Sneaky Microsoft plug-in puts Firefox users at risk


Recommended Posts

Sneaky Microsoft plug-in puts Firefox users at risk

An add-on that Microsoft silently slipped into Mozilla's Firefox last February leaves that browser open to attack, Microsoft's security engineers acknowledged earlier this week.

One of the 13 security bulletins Microsoft released Tuesday affects not only Internet Explorer (IE), but also Firefox, thanks to a Microsoft-made plug-in pushed to Firefox users eight months ago in an update delivered via Windows Update.

"While the vulnerability is in an IE component, there is an attack vector for Firefox users as well," admitted Microsoft engineers in a post to the company's Security Research & Defense blog on Tuesday. "The reason is that .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 installs a 'Windows Presentation Foundation' plug-in in Firefox."

For the rest of the article

http://news.idg.no/cw/art.cfm?id=5CF0A4A7-...45F5A54F2136086

Consider that add-on uninstalled from my system. Idiots.

I just got the notice from Firefox today. Said the Microsoft.NET Framework Assistant and Windows Presentation Foundation would cause instability and you know what, I have noticed some hanging the last day or so with Firefox open that I never noticed before. Could be related or maybe not. Will see if the issue pops up again.

How do you remove plugins from the blocklist?

EDIT: Fixed. I had to turn off extensions.blocklist.enabled in about:config and reinstall the framework assistant. (Mozilla removed it from their repository. I found it here: http://mirror.atlanticmetro.net/mozilla/addons/9449/)

Do NOT block things on my computer without permission or a way to re-enable them, Mozilla.

Edited by GreyWolfSC
Probably.

It was also a .NET Framework 3.5 plugin getting installed on firefox anyway.

pretty much,yes

How do you remove plugins from the blocklist?

EDIT: Fixed. I had to turn off extensions.blocklist.enabled in about:config and reinstall the framework assistant. (Mozilla removed it from their repository. I found it here: http://mirror.atlanticmetro.net/mozilla/addons/9449/)

Do NOT block things on my computer without permission or a way to re-enable them, Mozilla.

your link is broken , remove the ")" from the end of the link

:)

I just got the notice from Firefox today. Said the Microsoft.NET Framework Assistant and Windows Presentation Foundation would cause instability and you know what, I have noticed some hanging the last day or so with Firefox open that I never noticed before. Could be related or maybe not. Will see if the issue pops up again.

same here, and also noticed my Firefox hanging recently. I'd prefer no Firefox secret installations from Microsoft if they are reading this ...

same here, and also noticed my Firefox hanging recently. I'd prefer no Firefox secret installations from Microsoft if they are reading this ...

It's not a secret Firefox installation. The plug-in is installed as part of the .NET Framework and Firefox picks it up automatically. If anything, we should complain to Mozilla for the browser not asking if the "found" plugin should be added. Their methodology could easily activate a hidden malware plugin the same way.

Strangely this morning when I turned my monitor on (My PC is on constantly) I had a warning from Firefox that it had disabled the Windows Foundation plugin (when checking the plugins it just says "known to cause security issues") and it directed me to the webpage https://en-gb.www.mozilla.com/en-GB/blocklist/

I just got the notice from Firefox today. Said the Microsoft.NET Framework Assistant and Windows Presentation Foundation would cause instability and you know what, I have noticed some hanging the last day or so with Firefox open that I never noticed before. Could be related or maybe not. Will see if the issue pops up again.

I got the message yesterday as well, right before firefox crashed on me. :no:

Mozilla is in your browser, disabling your addons ;)

screw that sh*t

its been all over the net how to disable/remove this Microsoft addon long before they enabled the option

i do not need Mozilla looking out for me

That's what I'm sayin'. I bet Mozilla wouldn't have liked it if Microsoft had uninstalled and blacklisted Firefox due to the crypto spoofing flaw.

