Firefox 3.5.1 closes exploit, improves launch times

Robert Hallock 17 Jul, 2009 at 1:49am ET Article published in Tech

The Mozilla Foundation has closed a major security hole and improved launch times with yesterday’s release of Firefox version 3.5.1.

Though Firefox 3.5 is still hot from the oven, security researchers quickly uncovered a critical flaw in the browser’s JavaScript compiler that could be used to transparently execute malicious code on client PCs.

The Foundation also resolved an issue in the browser’s launch sequence that could make for significant delays. Bug hunters identified a flaw in a mechanism that creates security keys from the contents of the system’s temporary files. As Firefox 3.5 must complete a scan of these directories prior to application availability, a large temp file made for protracted launch times.

Users looking to avoid having their shit wrecked are advised to download the update from Mozilla or click check for updates in Firefox’s help menu.

Comments

17 Jul 2009 ~ 3:58am Sidekicksol Cool. I hope it fixes my buggy firefox. It lags horribly. Safari doesn't seem to have the problem. We will see!
17 Jul 2009 ~ 4:29pm Linc "Users looking to avoid having their shit wrecked"

Haha, nice.
17 Jul 2009 ~ 5:51pm GooD Firefox updated , thankx for the news

Since 3.5 i got some laggy problems too with my precious Firefox Hope they fix it soon (maybe 3.5.1 did ? we'll see).
22 Jul 2009 ~ 8:31am Hawk After using it for a while now, it does seem to have a faster launch time and loads web pages faster.
I thought it was just my ISP giving me a laggy connection when using the earlier ver.
I noticed there are some add ons that will not work with the new version.
If you had [FoxForcast] which was a weather program add-on.
It doesn't work and you have to uninstall it.
The alternate to it is [ForecastBar Enhanced] which is a better FoxForecast updated.
Microsoft Net Framework Assistant isn't compatible with 3.5.1 either.
Un-install it before you update to the 3.5.1 because it locks in and you can't un-install it after you update.
It turns Grey and is not removable.
If you were a smileys add-on user, that doesn't work with 3.5.1 either.
There's no firefox add-on alternate either that I know of.
I was a big fan of that one and used it often.
I'm sure there are other add-ons that don't work and need alternative add-ons installed.
3.5.1 checks for alternates for you after install.
It reads your add-ons and asks if you want to check for alternates.
Xmarks works fine in both older and new Firefox, so no worries there.