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mozilla products phoning home all the time, violating privacy and security policy

I've noticed that Mozilla products (firefox, thunderbird etc) all phone home all the time, which is a violation of both my security as well as privacy policy. In the fire… (read more)

I've noticed that Mozilla products (firefox, thunderbird etc) all phone home all the time, which is a violation of both my security as well as privacy policy. In the firewall one can observe persistent, periodic, repeated connections to various non-sanctioned sites and services, apparently run by Mozilla. These include, but are not limited to:

firefox-portal-detection.com etc.

Specifically, there are persistent, periodic and repeated connection attempts to (just copy/pasting from the first page of firewall report; there are many more as well as similar connection attempts from thunderbird as well): firefox-settings-attachments.cdn.mozilla.net:443 assets-prod.sumo.prod.webservices.mozgcp.net:443 content-signature-2.cdn.mozilla.net:443 push.services.mozilla.com:443 etc

These begin at the startup of the browser/mua and continue throughout the session. Given that none of the sites actually browsed have anything to do with mozilla per se, and given that various privacy-violating features such as DNS-over-HTTPS (yes, that's a not a privacy-enhancing feature but the opposite - it just shifts the surveillance point from the ISP to the DoH provider) and other similar "features" are disabled in-browser, there should be no user/browser connections attempted to mozilla servers.

Also, by setting up a local security MITM proxy in order to observe and analyze the content sent to and received from these services and configuring the browser to connect via the proxy, the browser seems to *stop* trying to connect to these services, which indicates *active* measures by the browser/mua to avoid it's browser-fingerprinting and location-revealing content from being intercepted and analyzed.

This is especially concerning as Mozilla actively brands and markets it's products as privacy-respecting, as for-user-rights and as away-from-big-tech-dominated. Consequently I perceive this as complete breach of trust. Even by just *attempting* such phone-home connections a leak of metadata occurs, identifying the IP, the browser and consequently the user and user's location, sometimes actively (such as was the case with now apparently discontinued location.services.mozilla.net). Combined with whatever content these connections carry, this constitutes a serious breach. And there seems to be no way for the user to configure the browser to stop making these connections, other than by using an external application firewall.

And to top it off, with Firefox version 155.0.1, the browser now outright refuses to connect to *any* sites at all if firefox.settings.services.mozilla.com:443, firefox-settings-attachments.cdn.mozilla.net:443, firefox-portal-detection.com:80 and content-signature-2.cdn.mozilla.net:443 are *externally* blocked, at least on that profile (which worked just fine prior to upgrade to 155.0.1), showing a spinner and waiting indefinitely (not even timing out). These are the *only* connections it even attempts, completely ignoring the actual site that it was told to connect to. So that's at least 4 privacy-violating, security-policy-violating phoning-home connection attempts and a complete disregard for user's actual, sanctioned connection request.

Open

is browsing on Firefox the same as browsing incognito

How do I keep my online banking private when using Firefox as my browser? When using Google Chrome as my browser, I use incognito, but I'm changing to Firefox and ne… (read more)

How do I keep my online banking private when using Firefox as my browser? When using Google Chrome as my browser, I use incognito, but I'm changing to Firefox and need to know that my online banking is safe.

Open 1

Allow creation of whitelist for local LAN based websites

I have several websites in my own LAN. They run on HTTP. When I open one of these sites Firefox forces me to jump through hoops before I am allowed to open the intended w… (read more)

I have several websites in my own LAN. They run on HTTP. When I open one of these sites Firefox forces me to jump through hoops before I am allowed to open the intended webpage, because they are not running HTTPS, nor have a certificate. The security mechanism is valid for remote hosted websites, and I like the functionality.

But I own, operate and trust my LAN based websites, but I cannot prevent Firefox from complaining about them. I must do the song and dance to finally be able to open the webpage. All webbrowsers (Safari, Firefox, Chrome) do this, and it is very annoying

Solution: Allow the user to create a whitelist, either based on the website's ip adress, mDns name or blanket subnet. Come up with a solution that is easy for the user, and inspiring for your competition!

