Ubuntu Security Notice USN-629-1

24th July, 2008

mozilla-thunderbird, thunderbird vulnerabilities

A security issue affects these releases of Ubuntu and its derivatives:

• Ubuntu 8.04 LTS
• Ubuntu 7.10
• Ubuntu 7.04
• Ubuntu 6.06 LTS

Software description

• mozilla-thunderbird
• thunderbird

Details

Various flaws were discovered in the browser engine. If a user had
Javascript enabled and were tricked into opening a malicious web
page, an attacker could cause a denial of service via application
crash, or possibly execute arbitrary code with the privileges of the
user invoking the program. (CVE-2008-2798, CVE-2008-2799)

It was discovered that Thunderbird would allow non-privileged XUL
documents to load chrome scripts from the fastload file if Javascript
was enabled. This could allow an attacker to execute arbitrary
Javascript code with chrome privileges. (CVE-2008-2802)

A flaw was discovered in Thunderbird that allowed overwriting trusted
objects via mozIJSSubScriptLoader.loadSubScript(). If a user had
Javascript enabled and was tricked into opening a malicious web page,
an attacker could execute arbitrary code with the privileges of the
user invoking the program. (CVE-2008-2803)

Daniel Glazman found that an improperly encoded .properties file in
an add-on can result in uninitialized memory being used. If a user
were tricked into installing a malicious add-on, Thunderbird may be
able to see data from other programs. (CVE-2008-2807)

John G. Myers discovered a weakness in the trust model used by
Thunderbird regarding alternate names on self-signed certificates.
If a user were tricked into accepting a certificate containing
alternate name entries, an attacker could impersonate another
server. (CVE-2008-2809)

A vulnerability was discovered in the block reflow code of
Thunderbird. If a user enabled Javascript, this vulnerability could
be used by an attacker to cause a denial of service via application
crash, or execute arbitrary code with the privileges of the user
invoking the program. (CVE-2008-2811)

A flaw was discovered in the browser engine. A variable could be made
to overflow causing Thunderbird to crash. If a user enable Javascript
and was tricked into opening a malicious web page, an attacker could
cause a denial of service or possibly execute arbitrary code with the
privileges of the user invoking the program. (CVE-2008-2785)

Mozilla developers audited the MIME handling code looking for similar
vulnerabilities to the previously fixed CVE-2008-0304, and changed
several function calls to use safer versions of string routines.

Update instructions

The problem can be corrected by updating your system to the following package version:

Ubuntu 8.04 LTS:

thunderbird 2.0.0.16+nobinonly-0ubuntu0.8.04.1

Ubuntu 7.10:

thunderbird 2.0.0.16+nobinonly-0ubuntu0.7.10.1

Ubuntu 7.04:

mozilla-thunderbird 1.5.0.13+1.5.0.15~prepatch080614d-0ubuntu0.7.04.1

Ubuntu 6.06 LTS:

mozilla-thunderbird 1.5.0.13+1.5.0.15~prepatch080614d-0ubuntu0.6.06.1

To update your system, please follow these instructions: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Security/Upgrades.

After a standard system upgrade you need to restart Thunderbird to
effect the necessary changes.

References

CVE-2008-2785, CVE-2008-2798, CVE-2008-2799, CVE-2008-2802, CVE-2008-2803, CVE-2008-2807, CVE-2008-2809, CVE-2008-2811