A Firefox user has alert people in Mozilla that an advertisement on a news site in Russia was serving a Firefox exploit that searched for sensitive files and uploaded them to a server that appears to be in Ukraine. Mozilla then released a patch that fix the vulnerability. But how does the hacker do all the dirty works?
The bug in a built-in PDF reader allowed attackers to steal sensitive files stored on the hard drives of computers that used the vulnerable Firefox version. The attack was used against both Windows and Linux users, Mozilla researcher Daniel Veditz wrote in a blog post published Thursday. The exploit code targeting Linux users uploaded cryptographically protected system passwords, bash command histories, secure shell (SSH) configurations and keys. The attacker downloaded several other files, including histories for MySQL and PgSQL and configurations for remina, Filezilla, and Psi+, text files that contained the strings “pass” and “access” in the names. Any shell scripts were also grabbed.
“The exploit leaves no trace it has been run on the local machine,” Veditz wrote. “If you use Firefox on Windows or Linux it would be prudent to change any passwords and keys found in the above-mentioned files if you use the associated programs. People who use ad-blocking software may have been protected from this exploit depending on the software and specific filters being used.”
So better that Patch browser now guys!
Source : arstechnica.com