436568 - [Vista] DEP may impede the browsing experience on Vista

Status: RESOLVED INCOMPLETE

(Core Graveyard :: Plug-ins, defect)

Description

[Marcia Knous [:marcia]]

This is reported via Hendrix. I want to get this on the radar since I have seen enough reports of it that I think it may be a potential problem.

STR:
1. Visit a website such as wsj.com, cbs.sportsline.com, the Google pack site.
2. Receive the Data Execution dialog. Firefox closes down.

I have not been able to reproduce this on either machine I have in my lab environment. One is running Vista Ultimate and the other is running Vista business. The hendrix reports I have seen have called out both of those versions specifically.

Some other posts about this issue, which seems to date back to Beta 4:
*http://tech.blorge.com/Structure:%20/2008/03/14/firefox-3-beta-4-crashes-on-google-pack-website/
*http://groups.google.com/group/mozilla.feedback.firefox.prerelease/browse_thread/thread/b0fce5961c612775

Comment 1

[Kai Liu]

And MozillaZine:
<http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?t=660262>
<http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?t=660631>

Unfortunately, there isn't much that Firefox could do about it, as it's just a crash--in this case, probably triggered by a plugin (see bug 427382).

Comment 2

[Robert Strong (they/them - no direct email)]

The Google Pack site crash is bug 424158, has steps to reproduce, and is likely caused by the plugin that Google installs.

Comment 3

[VanillaMozilla]

Many reports here too.
http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?f=38&t=681825&start=0
It's not clear what is causing it.  Sometimes a plugin, sometimes not.  In any case there is no way to know whether it's just a plugin coded in an odd way, or an actual exploit attempt (see bug 427382, comment 21).

What is common to all these reports is that it's difficult to support users properly.  Someone needs to take a serious look at this and report to the community.  At a minimum, information and advice are needed by the community.

Changing to critical.

Comment 4

[Robert Strong (they/them - no direct email)]

Looks like there are at least a couple of other bugs covering this issue
bug 424158
Bug 427382
Bug 440969
Bug 431095
Bug 434432
Bug 421217

Comment 5

[[:Cww]]

Could someone flag this for user-doc-needed if/when we figure out what's causing it?  We're seeing this sometimes on support but right now we have no way to troubleshoot.

Comment 6

[Robert Strong (they/them - no direct email)]

Not a shell integration bug... likely a dupe of bug 427382... moving over to core -> plugins for triage.