FF IDN buffer overflow workaround works in Netscape too

[Juha-Matti Laurio <juha-matti.laurio () netti fi>]

Summary about Firefox IDN buffer overflow vulnerability workarounds in 
Netscape Browser

[a new, more informative title used]

Instructions and methods described at Mozilla Foundation Security 
Advisory "What Firefox and Mozilla users should know about the IDN 
buffer overflow security issue"
https://addons.mozilla.org/messages/307259.html (yes, it was 
http://www.mozilla.org/security/idn.html earlier) can be used in Netscape too.
This advisory has been included to security company advisories handling 
this security issue and mentioned in the news widely.

Disabling IDN (Internationalized Domain Names) support via about:config 
Location Bar
feature or prefs.js configuration file is possible in Netscape Browser 8 
too. Additionally, .xpi file for Firefox and Mozilla Suite works in 
Netscape 8.0.3.3 too. Test in Windows environment was successful and 
even UA was changed to include '....Gecko/20050729 <<(No IDN)>> 
Netscape/8.0.3.3' string.
However, the manual method is recommended.
Vendor developer team was contacted, no reply yet.

Like US-CERT says in Firefox VU#573857: "While implementing this 
workaround does not correct the buffer overflow error, it prevents the 
vulnerable portion of code from being exploited."

When an updated version of Netscape Browser 8 is available the download 
link is http://browser.netscape.com/ns8/download/default.jsp

Regards,
Juha-Matti Laurio
Security researcher
Finland