Open 8

Add on permission - Access local files on your computer

Hi I've been using add on Tab Mix - Rename Tab in the past and lately it's no working. Found reason to be permission for "Access local files on your computer", see attach… (read more)

Hi I've been using add on Tab Mix - Rename Tab in the past and lately it's no working. Found reason to be permission for "Access local files on your computer", see attached

I can't remember what it was in previous version of Firefox, but want to know if it's safe to turn on permission, guessing there's a reason why it's now off, thanks

Open

Popup Ads

I'm getting popup ads that open a new page after I punch a link I hit the link and an unrelated page comes up inn addition to the link I intended to open. It even does th… (read more)

I'm getting popup ads that open a new page after I punch a link I hit the link and an unrelated page comes up inn addition to the link I intended to open. It even does that when I click on an email. Is there a way for me to stop this? This was happening before I upgraded to the version I'm on now.

Open 3

Unable to access links in websites.

I'm blaming the latest Firefox update from a couple of days ago, since this problem only arose yesterday. Now cut off from reading and following news that I really want t… (read more)

I'm blaming the latest Firefox update from a couple of days ago, since this problem only arose yesterday. Now cut off from reading and following news that I really want to receive.

This is what I get when trying to access links within a few of the websites that I regularly access for links to articles it posts:

The site ahead may contain harmful programs

Firefox blocked this page because it might try to trick you into installing programs that harm your browsing experience (for example, by changing your homepage or showing extra ads on sites you visit).

Advisory provided by Google Safe Browsing.

Open 15 1 20

Sandboxing problems when running under a parallel-installed glibc?

I run Firefox on a retro Linux system that is currently running a personal "Frankenbuntu". Basically, Kubuntu 14.04 LTS with lots of components updated either "in-tree" o… (read more)

I run Firefox on a retro Linux system that is currently running a personal "Frankenbuntu". Basically, Kubuntu 14.04 LTS with lots of components updated either "in-tree" or via a pkgsrc-like collection of "ports" installed under /opt/local that includes GTk3, Mesa, VAAPI plugins etc. I use that tree with a combination of built-in rpath settings (for apps installed under /opt/local) and wrapper scripts setting LD_LIBRARY_PATH, so as to maintain the possibility to run system apps independently, in particular while booting. (Sounds complicated, but it's also a rewarding fun project for me, allowing me to keep using an old and familiar DE with modern features on 2017 hardware,)

I have never yet dared to update my glibc from the stock 2.19, so with every Firefox update I fear to run into problems with that. I do have a 2.27 build but that is installed in another parallel prefix (/opt/glibc/2) because one cannot simply use LD_LIBRARY_PATH to use a newer glibc (I think because the ELF interpreter, ld-linux.so, has to match).

I already use patchelf with success to change the ELF interpreter to the 2.27 one, for instance with Ferdium, a Node/Electron application. This works and as far as I can tell, it will load all Mesa and DRI components from my /opt/local tree so hw-accelerated video works as it should.

But when I try this with Firefox, I get what appears to be a sandboxing issue when attempts are made to load Mesa DRI libraries: ``` libva info: VA-API version 1.24.0 libva info: Trying to open /opt/local/lib/dri/iHD_drv_video.so libva info: Found init function __vaDriverInit_1_23 [GFX1-]: VideoBridgeParent receives IPC close with reason=AbnormalShutdown MESA-LOADER: failed to open iris: libsensors.so.4: cannot open shared object file: Permission denied (search paths /opt/local/lib/dri, suffix _dri) failed to load driver: iris MESA-LOADER: failed to open kms_swrast: libsensors.so.4: cannot open shared object file: Permission denied (search paths /opt/local/lib/dri, suffix _dri) failed to load driver: kms_swrast MESA-LOADER: failed to open swrast: libsensors.so.4: cannot open shared object file: Permission denied (search paths /opt/local/lib/dri, suffix _dri) failed to load swrast driver libva info: VA-API version 1.24.0 libva info: Trying to open /opt/local/lib/dri/iHD_drv_video.so libva info: Found init function __vaDriverInit_1_23 [GFX1-]: VideoBridgeParent receives IPC close with reason=AbnormalShutdown ``` Copying libsensors into /opt/local/lib turns the above error into the same one about the next library available in the system (/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libtinfo.so.5). The DRI module I actually need (iHD) does load but I still get the GFX abnormal shutdown error. I've tried the interpreter change in other applications using libva and don't see the issue.