This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
  • Posts

    • Hello, It would appear so, according to https://finance.yahoo.com/news/how-to-hide-your-home-on-google-maps-apple-maps-204146687.html. Regards, Aryeh Goretsky      
    • Hello, The Nvidia Founders Edition 3080 video card is approximately six years old, correct? Have you looked into whether replacement fans are available for it? Perhaps replacing those will improve cooling, especially when combined with cleaning the card's heatsink and replacing the thermal interface materials. Regards, Aryeh Goretsky  
    • Hello, While ~104 GB of space may seem generous (at least compared to other e-readers which have 8-32GB), I feel at this price point the device should have a Micro SDXC card slot for expansion, particularly if it allows audio books to be installed and played. I hope to see more reviews of 6" phone-sized e-readers on Neowin in the future. It will be interesting to see how they compare. Regards, Aryeh Goretsky
    • Sandboxie Plus 1.17.8 / Classic 5.72.8 by Razvan Serea Run programs in a sandbox to prevent malware from making permanent changes to your PC. Sandboxie allows you to run your browser, or any other program, so that all changes that result from the usage are kept in a sandbox environment, which can then be deleted later. Sandboxie is a sandbox-based isolation software for 32- and 64-bit Windows NT-based operating systems. It is being developed by David Xanatos since it became open source, before that it was developed by Sophos (which acquired it from Invincea, which acquired it earlier from the original author Ronen Tzur). It creates a sandbox-like isolated operating environment in which applications can be run or installed without permanently modifying the local or mapped drive. An isolated virtual environment allows controlled testing of untrusted programs and web surfing. Sandboxie is available in two flavors Plus and Classic. Both have the same core components, this means they have the same level of security and compatibility. What's different is the user interface the Plus build has a modern Qt based UI which supports all new features that have been added since the project went open source. The Classic build has the old no longer developed MFC based UI, hence it lacks support for modern features, these features can however still be used when manually configured in the Sandboxie.ini. Sandboxie Plus 1.17.8 / Classic 5.72.8 release notes: Added added DisableCustomTitleOpt=[process,][y|n] to allow [#] sandboxie title markers on custom-titlebar windows (Delphi VCL, Qt, Electron) that were previously skipped to prevent DWM repaint CPU loops #5387 Changed updated bundled ImDisk driver to 3.0.2 #5419 Fixed fix Suppress logs for expected non-user SIDs #5422 SbieSvc.exe: SBIE2218/2219 error when run program as administrator #5417 fixed explorer.exe crashes in Application Compartment when Huorong Security is installed #5423 Download: Sandboxie Plus (64-bit) | 23.5 MB (Open Source) Download: Sandboxie Classic (64-bit) | 3.0 MB Links: Sandboxie Website | GitHub | ARM64 | Screenshot Get alerted to all of our Software updates on Twitter at @NeowinSoftware
    • Hello, Christian Maas' XVI32 is a nice (and very small) hex editor. Speaking of hex editors, many years ago a colleague and I who both worked at Tribal Voice managed to edit a copy of the company's PowWow instant messaging client to make it behave better now that all of its lookup servers and other server-side tech was gone.  The program didn't support NAT (RFC-3022 was introduced in January 2001, the same time Tribal Voice was shuttered), but it still worked okay if you manually set up port-forwarding on your router.  The server at http://powwow.jazy.net/ hosts a copy (usual warnings about downloading and running untrusted code from random internet servers apply). I occasionally use some tools like Funduc Software's Search and Replace and Application Mover when I need to make mass-edits to text-based files or move programs with a hard-coded installation directories, respectively.  When I need to figure out the exact LCD panel inside of a laptop, EnTech Taiwan's Monitor Asset Manager is my go-to tool for that purpose. JD Design's website (now hosted on github.io) has a number of interesting freeware and shareware utilities.  I used to use their TouchPro utility to set the file timestamps on software I was mastering to match its version number (e.g., version 3.00 of a program had all of its files dates set to 3:00AM, and so forth). Karenware has a number of interesting freeware utilities, too. Regards, Aryeh Goretsky  
  • Recent Achievements

    • Week One Done
      Jeroen Wilms earned a badge
      Week One Done
    • Week One Done
      rolfus earned a badge
      Week One Done
    • One Month Later
      Leroy Jethro Gibbs earned a badge
      One Month Later
    • Conversation Starter
      flexorcist earned a badge
      Conversation Starter
    • One Month Later
      AndreaB earned a badge
      One Month Later
  • Popular Contributors

    1. 1
      +primortal
      509
    2. 2
      +Edouard
      198
    3. 3
      PsYcHoKiLLa
      138
    4. 4
      ATLien_0
      90
    5. 5
      Steven P.
      82
  • Tell a friend

    Love Neowin? Tell a friend!