Mozilla fixes vulnerabilities in Firefox browser and e-mail client

Mozilla has fixed 12 vulnerabilities in its Firefox web browser. Out of 12 vulnerabilities, 5 were ranked critical by the Mountain View, California company.

Mozilla had released Firefox 1.5 last year. The fourth update to the browser, Firefox 1.5.0.4.has fixed 12 flows which were found in the Firefox 1.5 edition. Firefox had done a mega-patch in April, which fixed 24 flows in the browser. Out of the 24 flows, 11 of them were found critical.

Some of the flows were found to create system overflows, which in turn led to system access and other insecurities. Without the user's permission, people could let hackers to run malicious code to disrupt normal system functioning. 

Mozilla Foundation web site lists the number of patches it has fixed in the new update. Mozilla has not only fixed the flaws in its browser, but also the flaws in their email client, Thunderbird. The updates for both the browser and the e-mail client can be downloaded free from the Mozilla web site.

Mozilla has been a favourite of serious surfers for a couple of years now due to the higher security it offers. Internet Explorer has been steadily losing market share to the open source browser, but that is expected to change when Microsoft hits back with Internet Explorer 7 in Vista OS when it is released. Internet Explorer vulnerabilities are legendary - hence it is critical for Firefox to stay ahead of the game.