Firefox expired cert force-disables all user add-ons

[s8472]

Guys, don't be fuckin morons.. Mozilla will only fix latest release and current ESR which is ESR60.

That might be right, but someone might also dig out the solution out of the ESR<v60, which could be compatible with v56 and earlier.
We'll see.
If not, there is indeed gonna be a huge migration of FF users to different alternatives.

[New Tobin Paradigm]

Your point, please?

[s8472]

It looks like, somebody just found a solution for v56 and older.
https://www.reddit.com/r/firefox/commen ... 602_older/
And it works to me!

[Isengrim]

For those asking why a more "official" fix hasn't been pushed out yet, my understanding is it's because Mozilla now has to re-sign every single extension on AMO with a new, unexpired certificate. Their only option, without disabling the signing requirement and without having to create multiple new release versions, is to push something down an alternate channel. All in all, it's a real mess for them.

[Moonchild]

my understanding is it's because Mozilla now has to re-sign every single extension on AMO with a new, unexpired certificate.

I don't think so. it's the intermediate (issuer certificate) that expired, so just installing an update for that issuing entity certificate should fix it.

It does, however, highlight the time bomb factor of this: when the actual signing certificate on extensions expires, there's no way to use them anymore without re-signing. Programmed obsolescence, if you ask me. Now I don't know when that is, but it would be a date to note for people on older versions of Firefox that Mozilla might not be re-signing for.

[loxodont]

It looks like, somebody just found a solution for v56 and older.
https://www.reddit.com/r/firefox/commen ... 602_older/
And it works to me!

thx for the link

Luckily I had a week-old profile backup for FF52ESR to restore
Then applied that cert fix (while not sure what the console finally told me) and made sure add-ons auto-update is disabled and xpinstall.signatures.required is set to false. - Seems to work ATM.

[van p]

We aren't just some rebuild flapping in the wind here. You should know better by now. After all you been here since 2015.

I realize Pale Moon is more independent than others. That and the fact that I've been here since 2015 still don't mean I know, or should know, everything. Now I know more. Thanks for your enlightenment, except for the last 2 sentences (I like the third from last).

[Night Wing]

Just an update on this.

Firefox (for windows) 66.0.4 has re-enabled all of my Firefox extensions and all of my colored persona lightweight themes. Mozilla made the fix and released it late this Sunday afternoon (time zone where I live).

https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/6 ... easenotes/

BTW, I get my windows Firefox from the link below.

https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/all/

I was wise not to tinker with those temporary fixes.

[tuxman]

This SNAFU situation was probably the best thing that could happen to the browser market right now, as Chrome is sitting there on top with no close contender outside the Apple world. Thank you, Mozilla.

[Fedor2]

Sometimes i use the firefox 52, disabled addons sign check long ago, and it applicable for newer firefoxes too.
https://forum.mozilla-russia.org/viewtopic.php?id=70326
it is on the russian language sorry, use translators.

[New Tobin Paradigm]

There is no legit reason in the world except comparitive regression testing to use a Firefox version older that that which served as a starting and fork off point for UXP.

tl;dr DBAFM

[Night Wing]

Looks like Firefox 66.0.4 hasn't fixed all the problems with the expired certificate disabling user's addons/extensions. Mozilla has released another update that "hopefully" fixes the problem and the new version is Firefox is (66.0.5). I just finished installing it as my third browser in Windows 7.

I was waiting for linux Firefox because I haven't yet received 66.0.4 through my Mint Update manager. Now it looks like I'll have to wait a little more until Mint gets 66.0.5 out to it's users. I'm glad Pale Moon is my daily driver in both linux and windows.

[gepus]

Guys, don't be fuckin morons.. Mozilla will only fix latest release and current ESR which is ESR60.

Mozilla will fix add-on signing issue for older Firefox versions

Mozilla will release an automatic update that fixes the issue for the Firefox versions 52 through 60. Firefox users who run version 61 to 65 may install a browser extension instead to resolve the issue on their end.

[New Tobin Paradigm]

Well it is very unprecidented for them to do this. Some damage control decision to regain good will i guess.

Either that or they are monitoring us and by us I mean me. One or the other.

[Night Wing]

An explanation from Mozilla on why the addon outage happened.

https://hacks.mozilla.org/2019/05/techn ... on-outage/

[gepus]

An example for what those signatures are worth:

https://github.com/mozilla/addons/issues/1026

I provided contact info in those reports but haven't received any responses since submitted on 4/28/2018 for a critical issue that has been causing crashes on startup in addition to its clear violation of Mozilla add-on review policy and malware-like behavior. Also, I haven't found any recent Mozilla bug reports related to Flash Video Downloader result from that, which is why I am submitting this bug report here with further details.

The real benefit of those signatures is to give a false sense of security for the average user.

[Moonchild]

The real benefit of those signatures is to give a false sense of security for the average user.

Nope. The real benefit of those signatures is to have control over extensions as a distributor. Mozilla is the controlling party here. It's nothing less than add-on DRM.

[gepus]

The real benefit of those signatures is to have control over extensions as a distributor. Mozilla is the controlling party here. It's nothing less than add-on DRM.

That's a valid point.
Nevertheless it was never perceived as DRM on my end. Most probably because it didn't affect me in any way.
I always preferred the ESR branch (more secure and better tested) where you could and still can disable signature verification.
Neither did it affect me this time since my default browser is Pale Moon. As for my ESR, it has signature checking turned off anyway.

[therube]

(More on https://www.dslreports.com/forum/r32385 ... -Extension.

That guy did a great write up in the github report.
Also worth reading the bugzilla report(s).
"oh, there's only so much we can do" .)

[THX-1139]

Hello folks, new PM user here, and this FF debacle is the reason Pale Moon is now my #1 from now on.
My desktopFF v55 extensions got whacked (fixed now with that reddit fix) but my laptop FF v38 was not affected at all (weird)
Anyways because all of that I went looking for another #1 browser...tried vivaldi, it's ok, but wanted a browser with a collapsible sidebar for bookmarks etc..
like AIOS also wanted my tabs first above the main page... I could find no other browser that had this, And some legacy type buttons are a plus too.
I found everything I was looking for from Pale Moon (also just saw the thread how to get Ublock)
Also seems faster than my FF 55 and definitely uses less CPU
A keeper for me my savior Pale Moon