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TechWeb | News | IE And Firefox Sport New Zero-day Flaw

Multiple security organizations warned Tuesday that Internet Explorer, Firefox, Mozilla, and SeaMonkey -- on Windows, Linux, and the Mac -- are vulnerable to a JavaScript bug that could allow a determined attacker to dupe users into giving up sensitive personal information such as credit card or bank account numbers and passwords.

According to Symantec, which issued an alert late afternoon Tuesday, all versions of the Microsoft and Mozilla browsers could be used to harvest data through a JavaScript key-filtering vulnerability.

'This issue is triggered by utilizing JavaScript 'OnKeyDown' events to capture and duplicate keystrokes from users,' went the Symantec warning.

The bug would let crafty criminals filter keystrokes entered into a form, say a credit card form to pay for online goods, to an invisible file upload dialog on the same Web page. Once the information's trapped in that hidden dialog -- the vulnerability discoverer used the analogy of the keystrokes 'bouncing' from the legit (or at least legitimate-looking form) to the cloaked one -- the data could be sent to the attacker."

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