Tag: firefox

Mozilla moves Firefox to a 2-week release cycle in September

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

Google announced plans some time ago to move Chromium to a 2-week release cycle to bring features quicker to users. While that does not mean that there will be more Chrome releases, it means that the main version of the browser increases twice as fast.

Mozilla announced on the official Dev Platform group that it will move Firefox development to a 2-week release cycle as well. However, Mozilla notes that this will be an experimental shift, one that it plans to monitor closely to find out if it is beneficial.

Starting with Firefox 155, which Mozilla plans to release on September 1, 2026 and not on September 15, 2026 anymore, Firefox will see a version bump every two weeks.

We are planning to move Firefox Desktop and Android from a 4-week release cadence to a 2-week release cadence starting in September 2026.

This will be an experiment. The goal is to give work that is ready to ship more frequent opportunities to reach users, while making the release process more predictable and reducing pressure on uplifts.

This does not mean that all work needs to ship twice as fast. Work that is not ready should not be rushed, and features can still take the time they need to bake.

Mozilla says that features shouldn’t and won’t get rushed when the change hits. If a feature is not ready, it should not be included in a release just like before.

For users, the main change is that Mozilla may bring some features earlier to Firefox users and that the version of the browser increases twice as fast. Firefox ESR users won’t see a change, as that version is not affected by the change.

Firefox 152 is out with JPEG XL support, new Settings layout, and much more

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

Mozilla released Firefox 152 Stable a moment ago. The new version of the open source web browser includes security fixes as well as new features and changes. The two extended support versions, Firefox 140.12 ESR and 115.37.0 ESR for legacy systems have also been updated.

The big visual feature of Firefox 152 is the new Settings page. The goal of the redesign was to streamline the page, improve grouping and navigation. Mozilla says the change is visual only, meaning that user settings were not changed and that all settings remain available.

One effect that you may notice immediately is that the average number of preferences per page has been reduced. Means, less scrolling. You can still use the built-in search to find a preference quickly.

Here is an overview of other important features in the release:

  • Firefox supports JPEG XL now. The image format is not enabled by default, but you can enable it under Settings > Firefox Labs > Webpage Display > Media: JPEG XL: This adds support for the image format, so that the browser can render it.
  • Firefox Translations supports Basque and Galician now.
  • The languages Croatian, English (UK), Georgian, Persian, Slovenian, Tajik, Tamil, Tibetan, Turkish, Welsh, and Xhosa now come with a built-in dictionary for the Firefox spellchecker.
  • Context menu video controls are now available on sites like TikTok or Instagram. These were blocked on the sites previously.
  • Private browsing now supports temporarily disabling the protection on a specific site. The idea is to use this to display sites correctly in Firefox which would otherwise be broken because of the protective features. Whether that is indeed a good idea or giving sites an incentive to break functionality accidently remains to be seen.
  • Links can be copied via a right-click on a tab and the selection of Share > Copy Link on Linux and Windows now. This works, even when the site is not active. You can also copy multiple link paths when several sites are selected.

The official release notes list a few useful changes next to that:

  • Zooming in Firefox via the keyboard or mouse now offers “more zoom levels in smaller increments”.
  • Downloaded PDFs are opened in a background tab, if you close the original page or switched tabs.

Firefox 152 is a security update. Mozilla lists 40 fixed security issues on the security page. The severity is high, there is no critical fix and no 0-day issue that is already exploited in the wild. Still, it is highly recommended to upgrade as soon as possible to fix the security holes.

Most unmanaged Firefox installations will receive the new update automatically. You can download the update immediately either by opening Firefox and going to Menu > Help > About Firefox, or by downloading the latest version from the Mozilla website.

uBlock Origin extension bypasses no longer working in Chrome: your options

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

We all knew that the time would eventually come. Google is removing bypasses in Chromium and Google Chrome that allowed users to run legacy extensions in the browser.

Google moved to a new extension rules system, called Manifest V3, which turned out to be a very controversial move. The company claimed that this was all for performance and security, but the change had the fortunate side effect that it would impact content blocker extensions more than any other extension type.

