Firefox’s batch of extensions was disabled yesterday and users had to utilize the browser without the usual add-ons. The stoppage occurred due to the termination of the intermediate signing certificate used to sign Mozilla extensions, according to the description on the browser’s bug tracker.
The same issue was around the corner three years ago as well, but because of ‘armagadd-on 2.0’ things were quickly solved.
However, there is a long-term solution now as well, but it works only if you are utilizing the Firefox Developer or Nightly base. Just set the ‘xpinstall.signatures.required” value to False and your extensions will start running again. You can find the setting under ‘about:config’.
The following fix is a bit annoying and requires much more as you’ll have to do it every time you open the browser, but if you are browsing on another variant of Firefox, it makes it a pro tem solution: enable add-on debugging and load every extension’s .xpi file by hand.
Later on, Kevin Beaumont, Mozilla’s security researcher, said that the users having the Tor browser should ensure that they keep the NoScript extension available so they can browse safely, as the problem has touched the installed-by-default extensions of that search engine too, and browsing without it enabled might disclose your information.
By 7.30 a.m. ET, the Mozilla team has revealed that a hotfix that re-enables the add-ons had been created, and because it was implemented in the background, users should do nothing in order to get it. However, if you didn’t receive it or want to make sure you have it, follow the guidance below to get the fix quickly:
Verify if you have the Studies (of Studies System) enabled by clicking on Firefox Preferences, then Privacy & Security, and next Allow Firefox to install and run studies.
After your add-ons have been activated, you can disable studies.
Henry Lares is still early into his career as tech reporter but has already had his work published in many major publications including Tech Crunch and the Huffington Post. In regards to academics, Henry earned an engineering degree from Apex Technical School. Henry has a passion for emerging technology and covers upcoming products and breakthroughs in science and tech.
