A vulnerability, which can be exploited by malicious people to cause a DoS (Denial of Service) and potentially compromise a user's system, has been reported in NSS (Network Security Services) security suite and Mozilla browsers shipping vulnerable versions of it.

The vulnerability is caused due to a handling error in the S/MIME (Secure/Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions) implementation when parsing certain ASN.1 constructs. This can be exploited by sending a specially crafted S/MIME email containing an exceptional ASN.1 element to a user.

The vulnerability reportedly affects NSS 3.8 and prior as well as Mozilla browsers shipping affected versions.

Solution
The vulnerability has been fixed in NSS 3.9 and Mozilla browsers shipping this version.

Provided and/or discovered by
NISCC

Original Advisory
NISCC:
http://www.uniras.gov.uk/vuls/2003/006489/smime.htm

Other references
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