The Firefox/Mozilla Thread

[Andavari]

Firefox has a bug with some HTTPS sites such as giving a warning and can't load them like the Slax Linux site where it states the certificate was revoked and whatnot where as a Chrome-based browser loads it fine. Unfortunately for those sites another browser has to be used.

[dvdbane]

Firefox has a bug with some HTTPS sites such as giving a warning and can't load them like the Slax Linux site where it states the certificate was revoked and whatnot where as a Chrome-based browser loads it fine. Unfortunately for those sites another browser has to be used.

now i know why i found similar problem with other site

https://blog.mozilla.org/security/2016/10/24/distrusting-new-wosign-and-startcom-certificates/

[nukecad]

nukecad where did you get FF52 from?

I got it direct from Mozilla, when Firefox came up with the usual upgrade popup and I clicked on the 'Upgrade Now' button.

 

Like I said above I've got the autofill of usernames and passwords in forms working now by going to about:config and toggling 'signon.autofillForms.http' from false to true.

 

The actual warning notice itself and the blocking seem to be controlled by 'security.insecure_field_warning.contextual.enabled' and 'security.insecure_password.ui.enabled'.

However if I toggle these to false to get rid of the warnings then logins are blocked altogether.

(I suspect that this is intentional- either warning or blocked altgether).

 

Even odder-

The one site that I reported as still being blocked seems to have had had the password changed at the forum itself.

Once I did the 'Forgotten Password' thing to get a new password I was able to login to it with that new password, and to change it back to my previous, saved password.

It now logs in from Firefox with that previously saved password again.

This is a bit incredible to say the least and I'm not sure just how Firefox could even have done that.

 

I am still investigating that one with the forum administrator there, he should be able to retrieve any password changes made to check if Firefox did somehow manage to change the password. I certainly hadn't.

I suspect though that it is something deeper, I should also have not been able to reset it to a previously used password, the forum software will not allow that.

(I mod there, so I login to that site 2 or 3 times daily using the password saved in Firefox some time ago).

[Andavari]

I'd probably choose a completely new and different password in the event that forum was hacked and your password was changed that way.

[nukecad]

I'd probably choose a completely new and different password in the event that forum was hacked and your password was changed that way.

Always good advice.

 

But we are pretty sure that this was not from a third party, and that it is something that Mozilla did in the update.

Finding evidence of that is a different question.

No way am I trying to call mozilla names for this. (Unless we can find evidence).

 

 

Obviously we have stopped Mod (and all other) privileges on that account and are keeping an eye on any future login attempts.

Just a bit of a pain when you have 12 years plus posts from the account.

[nikki605]

Like I said above I've got the autofill of usernames and passwords in forms working now by going to about:config and toggling 'signon.autofillForms.http' from false to true.

Thanks for that tip. I just changed my 2 systems. Firefox updated itself without my knowledge yesterday, apparently. When I booted the system this morning, I saw the password problems talked about here. Glad I read these posts yesterday so I knew what was going on.

[Andavari]

I've often seen on various websites over the years to not allow Firefox to remember logins and passwords, but to instead use an external program for it.

[nukecad]

Thanks for that tip. I just changed my 2 systems. Firefox updated itself without my knowledge yesterday, apparently. When I booted the system this morning, I saw the password problems talked about here. Glad I read these posts yesterday so I knew what was going on.

Good to hear that I'm not the only one who saw this as a problem, and great that toggling the setting worked for you as well.

 

My real beef was that Mozilla pushed this out without any warning to users who are not in their insider/development/beta club.

They didn't even mention it in the original release notes.

They have added it now but it still doesn't say that it will totally block some logins, just that it will display a warning

 

PS. you might want to change you Firefox update settings to 'Check for updates' instead of 'Automatically install updates'.

 

PPS. That one where it had seemed to change the password at the forum gets even stranger.

The password had not been changed at all, but for some reason Firefox wouldn't let me login there until I changed the password and changed it back again.

Guess we'll never track down what caused that, and will just chalk it up as a WTF?

[trium]

i will wait for update 52.0.1 or 0.2 or so

[trium]

v52 is the last update for xp and vista

[Andavari]

v52 is the last update for xp and vista

 

They moved to ESR, and that's what Firefox 51.01 will download and install. I didn't have to jump through hoops to get ESR enabled, I just grabbed the PortableApps.com version here and then cut+paste my profile into it and it's working good.

Edited March 17, 2017 by Andavari
typos

[nukecad]

i will wait for update 52.0.1 or 0.2 or so

 

This Password warning/blocking behavour will not change.

(The warning message/pop-up itself may change slightly, and the vBulletin HTTPS issue may be fixed).

