DHS says to update firefox now

fastcompany ^

[nevadapatriot]

>DHS, some years back, asked the TrueCrypt people to put in a government only back door in their encryption program.

Reference?

[Carriage Hill]

Those are 2 browsers I’ve never heard of. I have Opera, Pale Moon and Chrome. Somehow, I feel seriously out-of-date, but Opera works fine for me. Many thanks.

[PIF]

Here’s the security fix according to Mozilla:

Mozilla Foundation Security Advisory 2020-03
Security Vulnerabilities fixed in Firefox 72.0.1 and Firefox ESR 68.4.1

Announced January 8, 2020
Impact critical
Products Firefox, Firefox ESR
Fixed in
Firefox 72.0.1
Firefox ESR 68.4.1

#CVE-2019-17026: IonMonkey type confusion with StoreElementHole and FallibleStoreElement

Reporter Qihoo 360 ATA
Impact critical

Description
Incorrect alias information in IonMonkey JIT compiler for setting array elements could lead to a type confusion. We are aware of targeted attacks in the wild abusing this flaw.
References
Bug 1607443

[SanchoP]

Is this update #7658432 or #76549871? How about we just get rid of their shit software and be done with it?

[PAR35]

Are there people who still do not auto-update their OS and Browser?

Updates break things. It's been that way since the old unofficial Microsoft motto: "DOS ain't done until Lotus won't run"

Firefox updates generally have one (or both) of two purposes - break third party ad and script blockers or add undesired "features". I tolerated the pain of Firefox updates as long as they were well spaced - every 6 months or so as I recall. Then they went to near constant updates - it was too time consuming to have to fix stuff that was being broken on a weekly basis. Back to operating systems: How many Script Kiddies bother with trying to hurt XP users these days. Win7 users will soon enjoy the same benefits.

[USS Alaska]

Been with Firefox for years and never had a problem, unlike Explorer. Of course I’ve always used a reputable anti-virus since Windows 3.5 Have used Kapersky for years, but switched to PC Matic recently because ease of use.

I use both Firefox as well as Explorer and I use Norton with Lifelock.

I've had Lifelock for years and they saved me much aggravation when I had some illegal use of a credit card.

The bank would have gotten me off the hook, but by the time the bank found out about the fraud, Lifelock had notified me and the bank and stopped the fraudulent use of my information.

Lifelock isn't cheap, but it works.

[bgill]

I always figured this was the case with every and all updates on whatever system.

[PIF]

I have no Idea which number is what. I just posted their info. Every browser has some problem or another.

[Dalberg-Acton]

My Linux version, 71.0, works just fine and will not be updated. I went down that path once before and it got so bad I had to switch to Chrome.

[Carriage Hill]

I’ve downloaded both Dissenter and Waterfox, and will give each a spin around the Net. Many thanks for the tips.

[Delta 21]

It takes the gubmnt to tell me to upgrade my browser over .html based language read by my browser that automatically updated itself before it let me read the warning.

[minnesota_bound]

You can use ublock plugin to block ads or any image.

I updated Firefox and in many cases the mouse will not scroll pages. I normally use the scroll wheel of the mouse but I have to drag the scroll bar using the mouse now. Too slow and not convenient.

Many complaints over the years with Firefox. You would think scrolling would be a basic function.
https://tinyurl.com/sgcjna2

[COUNTrecount]

You’re very welcome.
I like Waterfox a lot, I’ve had no problems with it.

[daniel1212]

The problem:

Incorrect alias information in IonMonkey JIT compiler for setting array elements could lead to a type confusion - https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/security/advisories/mfsa2020-03/#CVE-2019-17026

SpiderMonkey is written in C/C++ and contains an interpreter, the IonMonkey JIT compiler, and a garbage collector... The compiler can emit fast native code translations of JavaScript functions on the ARM, x86, and x86-64 platforms. It is the default engine since Firefox 18... SpiderMonkey is intended to be embedded in other applications that provide host environments for JavaScript. An incomplete list follows:

Mozilla Firefox, Thunderbird, SeaMonkey, and other applications that use the Mozilla application framework
Forks of Firefox including the Pale Moon, Basilisk and Waterfox web browsers.- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SpiderMonkey

CVE-2019-17026, as the vulnerability is indexed, is a type confusion, a potentially critical error that can result in data being written to, or read from, memory locations that are normally off-limits. More - https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2020/01/firefox-gets-patch-for-critical-zeroday-thats-being-actively-exploited/

I run Firefox ESR 59.02 since it enables all the extensions that make it far far superior to any other browser as regards enhanced functionality. But I also use Waterfox and Basilisk and 2 portable installs of Firefox Quantum (if not portable, it nukes the ESR, although you need to edit a .ini file to run more than one Firefox installation.

[minnesota_bound]

I did a software update for the Logitech M510 mouse I have and it looks like it fixed the issue, that is until the next Firefox update.

Wireless Mouse M510
https://www.logitech.com/en-us/product/wireless-mouse-m510

[Openurmind]

We live in a world where updates can and do break things and make it even worse. If it ain’t broke don’t fix it.

Nothing like updating a website script only to find out that now half your plugin modules have been depreciated and it destroys your website causing a couple of weeks of work to get it back on line.

[Openurmind]

“I wonder if this applies to the version of Firefox used on Linux Mint.”

“The update removes some ad blockers and other stuff they used to support; staying with the current version.”

“My Linux version, 71.0, works just fine and will not be updated. I went down that path once before and it got so bad I had to switch to Chrome.”

I am tossed about this but I am leaning towards not updating my earlier version of Firefox in my Linux and here is why. First the source of the alert. If the government doesn’t like it then something is probably actually working against their rathers they want to disable, probably the fingerprint blocker. Second I am thinking, but could be wrong, that because of the way a Linux system is structured with the separate and isolated partitions. The system partition still could not be changed by anything at all without first being rooted with the key? I am open to any knowledge better than mine about this please if someone understands it better.

[Mariner]

Nobody in IT auto updates servers.

Everybody in IT auto updates clients.

[minnesota_bound]

The scrolling not working 100% Still getting stuck at different sites... !

[minnesota_bound]

I uninstalled version 72 and installed version 69
Deleted the Firefox profiles
Scrolling is working.

How to modify the look. Start by googling the qiestion.
Here is a great site with how to’s

https://www.userchrome.org/
Be sure to read the “Firefox 69 Broke It!” link.

How to Create a userChrome.css File
https://www.userchrome.org/how-create-userchrome-css.html

I created a userChrome.css file and copied the following in and now have colored tab for the active tab instead of all gray.

/* Colored tab */
.tab-background:not([selected]) {
background-color: #E3E0DB !important;
}

.tab-background[selected=”true”] {
background-color: white !important;
font-weight: bold;
}