SECURITY HOLE: Firefox 2.0 exposes your PASSWORDS to everyone in plain text

[jabbalphie]

Link: **broken link removed**

Firefox 2.0 ships with a feature that exposes ALL of saved passwords in plain text.

 

[Hero999]

This is intentional. Providing you can't access them externally it doesn't matter and if you password your user area/computer no one else can access them. Sorry they could still use a live Linux CD but not if you password your computer using the BIOS setup.

 

[mramos1]

Windows Xp has all kinds of features like that that expose your computer to the world/internet..

 

[bloody-orc]

if you are so worried then set a master password (in options 1 line upwards)
if you set it no one can see your passwords... and kaboom problem solved (oh i like being smart )

 

[Marks256]

Why not just go back to the good ol' days of surfing the web in MS-DOS?

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

Why not just go back to the good ol' days of surfing the web in MS-DOS?

Probably because you didn't "surf the web" in DOS, web browsers have really only been a GUI based system. When I first started on the Internet I did email and newsgroups in DOS, and only fired Windows up (Win3.0) if I wanted to browse websites.

I seem to remember vaguely there were DOS based browsers, but they only showed the text from a site.

 

[tunedwolf]

being the security concious sort anyway...you wouldn't save your passwords anywhere...or would you

 

[mramos1]

Probably because you didn't "surf the web" in DOS, web browsers have really only been a GUI based system. When I first started on the Internet I did email and newsgroups in DOS, and only fired Windows up (Win3.0) if I wanted to browse websites.

I seem to remember vaguely there were DOS based browsers, but they only showed the text from a site.

If there was a Lynx for DOS it was all text for sure

 

[Hero999]

I still exists too, it runs on Linux too and is mostly used by geeks.

And MS-DOS was not secure, it was even worse than XP, any dumb user could FORMAT C:, now just try that in Windows XP.

 

[mramos1]

Hero999.. I have not used Lynx in a couple years (though "it is" on my hard drive and runs), but it fast if you are suck on a very slow connection and a Unix user . Or if you just hate pictures.

I never used it on a DOS machine though. The stacks were to big a pain to setup to even think about porting it.. Back them. I think Nigel is dead on far as surfing with DOS. I was a Geek and I did not do it.

Lynx is still there, BSD, Linux and all.. Not sure if our Mac has it (as that is a BSD machine with an OSX GUI sitting on it).. I will have to check.

And to Geeks, 98% of the world would call anyone on this forum a geek. I like to call them the guys

Just kidding with you.

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

And MS-DOS was not secure, it was even worse than XP, any dumb user could FORMAT C:, now just try that in Windows XP.

Insert bootable floppy, press 'reset' or cycle power on/off - then type format c:.

No machine is safe if it's in front of you - take a big hammer and hit it!.

But as far as computer security goes DOS was far safer than any modern OS, no worldwide networking and internet access as part of the OS - so remote attacks were highly unlikely.

 

[Marks256]

Jez! I was kidding!

 

[mramos1]

Insert bootable floppy, press 'reset' or cycle power on/off - then type format c:.

No machine is safe if it's in front of you - take a big hammer and hit it!.

But as far as computer security goes DOS was far safer than any modern OS, no worldwide networking and internet access as part of the OS - so remote attacks were highly unlikely.

Too funny, DOS was very safe, no internet and most could not work it to break my computer.

Also, hammer is the "better" tool, but my foot worked fine as well.

 

[Styx]

Probably because you didn't "surf the web" in DOS, web browsers have really only been a GUI based system. When I first started on the Internet I did email and newsgroups in DOS, and only fired Windows up (Win3.0) if I wanted to browse websites.

I seem to remember vaguely there were DOS based browsers, but they only showed the text from a site.

err.. lynx, use it alot

 

[bloody-orc]

you say DOS is hard to use? i think linux is even worse. For me linux is the worse OS ever made on a user friendly point of view. it is safe yes, it is fast also yes but it's god damn hard to get all of that up and running and keep it running without crashing your computer... Dos is easy, just text. dir over here and dir over there... too bad no internet browsing though...
(god damn must install dos on my laptop again... it would be so cool to work in dos in school... or to use norton commander instead... hmm.... so many OS's to choose from.

