hoax

Story: Alleged 'Unfixable' Exploit in FirefoxTotal Replies: 21
Author Content
cheshire137

Oct 03, 2006
8:51 AM EDT
I just saw http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20061003-7885.html and they say: *** Nevertheless, it's beginning to look as though this was largely a prank. ... "I have not succeeded in making this code do anything more than cause a crash and eat up system resources, and I certainly haven’t used it to take over anyone else’s computer and execute arbitrary code," according to comments on Mozilla's developers blog. ... Mischa Spiegelmock has now said that the talk "was to be humorous," and that the presentation covered a "previously known Firefox vulnerability that could result in a stack overflow ending up in remote code execution." In other words, they didn't discover a new flaw. ... As to the claim that there are 30 known exploits in Firefox, Spiegelmock said that the claim was made only by Wbeelsoi, and indicated that it, too, has not been verified. ***
dcparris

Oct 03, 2006
10:18 AM EDT
I guess it pays to check your sources. ;-)
devnet

Oct 03, 2006
6:52 PM EDT
http://www.itwire.com.au/content/view/6015/53/

Yep...it's a hoax
dinotrac

Oct 04, 2006
3:30 AM EDT
Well, it might not be a hoax.

The mea culpa came from one of two presenters, and he claimed not to know what the other was up to.

So...

Rather than a hoax, it might just be a lie.
tuxchick2

Oct 04, 2006
10:59 AM EDT
As the various top suits at Hewlett-Packard believe, if you don't know what the word means then you're OK. They never heard of "pretexting", therefore they did nothing wrong. So it's quite possible these two fellers are simply not very literate, and therefore innocent of any wrongdoing.
jdixon

Oct 04, 2006
12:40 PM EDT
> As the various top suits at Hewlett-Packard believe, if you don't know what the word means then you're OK.

It's probably wishful thinking on my part, but I'm hoping that the CEO and Board at HP are going to find out that that's not quite true.
techiem2

Oct 04, 2006
1:02 PM EDT
Quoting:As the various top suits at Hewlett-Packard believe, if you don't know what the word means then you're OK.


That explains soo much! MS just doesn't know what "security" means! So of course windows is just as secure a *nix!

;)
dinotrac

Oct 04, 2006
1:38 PM EDT
techiem2 -

You ignorant, ignorant soul. I caught the sarcastic tone in your post.

For the record, Windows is every bit as secure as Unix.

No difference.

Until, of course, you turn the computer on.

They're working on that part.
jdixon

Oct 04, 2006
2:00 PM EDT
> Until, of course, you turn the computer on.

I'd go so far as allowing that it's possible that it can be as secure until you hook it to a network (merely requiring that the users be given non-admin accounts would proably make it so, though since any given Windows program may not work without admin rights, usability may not be optimal). Once you hook it to a network though, all bets are off.
1c3d0g

Oct 04, 2006
2:11 PM EDT
I want to beat up those two who badmouthed Firefox.
jdixon

Oct 04, 2006
2:20 PM EDT
> I want to beat up those two who badmouthed Firefox.

Why? They haven't hurt Firefox any, and their reputations are now shot. It looks like they've done more than enough damage to themselves.
dinotrac

Oct 04, 2006
3:13 PM EDT
>I'd go so far as allowing that it's possible that it can be as secure until you hook it to a network

You're a braver man than I am.

Did you see the story about the W. Va. State Senator who somebody tried to blackmail with photos from a nude body-painting party? I think those came from sneaker net.
jdixon

Oct 04, 2006
5:32 PM EDT
Dino:

Note I said that it's possible. :) Yes, I heard about the story on the radio this morning.
dcparris

Oct 05, 2006
4:59 PM EDT
> Did you see the story about the W. Va. State Senator who somebody tried to blackmail with photos from a nude body-painting party?

They tried to blackmail him with *that*? Huh, I could blackmail half the town I grew up in for worse than that. ;-)
dinotrac

Oct 05, 2006
5:22 PM EDT
Rev -

Your posting has been forwarded on to the FBI and the National Body-Painting Association.

You're going down or you're going out.

I'm not sure which.
jimf

Oct 05, 2006
5:53 PM EDT
> I could blackmail half the town I grew up in for worse than that. ;-)

All small towns are like that :D
jdixon

Oct 05, 2006
6:05 PM EDT
Dino:

> Your posting has been forwarded on to the FBI...

Fortunately, much of DC's knowledge is probably protected by pastor privilege. :)
dcparris

Oct 05, 2006
7:14 PM EDT
jdixon: the town I grew up in, not the town I pastor in. I wasn't a pastor back then - they ain't covered. Of course, I could probably file a few lawsuits while I'm at it, but we'll just leave the sleeping dogs lie. ;-)
tuxchick2

Oct 05, 2006
7:45 PM EDT
A priest, a rabbi, and a minister walk into a bar. The bartender glares and says "What is this, some sort of joke?"
jdixon

Oct 05, 2006
9:58 PM EDT
> we'll just leave the sleeping dogs lie. ;-)

That's usually best. Speaking from experience, their bark is not worse than their bite. :)
dcparris

Oct 06, 2006
8:39 AM EDT
> A priest, a rabbi, and a minister walk into a bar. The bartender glares and says "What is this, some sort of joke?"

Of course it is! I'll take a Kronenberg, please!
Scott_Ruecker

Oct 06, 2006
2:27 PM EDT
>Of course it is! I'll take a Kronenberg, please!<

You drink the Kronenberg's and I'll drink the Korbinian's..and we'll match beers until we fall out of our chairs.

Not that we're gonna care by that point anyway. ;-)

Or feel the floor when it comes up to us.

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