Firefox 2.0.0.5

Mozilla today released Firefox 2.0.0.5, the latest update to the group's flagship browser. The update patches eight security vulnerabilities, three of them "critical" and two "high," the group said.

Most existing Firefox 2 users will be alerted to the new version by the software update feature built into the browser. Firefox 2 users who "check for updates" manually (from the Help menu) will see a message saying "Firefox 2.0.0.5 -- It is strongly recommended that you upgrade Firefox as soon as possible."

The Mozilla Security Advisories web page lists eight patches, three of them critical (red) and two high (orange). The advisories are:

• MFSA 2007-25: XPCNativeWrapper pollution (moderate)
  
• MFSA 2007-24: Unauthorized access to wyciwyg:// documents (high)
  
• MFSA 2007-23: Remote code execution by launching Firefox from Internet Explorer (critical)
  
• MFSA 2007-22: File type confusion due to %00 in name (low)
  
• MFSA 2007-21: Privilege escalation using an event handler attached to an element not in the document (critical)
  
• MFSA 2007-20: Frame spoofing while window is loading (low)
  
• MFSA 2007-19: XSS using addEventListener and setTimeout (high)
  
• MFSA 2007-18: Crashes with evidence of memory corruption (critical)
  

The previous release (v2.0.0.4; May 31, 2007), fixed five vulnerabilities, one critical.

The Firefox 2.0.0.5 Release Notes have more details about the new release.

Firefox 2.0.0.5 is available for Linux, Windows, and Mac OS X in a wide variety of languages for free download, here. It's a 5.7 MB file and typically takes about 20 to 40 seconds to download on a broadband connection.

For those wishing to be on the cutting edge of the browser wars, a Firefox 3 alpha (Gran Paradiso) is available for testing purposes. You can grab that one here.