Vulnerabilities
Misconfiguration
Compliance
CVE Vulnerabilities

CVE-2009-0356

Improper Link Resolution Before File Access ('Link Following')

Published: Feb 04, 2009 | Modified: Apr 09, 2025
CVSS 3.x
N/A
Source:
NVD
CVSS 2.x
5.1 MEDIUM
AV:N/AC:H/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P
RedHat/V2
5.1 MODERATE
AV:N/AC:H/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P
RedHat/V3
Ubuntu
MEDIUM
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Additional information
NVDhttps://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2009-0356
CWEhttps://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/59.html

Mozilla Firefox before 3.0.6 and SeaMonkey do not block links to the (1) about:plugins and (2) about:config URIs from .desktop files, which allows user-assisted remote attackers to bypass the Same Origin Policy and execute arbitrary code with chrome privileges via vectors involving the URL field in a Desktop Entry section of a .desktop file, related to representation of about: URIs as jar:file:// URIs. NOTE: this issue exists because of an incomplete fix for CVE-2008-4582.

Weakness

The product attempts to access a file based on the filename, but it does not properly prevent that filename from identifying a link or shortcut that resolves to an unintended resource.

Affected Software

NameVendorStart VersionEnd Version
FirefoxMozilla*3.0.5 (including)
FirefoxMozilla0.1 (including)0.1 (including)
FirefoxMozilla0.2 (including)0.2 (including)
FirefoxMozilla0.3 (including)0.3 (including)
FirefoxMozilla0.4 (including)0.4 (including)
FirefoxMozilla0.5 (including)0.5 (including)
FirefoxMozilla0.6 (including)0.6 (including)
FirefoxMozilla0.6.1 (including)0.6.1 (including)
FirefoxMozilla0.7 (including)0.7 (including)
FirefoxMozilla0.7.1 (including)0.7.1 (including)
FirefoxMozilla0.8 (including)0.8 (including)
FirefoxMozilla0.9 (including)0.9 (including)
FirefoxMozilla0.9-rc (including)0.9-rc (including)
FirefoxMozilla0.9.1 (including)0.9.1 (including)
FirefoxMozilla0.9.2 (including)0.9.2 (including)
FirefoxMozilla0.9.3 (including)0.9.3 (including)
FirefoxMozilla0.9_rc (including)0.9_rc (including)
FirefoxMozilla0.10 (including)0.10 (including)
FirefoxMozilla0.10.1 (including)0.10.1 (including)
FirefoxMozilla1.0 (including)1.0 (including)
FirefoxMozilla1.0-preview_release (including)1.0-preview_release (including)
FirefoxMozilla1.0.1 (including)1.0.1 (including)
FirefoxMozilla1.0.2 (including)1.0.2 (including)
FirefoxMozilla1.0.3 (including)1.0.3 (including)
FirefoxMozilla1.0.4 (including)1.0.4 (including)
FirefoxMozilla1.0.5 (including)1.0.5 (including)
FirefoxMozilla1.0.6 (including)1.0.6 (including)
FirefoxMozilla1.0.7 (including)1.0.7 (including)
FirefoxMozilla1.0.8 (including)1.0.8 (including)
FirefoxMozilla1.5 (including)1.5 (including)
FirefoxMozilla1.5-beta1 (including)1.5-beta1 (including)
FirefoxMozilla1.5-beta2 (including)1.5-beta2 (including)
FirefoxMozilla1.5.0.1 (including)1.5.0.1 (including)
FirefoxMozilla1.5.0.2 (including)1.5.0.2 (including)
FirefoxMozilla1.5.0.3 (including)1.5.0.3 (including)
FirefoxMozilla1.5.0.4 (including)1.5.0.4 (including)
FirefoxMozilla1.5.0.5 (including)1.5.0.5 (including)
FirefoxMozilla1.5.0.6 (including)1.5.0.6 (including)
FirefoxMozilla1.5.0.7 (including)1.5.0.7 (including)
FirefoxMozilla1.5.0.8 (including)1.5.0.8 (including)
FirefoxMozilla1.5.0.9 (including)1.5.0.9 (including)
FirefoxMozilla1.5.0.10 (including)1.5.0.10 (including)
