Close
  • Latest News
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Networking
  • Cybersecurity
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Storage
  • Sponsored
  • Mobile
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
Read Down
Sign in
Close
Welcome!Log into your account
Forgot your password?
Read Down
Password recovery
Recover your password
Close
Search
Logo
Logo
  • Latest News
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Networking
  • Cybersecurity
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Storage
  • Sponsored
  • Mobile
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
More
    Home Applications
    • Applications
    • Cybersecurity

    Mozilla Improves Web Browser Security With Firefox 61 Update

    By
    Sean Michael Kerner
    -
    June 26, 2018
    Share
    Facebook
    Twitter
    Linkedin
      Mozilla

      Mozilla announced the release of Firefox 61 on June 26, providing users of the open-source web browser with new features and patches for 18 security vulnerabilities.

      The Firefox 61 milestone comes just over a month since Firefox 60 was released on May 9 and is the fourth major update of Mozilla’s flagship browser thus far in 2018. Among the new features in Firefox 61 are improved performance capabilities that continue to build on the speed gains that the Firefox 57 Quantum release boasted in November 2017. In addition, tab management gets a boost in Firefox 61, enabling power users to manage browser tabs more effectively.

      “One of the most popular uses of browser extensions is to help users better manage their open tabs,” Matt “Potch” Claypotch, a developer and web platform advocate at Mozilla, wrote in a blog post. “Firefox 61 ships with new extension APIs to help power users use tabs more powerfully.”

      Another new feature in Firefox 61 is Tab Warming, which promises faster response time when switching between tabs, thanks to Firefox pre-emptively loading tabs as a mouse is hovered over the tab.

      Speed is further improved in Firefox 61 with the Parallel CSS (Cascading Style Sheet) Parsing capability. One of the first Quantum improvements that Mozilla deployed in Firefox is a new CSS engine that runs in parallel across multiple CPU cores. Firefox 61 adds more power to Quantum CSS by also parallelizing the parsing step, Claypotch said.

      “The extra horsepower pays real dividends on sites with large stylesheets and complex layout,” he wrote.

      Security 

      Security gets a boost in Firefox 61, thanks to default support for the Transport Layer Security (TLS )1.3 web encryption specification. TLS 1.3 became a proposed web standard in March, providing improved cryptographic security for data in transit across the web.

      Firefox 61 now also has new policy settings that will block access to FTP sub-resources hidden inside of web pages. File Transfer Protocol (FTP) is generally considered insecure as it does not encrypt data transfer.

      “The fundamental underlying problem with FTP is that any data transferred will be unencrypted and hence sent across networks in plain text, allowing attackers to steal, spoof and even modify the data transmitted,” wrote Christoph Kerschbaumer, content security tech lead at Mozilla, in a blog post. “To date, many malware distribution campaigns rely on compromising FTP servers, downloading malware on an end user’s device using the FTP protocol.”

      Patches

      Firefox 61 patches 18 security issues, with Mozilla rating six of the issues as having critical impact. 

      Among the critical issues is CVE-2018-12359, which is a buffer overflow issue; CVE-2018-12360, which is a use-after-free memory flaw; and CVE-2018-12361, which is in an integer overflow vulnerability. The other three critical Mozilla advisories (CVE-2018-5186, CVE-2018-5187 and CVE-2018-5188) are all identified as being memory safety bugs that could potentially be exploited to run arbitrary code.

      Sean Michael Kerner is a senior editor at eWEEK and InternetNews.com. Follow him on Twitter @TechJournalist.

      Sean Michael Kerner
      Sean Michael Kerner is an Internet consultant, strategist, and contributor to several leading IT business web sites.

      MOST POPULAR ARTICLES

      Android

      Samsung Galaxy XCover Pro: Durability for Tough...

      Chris Preimesberger - December 5, 2020 0
      Have you ever dropped your phone, winced and felt the pain as it hit the sidewalk? Either the screen splintered like a windshield being...
      Read more
      Cybersecurity

      Visa’s Michael Jabbara on Cybersecurity and Digital...

      James Maguire - May 17, 2022 0
      I spoke with Michael Jabbara, VP and Global Head of Fraud Services at Visa, about the cybersecurity technology used to ensure the safe transfer...
      Read more
      Cloud

      Yotascale CEO Asim Razzaq on Controlling Multicloud...

      James Maguire - May 5, 2022 0
      Asim Razzaq, CEO of Yotascale, provides guidance on understanding—and containing—the complex cost structure of multicloud computing. Among the topics we covered:  As you survey the...
      Read more
      Big Data and Analytics

      GoodData CEO Roman Stanek on Business Intelligence...

      James Maguire - May 4, 2022 0
      I spoke with Roman Stanek, CEO of GoodData, about business intelligence, data as a service, and the frustration that many executives have with data...
      Read more
      IT Management

      Intuit’s Nhung Ho on AI for the...

      James Maguire - May 13, 2022 0
      I spoke with Nhung Ho, Vice President of AI at Intuit, about adoption of AI in the small and medium-sized business market, and how...
      Read more
      Logo

      eWeek has the latest technology news and analysis, buying guides, and product reviews for IT professionals and technology buyers. The site’s focus is on innovative solutions and covering in-depth technical content. eWeek stays on the cutting edge of technology news and IT trends through interviews and expert analysis. Gain insight from top innovators and thought leaders in the fields of IT, business, enterprise software, startups, and more.

      Facebook
      Linkedin
      RSS
      Twitter
      Youtube

      Advertisers

      Advertise with TechnologyAdvice on eWeek and our other IT-focused platforms.

      Advertise with Us

      Menu

      • About eWeek
      • Subscribe to our Newsletter
      • Latest News

      Our Brands

      • Privacy Policy
      • Terms
      • About
      • Contact
      • Advertise
      • Sitemap
      • California – Do Not Sell My Information

      Property of TechnologyAdvice.
      © 2021 TechnologyAdvice. All Rights Reserved

      Advertiser Disclosure: Some of the products that appear on this site are from companies from which TechnologyAdvice receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site including, for example, the order in which they appear. TechnologyAdvice does not include all companies or all types of products available in the marketplace.

      ×