 

[Hero999]

Linux can be just text, graphics are optional.

I found Linux quite easy to install and set up, it's just installing software can be a pain and let's not get started on drivers that don't come with the distribution.

DOS was only easy because it was such a simple primitive OS, even so it was hard, remember having to keep enough conventional memory to run games? That miserable 640kB really was a pain.

I'd like to get into Linux more but I'm too easilly distracted. This forum being one of my prime distractions!

 

[Styx]

Linux can be just text, graphics are optional.

I found Linux quite easy to install and set up, it's just installing software can be a pain and let's not get started on drivers that don't come with the distribution.

DOS was only easy because it was such a simple primitive OS, even so it was hard, remember having to keep enough conventional memory to run games? That miserable 640kB really was a pain.

I'd like to get into Linux more but I'm too easilly distracted. This forum being one of my prime distractions!

Then read this forum in Linux!!!! (oprah for linux you know )
I do, well I use Lynx (IF I have borked my Gentoo desktop in ricing) or FF

you say DOS is hard to use? i think linux is even worse. For me linux is the worse OS ever made on a user friendly point of view. it is safe yes, it is fast also yes but it's god damn hard to get all of that up and running and keep it running without crashing your computer... Dos is easy, just text. dir over here and dir over there... too bad no internet browsing though...
(god damn must install dos on my laptop again... it would be so cool to work in dos in school... or to use norton commander instead... hmm.... so many OS's to choose from.

Ubuntu is really easy to install, infact it is actually easier and faster to install then windows.
Yes all the good low-level stuff is done in a terminal (or DOS-box) but you don't have to

Ubuntu (or kubuntu if you want a more windows-feel) has all teh gUI admin tools you need

The thing with Linux is it is consistant!. Every windows release it is starting from scratch seeing where they have moved stuff to, Office is even worse!!

Linux is not hard (these days) it is just different
I am interesting in this "crashing your computer" I have a linux server which at present has an uptime of 3months (would of been higher but had to change part of the kernel). Equally my gentoo desktop I have left on for days with no problems (let alot this mysterious "crashing" you mention)

My present Gentoo install is ~4year old and I have only installed it once. Windows... Well present install is 1month old.
It takes a whole weekend to install Gentoo (but that is everything, even the compiler from source), but it takes XP a whole weekend to install once you get all the updates, then all the programs in between all the reboots

it takes XP 90min to install with format to the first usable desktop (and that is baby-sitting it as well). AND that is just stock useless/vuln XP.

in that time in installing Ubuntu you would have
desktop
Office
Gimp
games
admin
updates.... with no reboot!

so what is harder? trust me, linux is not hard

 

[mramos1]

Wonder if old MasterDOS is still out there. I was one of the authors, a single keystroke DOS shell. Bloody, if on XP, click start run "type in" cmd and press ENTER, then hit ALT-ENTER at the same time. Poof DOS is back.

 

[Hero999]

I found Ubuntu is easy to install and it worked fine up until I needed to upgrade the whole OS then the package manager decided to shaft itself. From then onwards I get getting error when installing software and updating the system, I asked around on forums for help, got bored and installed Mandriva which is fine but now I find myself using Winwoes more than anything else for some reason.

 

[mramos1]

Try a FreeBSD upgrade. Makes Linux look like DOS (simple).

I have not used Linux in a couple years (other than clients older machines; firewalls and Samba stuff). BSD was so much faster though (other than a MySQL issues) BSD it kills Linux.

Also, I never install the X/GNOME/whatever the flavor. Now my 16 years old does, then asked for help and I say get me a shell and what is the root password (same as on the MAC, where is terminal, what is root.. Ahh home). Also, you know OSX is FreeBSD under the hood (So maybe Macs are not so bad)? But they did mess with a bunch of the object files.. So I guess it is now MACnonfreeBAS.