 

But overall this warning/blocking is an intended feature and not a bug, so as far as Mozilla are concerned there is nothing to be 'fixed' and it will remain.

[JDPower]

Well it took a couple of days longer than I bet it would, but 52.0.1 update released (though I'll let them off with this minor version update as it's purely a security fix, not the usual bugfix): https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/52.0.1/releasenotes/

[hazelnut]

FF 52.0.1 was released because of FF being 'owned' in this years Pwn2Own contest.

 

https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/security/advisories/mfsa2017-08/

[ROCKNROLL]

The end date is set to September 2017, but Mozilla has said they will do a count of all their XP/Vista users in the summer and see if it is worth extended the support date.

[Winapp2.ini]

Some Mozilla/Firefox updates for you folks!

 

Quantum Flow updates:

 

Quantum Flow Engineering Newsletter #1

Quantum Flow Engineering Newsletter #2

 

These Weeks In...

 

Firefox:

 

Issue 10

Issue 11

Issue 12

Rust:

 

Week 169

Week 170

Week 171

Week 172

 

Rust 1.16

 

Servo

Week 92

Week 93

Week 94

 

Servo accepted into the RailsGirls Summer of Code

 

 

-----

 

Project Stockwell updates

 

Why WebAssembly is faster than asm.js

 

Are they slim yet? Round two

 

When the memory allocator works against you

 

WebExtensions in 54

 

---

 

A Public-Private Partnership for Gigabit Innovation and Internet Health

 

Mozilla Acquires Pocket

[ROCKNROLL]

I always hated the fact that Mozilla implemented pocket into Firefox, since it isn't open-source. I always used Waterfox to solve that, which has pocket removed, but now that they acquired Pocket, I assume they will finally release the source code.

[Winapp2.ini]

Jsyk the way Firefox is designed, dragging icons off of the ui into the customization panel for things like Pocket actually prevents the code that powers it from even running. Not true for all ui elements but I'm pretty sure it's true for any "system add-on" that they ship (or ever will ship... Dev tools come to mind as I believe they're breaking the dev tools out into a webextension)

[nukecad]

52.0.2 has been released.

 

https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/52.0.2/releasenotes/

[trium]

ff v53.0

April 19, 2017

 

New

• Improved graphics stability for Windows users with the addition of compositor process separation (Quantum Compositor)

• Two new 'compact' themes available in Firefox, dark and light, based on the Firefox Developer Edition theme

• Lightweight themes are now applied in private browsing windows

• Reader Mode now displays estimated reading time for the page

• Windows 7+ users on 64-bit OS can select 32-bit or 64-bit versions in the stub installer

Fixed

• Various security fixes

Changed

• Updated the design of site permission requests to make them harder to miss and easier to understand

• Windows XP and Vista are no longer supported. XP and Vista users running Firefox 52 will continue to receive security updates on Firefox ESR 52.

• 32-bit Mac OS X is no longer supported. 32-bit Mac OS X users can switch to Firefox ESR 52 to continue receiving security updates.

• Updates for Mac OS X are smaller in size compared to updates for Firefox 52

• New visual design for audio and video controls

• Ended Firefox Linux support for processors older than Pentium 4 and AMD Opteron

• The last few characters of shortened tab titles fade out instead of being replaced by ellipses to keep more of the title visible

Developer

• Changes for web developers

• Support for WebM video with alpha, which allows playing videos with transparent backgrounds

[trium]

interesting:

 

 

 

• Windows XP and Vista are no longer supported. XP and Vista users running Firefox 52 will continue to receive security updates on Firefox ESR 52.

 

for my installed v52.0.2 on w8.1 64bit it suggests to version v52.0.2esr

[JDPower]

 

 

• Windows 7+ users on 64-bit OS can select 32-bit or 64-bit versions in the stub installer

Does the 64 bit version behave/work properly with plugins and extensions yet?

[trium]

i dont know.

 

i have w8.1 64bit

but firefox only with 32bit

[Noesis]

I haven't had any issues with 64-bit firefox, but mileage may vary because it totally depends on which plugins/extensions you use.  I've had more issues with them not being verified (signed), but my understanding is that's completely independent from 32 vs 64 bit builds, in that if the 32 bit ver is signed the 64 bit ver will be too and vice versa.

[ROCKNROLL]

Does the 64 bit version behave/work properly with plugins and extensions yet?

 

Been using Waterfox (which is native 64-bit) for over a year now and never had any issues with plugins or extensions. Many plugins/extensions have been 64-bit long before win64 builds were release because Linux and Mac had 64-bit builds for a long time.