Author Topic: Interesting Software and System News  (Read 2817212 times)

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Offline DavidR

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Re: Interesting Software and System News
« Reply #4830 on: July 03, 2019, 07:43:19 PM »
@  alanb
No problem, whilst I'm nowhere as familiar as you with the inner workings of Firefox. 

From what I have read in these forums and other links some provided by yourself (if I remember correctly), I know this wasn't an issue of Mozillas making.  So I couldn't let that be the impression.
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Offline bob3160

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Re: Interesting Software and System News
« Reply #4831 on: July 03, 2019, 09:36:04 PM »
I'm still not clear as to why when Mozilla does something different then the others,
Mozilla is correct and all the others are wrong. ???
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Offline DavidR

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Re: Interesting Software and System News
« Reply #4832 on: July 03, 2019, 10:11:46 PM »
I'm still not clear as to why when Mozilla does something different then the others,
Mozilla is correct and all the others are wrong. ???

You have to have been following it from when it first occurred to have an idea of what happened.  The whole idea of HTTPS is to prevent snooping on encryption of data between the user and the site they are visiting.  AVs want to have a position as the MITM (Man In The Middle) to intercept and scan that traffic.

So it is pretty essential that Security software companies understand how browsers prevent these MITM type interceptions so they don't get broken.

Mozilla had previously made it clear what the AV companies were doing wrong which had the effect of breaking access to HTTPS sites because the Security Certificate wasn't correctly placed.  This by all accounts is still happening in some cases.  Hence the requirement to do something to manage this more graciously, not to penalise the end user, who are more likely to blame the browser rather than their own antivirus program.
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Offline bob3160

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Re: Interesting Software and System News
« Reply #4833 on: July 03, 2019, 10:38:34 PM »
I'm still not clear as to why when Mozilla does something different then the others,
Mozilla is correct and all the others are wrong. ???

You have to have been following it from when it first occurred to have an idea of what happened.  The whole idea of HTTPS is to prevent snooping on encryption of data between the user and the site they are visiting.  AVs want to have a position as the MITM (Man In The Middle) to intercept and scan that traffic.

So it is pretty essential that Security software companies understand how browsers prevent these MITM type interceptions so they don't get broken.

Mozilla had previously made it clear what the AV companies were doing wrong which had the effect of breaking access to HTTPS sites because the Security Certificate wasn't correctly placed.  This by all accounts is still happening in some cases.  Hence the requirement to do something to manage this more graciously, not to penalise the end user, who are more likely to blame the browser rather than their own antivirus program.
This 'problem' isn't evident in most of the other browsers so why are they able to function without any problems?
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Offline DavidR

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Re: Interesting Software and System News
« Reply #4834 on: July 03, 2019, 11:57:55 PM »
I'm still not clear as to why when Mozilla does something different then the others,
Mozilla is correct and all the others are wrong. ???

You have to have been following it from when it first occurred to have an idea of what happened.  The whole idea of HTTPS is to prevent snooping on encryption of data between the user and the site they are visiting.  AVs want to have a position as the MITM (Man In The Middle) to intercept and scan that traffic.

So it is pretty essential that Security software companies understand how browsers prevent these MITM type interceptions so they don't get broken.

Mozilla had previously made it clear what the AV companies were doing wrong which had the effect of breaking access to HTTPS sites because the Security Certificate wasn't correctly placed.  This by all accounts is still happening in some cases.  Hence the requirement to do something to manage this more graciously, not to penalise the end user, who are more likely to blame the browser rather than their own antivirus program.
This 'problem' isn't evident in most of the other browsers so why are they able to function without any problems?

I can't speak for other browsers as I don't use them.

I also didn't have a problem on my XP Pro system as:
1.  It uses Avast 18.5.xxxx
2.  It uses an old version of Firefox ESR 52.9.0 (32-bit).

I also didn't have a problem that I can recall on my win10 system, but I believe I made a change the the firefox about:config settings.

But it is most certainly Avasts task to ensure that it does work, in much the same way as it has to with the AOS firefox add-on.
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Offline bob3160

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Re: Interesting Software and System News
« Reply #4835 on: July 04, 2019, 12:10:34 AM »
I personally don't recall ever having a problem.
I also only use Firefox for testing compatibility and other things.
It isn't my default browser.
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Offline DavidR

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Re: Interesting Software and System News
« Reply #4836 on: July 04, 2019, 12:18:29 AM »
I personally don't recall ever having a problem.

