999 · · Score: 2, Funny

    I run Microsoft Windows 95 unpatched, so I am safe. No-one targets this old piece of crap anymore!

  37. You mean "Home Page" security by giafly · · Score: 2, Funny

    homeland security is a fairy tale.

    --
    Reduce, reuse, cycle
  38. Doesn't seem to bother us by myxiplx · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Here at work we use IE6 on XP SP2 workstations and not a single one of those vulnerabilities affects us.

    Why? Because we don't let IE run scripts of any kind unless it's from a site we trust. IE has had security zones for years yet hardly anyone uses them. A single group policy object enforces our list of trusted sites, nobody's computer can run javascript on any site we've not already decided is safe.

    Ok, there's a small risk of someone hacking one of our trusted sites, but I can live with that.

    So far we've had 2 years of uninterrupted browsing, with nobody at our company getting a single piece of malware on their machine.

    And the best bit: It's surprisingly low maintenance. We get maybe one request a month now to add a new site to the list.

  39. They're already working on this by Giorgio+Maone · · Score: 2, Informative
    Content restriction is hot topic, especially after MySpace debacles: And for users? good ole NoScript :)
    --
    There's a browser safer than Firefox, it is Firefox, with NoScript
  40. Odd double standard by bigwave111 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    For how much Slashdotters rip apart the DRM industry, which spends millions upon millions only to have their key's hacked in a day, we sure do expect a lot from our browsers.

  41. The hard thing about NoScript by ukemike · · Score: 2, Insightful

    The hard thing about NoScript is when a page totally fails to load anything useful and you have to decide to allow one or more of three scripts each from different domain. Often it is easy, you're on yahoo so you allow yahoo. Sometimes it is far from obvious. To get some yahoo pages to work you have to allow yming.com to run scripts, and you have to pick that one from a list including several cryptically named advertiser sites. I don't mind this extra step, and with the current web model I don't see another way around it, but I hardly expect Joe Casual Surfer to even know what a script is.

    --
    -- QED