FirefoxMozilla1.5.0.11 (including)1.5.0.11 (including)
FirefoxMozilla1.5.0.12 (including)1.5.0.12 (including)
FirefoxMozilla1.5.1 (including)1.5.1 (including)
FirefoxMozilla1.5.2 (including)1.5.2 (including)
FirefoxMozilla1.5.3 (including)1.5.3 (including)
FirefoxMozilla1.5.4 (including)1.5.4 (including)
FirefoxMozilla1.5.5 (including)1.5.5 (including)
FirefoxMozilla1.5.6 (including)1.5.6 (including)
FirefoxMozilla1.5.7 (including)1.5.7 (including)
FirefoxMozilla1.5.8 (including)1.5.8 (including)
FirefoxMozilla1.8 (including)1.8 (including)
FirefoxMozilla2.0 (including)2.0 (including)
FirefoxMozilla2.0-beta_1 (including)2.0-beta_1 (including)
FirefoxMozilla2.0-beta1 (including)2.0-beta1 (including)
FirefoxMozilla2.0-rc2 (including)2.0-rc2 (including)
FirefoxMozilla2.0-rc3 (including)2.0-rc3 (including)
FirefoxMozilla2.0.0.1 (including)2.0.0.1 (including)
FirefoxMozilla2.0.0.2 (including)2.0.0.2 (including)
FirefoxMozilla2.0.0.3 (including)2.0.0.3 (including)
FirefoxMozilla2.0.0.4 (including)2.0.0.4 (including)
FirefoxMozilla2.0.0.5 (including)2.0.0.5 (including)
FirefoxMozilla2.0.0.6 (including)2.0.0.6 (including)
FirefoxMozilla2.0.0.7 (including)2.0.0.7 (including)
FirefoxMozilla2.0.0.8 (including)2.0.0.8 (including)
FirefoxMozilla2.0.0.9 (including)2.0.0.9 (including)
FirefoxMozilla2.0.0.10 (including)2.0.0.10 (including)
FirefoxMozilla2.0.0.11 (including)2.0.0.11 (including)
FirefoxMozilla2.0.0.12 (including)2.0.0.12 (including)
FirefoxMozilla2.0.0.13 (including)2.0.0.13 (including)
FirefoxMozilla2.0.0.14 (including)2.0.0.14 (including)
FirefoxMozilla2.0.0.15 (including)2.0.0.15 (including)
FirefoxMozilla2.0.0.16 (including)2.0.0.16 (including)
FirefoxMozilla2.0.0.17 (including)2.0.0.17 (including)
FirefoxMozilla2.0.0.18 (including)2.0.0.18 (including)
FirefoxMozilla2.0_.1 (including)2.0_.1 (including)
FirefoxMozilla2.0_.4 (including)2.0_.4 (including)
FirefoxMozilla2.0_.5 (including)2.0_.5 (including)
FirefoxMozilla2.0_.6 (including)2.0_.6 (including)
FirefoxMozilla2.0_.7 (including)2.0_.7 (including)
FirefoxMozilla2.0_.9 (including)2.0_.9 (including)
FirefoxMozilla2.0_.10 (including)2.0_.10 (including)
FirefoxMozilla2.0_8 (including)2.0_8 (including)
FirefoxMozilla3.0 (including)3.0 (including)
FirefoxMozilla3.0-alpha (including)3.0-alpha (including)
FirefoxMozilla3.0-beta2 (including)3.0-beta2 (including)
FirefoxMozilla3.0-beta5 (including)3.0-beta5 (including)
FirefoxMozilla3.0.1 (including)3.0.1 (including)
FirefoxMozilla3.0.2 (including)3.0.2 (including)
FirefoxMozilla3.0.3 (including)3.0.3 (including)
FirefoxMozilla3.0.4 (including)3.0.4 (including)
SeamonkeyMozilla**
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4RedHatfirefox-0:3.0.6-1.el4*
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4RedHatnss-0:3.12.2.0-3.el4*
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5RedHatfirefox-0:3.0.6-1.el5*
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5RedHatnss-0:3.12.2.0-4.el5*
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5RedHatxulrunner-0:1.9.0.6-1.el5*
Firefox-3.0Ubuntuupstream*

Potential Mitigations

  • Follow the principle of least privilege when assigning access rights to entities in a software system.
  • Denying access to a file can prevent an attacker from replacing that file with a link to a sensitive file. Ensure good compartmentalization in the system to provide protected areas that can be trusted.

References

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