Firefox 10: UI Change, Add-on Compatibility, Enhanced Security
Version 10.0 of the very popular Firefox web browser has been released to the web. This new version comes with a small UI (user interface change), better add-on compatibility, and it plugs a few security holes.
If you’re already on Firefox, you should receive an automated update prompt; alternatively you can manually trigger an update by going to Help -> About Firefox. If you’re not using the browser, you can get Firefox 10 in your local language straight from Mozilla here.
The UI change I mentioned above refers to the Forward button – it is now hidden. Launch Firefox and access a site, and you will notice that the Forward button is nowhere to be seen. But the moment you press the Back button, it will show up.
Moving on, there were some add-on compatibility issues with Firefox 9. These have been fixed in Firefox 10. Most add-ons are now compatible with new versions of Firefox by default. My Ad Muncher add-on that was not compatible with Firefox 9 is now working fine on Firefox 10.
Firefox 10 also plugs a few security holes. Version 10.0 comes accompanied by a total of 8 security advisories; out of those 8 advisories, 1 is rated moderate, 2 are rated high, and the remaining 5 are critical. The critical advisories cover an exploitable crash when processing a malformed embedded XSLT stylesheet, potential memory corruption when decoding Ogg Vorbis files, XPConnect security checks being bypassed by frame scripts, a use after free error in child nodes from nsDOMAttribute, and a few memory safety problems.
Those are the new bits and pieces I wanted to focus on. If you want to find out what else is new in Firefox 10, here’s the complete list, as presented by the official release notes:
If you would like to learn more about the security advisories that accompany Firefox 10, visit Mozilla’s Security Center by clicking here.
If you’re already on Firefox, you should receive an automated update prompt; alternatively you can manually trigger an update by going to Help -> About Firefox. If you’re not using the browser, you can get Firefox 10 in your local language straight from Mozilla here.
The UI change I mentioned above refers to the Forward button – it is now hidden. Launch Firefox and access a site, and you will notice that the Forward button is nowhere to be seen. But the moment you press the Back button, it will show up.Moving on, there were some add-on compatibility issues with Firefox 9. These have been fixed in Firefox 10. Most add-ons are now compatible with new versions of Firefox by default. My Ad Muncher add-on that was not compatible with Firefox 9 is now working fine on Firefox 10.
Firefox 10 also plugs a few security holes. Version 10.0 comes accompanied by a total of 8 security advisories; out of those 8 advisories, 1 is rated moderate, 2 are rated high, and the remaining 5 are critical. The critical advisories cover an exploitable crash when processing a malformed embedded XSLT stylesheet, potential memory corruption when decoding Ogg Vorbis files, XPConnect security checks being bypassed by frame scripts, a use after free error in child nodes from nsDOMAttribute, and a few memory safety problems.
Those are the new bits and pieces I wanted to focus on. If you want to find out what else is new in Firefox 10, here’s the complete list, as presented by the official release notes:
- The forward button is now hidden until you navigate back
- Most add-ons are now compatible with new versions of Firefox by defaultAnti-Aliasing for WebGL is now implemented
- Anti-Aliasing for WebGL is now implemented
- CSS3 3D-Transforms are now supported
- New <bdi> element for bi-directional text isolation, along with supporting CSS properties
- Full Screen APIs allow you to build a web application that runs full screen
- We've added IndexedDB APIs to more closely match the specification
- Inspect tool with content highlighting, includes new CSS Style Inspector
- Mac OS X only - after installing the latest Java release from Apple, Firefox may crash when closing a tab with a Java applet installed
- Some users may experience a crash when moving bookmarks
If you would like to learn more about the security advisories that accompany Firefox 10, visit Mozilla’s Security Center by clicking here.