I do see this in the syslog: ``` Aug 31 15:18:47 Bmbl kernel: [2043645.959690] MediaSu~isor #1[17692]: segfault at 290 ip 00007f2b0815b284 sp 00007f2ad913e990 e rror 4 in ld-2.29.so[7f2b0814f000+21000] Aug 31 15:18:47 Bmbl kernel: [2043645.959702] Code: 04 49 83 fc 06 44 0f 44 c8 81 e6 ff 7f 00 00 45 89 8f 08 04 00 00 48 8d 04 76 4d 89 b7 00 04 00 00 4c 8d 04 c7 4d 85 c0 74 0f <41> 8b 48 08 b8 00 00 00 00 85 c9 4c 0f 44 c0 41 8b 3e 6a 00 48 8d Aug 31 15:18:47 Bmbl kernel: [2043646.080407] MediaSu~isor #1[17732]: segfault at 290 ip 00007f2b0815b284 sp 00007f2ad913e990 e rror 4 in ld-2.29.so[7f2b0814f000+21000] ```

Any idea why this is, and what can be done to prevent this, beyond actually updating my system glibc? I'd have no problems disabling sandboxing.

Open 3

Be careful. Something doesn’t look right. Firefox spotted a potentially serious security issue with ib.postbank.ir. Someone pretending to be the site could try to steal things like credit card info, passwords, or emails.

Be careful. Something doesn’t look right. Firefox spotted a potentially serious security issue with ib.postbank.ir. Someone pretending to be the site could try to steal t… (read more)

Be careful. Something doesn’t look right.

Firefox spotted a potentially serious security issue with ib.postbank.ir. Someone pretending to be the site could try to steal things like credit card info, passwords, or emails.

Open 2

I want to block pop-up windows and third-party redirects.

I want to block pop-up windows and third-party redirects. When i open settings and then Privacy and Security i do not see an option for this When i search for this i get … (read more)

I want to block pop-up windows and third-party redirects.

When i open settings and then Privacy and Security i do not see an option for this

When i search for this i get this reponse: Sorry! There are no results in Settings for “pop-up third-party redirects”.

My question is a. Does firefox have such a setting? b. If so where have you hidden it?

dave

Open 1

How do I report a virus attack on Firefox?

I got an email, supposedly from Microsoft with an update on its terms, from a microsoft.com email address. I clicked on it and it went to a Captcha window. Trying to cl… (read more)

I got an email, supposedly from Microsoft with an update on its terms, from a microsoft.com email address. I clicked on it and it went to a Captcha window. Trying to click on the items (in my case, bicycles in the pictures) triggered multiple warnings that my computer was under an attack and that seven viruses were reported, and I should re-up my subscription with McAffee. I had Trend antivirus enacted on my computer, but discovered the plan was ended by Best Buy and there was no update or way to continue it. I continued to get the notices and clicking on the recommendations to run scans and update McAffee continued to trigger notices of attack. I reactivated my McAffee program, rebooted my computer and opened with Microsoft Edge instead of Firefox. No notices of attack appeared. I ran Windows Update and learned my Windows Defender was current and a scan showed no viruses. The notices of attack only appear when I try to use Firefox. I tried to delete Firefox to see if reinstalling it would resolve the problem but it only allows me to "Refresh" Firefox. What is going on here?

Solved 2

Can you stop mozilla firefox pop ups that claim a fake Trojan virus?

I have been getting Mozilla Firefox pop ups that claim my computer has a Trojan virus. I have updated Windows 11 and run a full scan. My computer is clean. They are tryin… (read more)

I have been getting Mozilla Firefox pop ups that claim my computer has a Trojan virus. I have updated Windows 11 and run a full scan. My computer is clean. They are trying to force me to buy McAfee.

Open 3

VPN Noth Exactly Supported....

Beta version: 154.0b4 (Build #2016175530 (likely idetified by build; Android)) Unknoweth information: 417aa9ed4ebb4396acab5d3cd96ef12050534cda GV: 154.0-20260729090538 AS… (read more)

Beta version: 154.0b4 (Build #2016175530 (likely idetified by build; Android)) Unknoweth information: 417aa9ed4ebb4396acab5d3cd96ef12050534cda GV: 154.0-20260729090538 AS: 154.0.1

Why for VPN yet noth any way to keep it on, please? Why needeth turn it on manually without ability keeping it on, please? Why for noth compatiblities other VPN on smaller than netbook mobile devices, please? Why for defentions/defendtions (defending) anonymity for nigh a score ½ yet noth many compatibilities for smaller/handheld computers, please? Thank yiz in advance. God[s] bless/speed!! (ILY sign language emoticon)

Open 1