This is an error issue that Firefox users on Firefox 115 like the 115.33.0esr you appear to be using may get. Firefox 115.33.0esr is based on the old Firefox 115.0 Release but with security/stability updates since.

The UserAgent you used to post this thread is Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.2; Win64; x64; rv:109.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/115.0

Now you say you have Windows 10 and when I see UA's with Windows 8 and not 7 or 8.1 it is usually because they were running Firefox in Windows 8 compatibility mode for some reason.

After unchecking run Firefox in compatibility mode, if you then do an internal Firefox update you will likely get updated to the current Firefox 140.8.0esr. If you prefer to have the current Firefox 148.0.2 Release then see https://www.firefox.com/download/all/

I've messed with this for days following all the online suggestions. Should have come to you right away! This solved my problem. Thanks so much for your prompt and helpful reply. Blessings,

Sorry I forgot a link on how to uncheck run in compatibility mode on Windows 10 though it seems you figured that out.

Feel free to ask a question like this early on as I have seen many cases where people asked such a question only to come back a bit later and say they figured out the cause and fix and and say what it was if nobody replied before then.

I am having the exact same problem at work where we are running ESR 140.2 under Linux which started on exactly May 5, 2026. Both Home Depot and Lowe's are problematic. Sometimes with just displaying things, other times with searching. One example error on search is:

Access Denied.

You don't have permission to access "http://www.lowes.com/search?" on this server.
Reference #18.91c83017.1778012290.529789e
https://errors.edgesuite.net/18.91c83017.1778012290.529789e

I have been unable to fix the problem so far. Tried various different user agents, disabling addons, nothing helps. Affects almost most users, although a few installs don't have the problem, even though they are all the same FF version, same Linux version, and all behind the same IP address (but might have slightly different settings). Doesn't affect Chromium (which I ran as a test on same machines). I haven't tested a stock/fresh install/profile (haven't had time yet).

We are speculating it might have something to do with the content delivery network they are using, perhaps trying to detect and deter bots? It is extremely frustrating, especially since the error message gives a useless edgesuite (whatever that is) link that doesn't help and there is no where/way to report it.

Other sites say it might be Akamai front-ends and to check https://www.akamai.com/clientrep-lookup but we have a good score there.

The above was caused by running in Windows compatibility mode. That is not your "exact same problem", even though the error reads the same.

There's a lot of threads for 115esr, and for Windows 7 in general — however that's not relevant for your deployment. And I definitely recall reports both from v140esr and v148–150, and/or Linux users, but all were resolved by updating, as this one: https://support.mozilla.org/questions/1573011

However, not always it's just the user agent, there were also blocks based on something like mangled cookies, that resolved with clean profiles, so it's worth a shot.

(Yes, it's Akamai, and yes, it's bot protection rules. They just provide the scoring, and the sites then decide themselves whether to reject service based on action taken, so for some it works on homepage but rejects search or login, or conversely the homepage is broken but going to login directly unblocks the session etc. — so just having the client IP clean on that Akamai link does not guarantee all their CDN/WAF customers will use the rules with the same weights. I've seen some previous internal tickets shared by people, that basically showed elevated risk scores for not being on the latest release version, and coming from Linux 🙈 …)

This one is longer running:

• https://support.mozilla.org/questions/1528001

and mentions a reply from their helpdesk only supporting the latest release, and not ESR 🤷

For some, changing the user agent worked like a charm. Surprisingly not with 140esr, but using 128esr seemed to work. I'd try again masquerading as something like v148 release on Mac that's close to the connection signatures of current ESRs, and see what the protections say.

This is a Mac user-agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X 10.15; rv:148.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/148.0

Oh, you mention 140.2.0esr … that's genuinely old:/ Can't you update to at least 140.8.0esr or whichever your packaging provides?