I also only use Firefox for testing compatibility and other things.

It isn't my default browser.

2.  Perhaps Avast should take a leaf out of your book :)
Like run the Alpha, nightly and beta builds of Firefox (and other browsers) to get an early warning of potential problems.
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Offline alanb

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Re: Interesting Software and System News
« Reply #4837 on: July 06, 2019, 06:46:19 PM »
Quote
This 'problem' isn't evident in most of the other browsers so why are they able to function without any problems?

Because Chromium-based browsers implicitly trust the OS's root Certificate Store.

Gecko-based browsers have an additional, curated list of trusted CAs.  This allows Mozilla to easily blacklist expired/rogue/compromised certificates.

Avast used a heavy-handed (and unsupported) method of crowbarring their certificate into Mozilla-based browsers (despite advice to the contrary from Mozilla).

The quick solution for all Firefox (and forked) browsers is to set the preference
Code: [Select]
security.enterprise_roots.enabled to TRUE.  It will then implicitly trust the OS's root Certificate Store which makes Avast's hack unnecessary (tested).

Offline bob3160

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Re: Interesting Software and System News
« Reply #4838 on: July 06, 2019, 07:11:54 PM »
Quote
This 'problem' isn't evident in most of the other browsers so why are they able to function without any problems?

Because Chromium-based browsers implicitly trust the OS's root Certificate Store.

Gecko-based browsers have an additional, curated list of trusted CAs.  This allows Mozilla to easily blacklist expired/rogue/compromised certificates.

Avast used a heavy-handed (and unsupported) method of crowbarring their certificate into Mozilla-based browsers (despite advice to the contrary from Mozilla).

The quick solution for all Firefox (and forked) browsers is to set the preference
Code: [Select]
security.enterprise_roots.enabled to TRUE.  It will then implicitly trust the OS's root Certificate Store which makes Avast's hack unnecessary (tested).
Isn't that basically what the Avast hack does?
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Offline DavidR

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Re: Interesting Software and System News
« Reply #4839 on: July 06, 2019, 07:51:08 PM »
Quote
This 'problem' isn't evident in most of the other browsers so why are they able to function without any problems?

Because Chromium-based browsers implicitly trust the OS's root Certificate Store.

Gecko-based browsers have an additional, curated list of trusted CAs.  This allows Mozilla to easily blacklist expired/rogue/compromised certificates.

Avast used a heavy-handed (and unsupported) method of crowbarring their certificate into Mozilla-based browsers (despite advice to the contrary from Mozilla).

The quick solution for all Firefox (and forked) browsers is to set the preference
Code: [Select]
security.enterprise_roots.enabled to TRUE.  It will then implicitly trust the OS's root Certificate Store which makes Avast's hack unnecessary (tested).
Isn't that basically what the Avast hack does?

No it isn't, Avast isn't making changes to the firefox about:config settings.

Quote from: alanb
Avast used a heavy-handed (and unsupported) method of crowbarring their certificate into Mozilla-based browsers (despite advice to the contrary from Mozilla).
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Offline Asyn

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Re: Interesting Software and System News
« Reply #4840 on: July 07, 2019, 08:13:29 AM »
Google is developing a ‘heavy ad’ blocker for Chrome
https://9to5google.com/2019/07/03/heavy-ad-blocker-chrome/
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Offline Asyn

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Re: Interesting Software and System News
« Reply #4841 on: July 10, 2019, 12:54:23 PM »
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Offline bob3160

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Re: Interesting Software and System News
« Reply #4842 on: July 10, 2019, 01:03:31 PM »
Mozilla blocks UAE bid to become an internet security guardian after hacking reports
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-cyber-mozilla/mozilla-blocks-uae-bid-to-become-an-internet-security-guardian-after-hacking-reports-idUSKCN1U42CA
Sounds like this belongs in the security section. :)
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Offline Asyn

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Re: Interesting Software and System News
« Reply #4843 on: July 10, 2019, 01:09:01 PM »
Mozilla blocks UAE bid to become an internet security guardian after hacking reports
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-cyber-mozilla/mozilla-blocks-uae-bid-to-become-an-internet-security-guardian-after-hacking-reports-idUSKCN1U42CA
Sounds like this belongs in the security section. :)
Not really, but feel free to repost it there. :)
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Offline Asyn

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Re: Interesting Software and System News
« Reply #4844 on: July 17, 2019, 07:48:23 AM »
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