Google modified the rule set several times, which would have killed content blockers more or less in the beginning, and content blockers continue to be available.

However, Chrome users who have enabled bypasses to continue using these extensions will soon realize that they can’t anymore. The reason is simple: Google removed them.

This is not the end of content blocking in Chrome and other Chromium-based browsers. Here are the options that you have going forward:

  • Switch to a MV3 extension: Browser extensions such as uBlock Origin Lite are available. These continue to block ads in Chrome, but they lack some of the advanced features of the classic blocker.
  • Use a Chromium-based browser that continues to support MV3 extensions: Brave, Vivaldi and Opera all pledged to support MV2 extensions going forward. It remains to be seen whether this is going to be the case once the bypasses are removed.
  • Switch to Firefox: Firefox supports MV2 and MV3 extensions. You can install uBlock Origin in Firefox and get the best level of protection out of any version of the extension.
  • Use a browser with a built-in content blocker: Plenty of options, Brave, Opera or Vivaldi all come with the functionality.

Mozilla is giving away unlimited VPN bandwidth in Firefox

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

Firefox VPN is a built-in browser proxy to browse anonymously in the open source browser. It is a free service that protects your device’s IP address by routing traffic through secure servers.

While not as powerful as standalone VPN services, which protect all activity on a device, it is a handy privacy feature nevertheless. Users should not confuse it with Mozilla VPN, which is a device-wide VPN service that is not free.

Mozilla increased the available bandwidth for free users to 50 gigabytes recently. That is a generous amount already. This week, the organization announced another, temporary, increase of the VPN bandwidth.

Bandwidth is unlimited until September 1, 2026, according to the blog post. So, if you really need a lot of bandwidth, for instance for massive downloads or media streams, then this should get you through the coming months without ever worrying about hitting bandwidth limits.

In addition, users may connect to more than 25 different exit regions when they use the browser VPN.

The full set of countries available during this summer period include: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Portugal, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Thailand, Norway, South Africa, United Kingdom and United States.

Firefox’s built-in VPN supports turning off the secure connection for specific sites. That’s useful in some cases, for example, when sites do not work properly while the VPN is active.

All in all, if you do not use a VPN service already, this one may be an option to upgrade your privacy on the Internet.

Firefox 151 ships with a new tab page and improved privacy protections

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

Mozilla released a new major stable version of its open source Firefox web browser on May 19th, 2026. Firefox 151 includes several new features and changes, including a new Firefox Home page (new tab page), an option to clear all data in private sessions, and more.

Most Firefox users should receive the update automatically via the built-in updating functionality. Those who do not want to wait can launch the browser and go to Menu > Help > About Firefox to run a manual check for updates. The update to version 151.0 should be picked up at that point and installed automatically.

The very first thing you may — or may not — notice after the mandatory restart is the new home page of the browser. Mozilla says that this is just the first step in a wider redesign of the new tab page. For now, you can play around with new wallpapers by clicking on the pencil icon on the page to customize what you see.

On the privacy front, there are two main changes:

  • A new button in private sessions. Activate the fire-button in the taskbar to get an option to clear all data in the private session and start anew. Previously, you had to close the session and start a new one to do that. Mozilla reveals that this will delete the history, cookies, and all other site data when executed.
  • Protection against fingerprinting. The standard enhanced tracking protection feature of the open source browser now protects against fingerprinting attempts as well. This limits the data that scripts and sites may retrieve about the device and browser by up to 49 percent. Standard is the default mode. Previously, this was limited to the strict tracking protection setting.

Other than that, Linux users may now also back up Firefox profiles locally, just like Windows users. Best of all, these backed up profiles can be restored across platforms. The built-in browsing proxy, which Mozilla calls a VPN for marketing reasons, now supports choosing a location rather than connecting to one that Mozilla picks automatically.

While the selection is limited in comparison to many standalone VPN tools and the rollout is happening over time, it is a welcome addition that should improve the feature for some Firefox users.

Firefox 151, and the simultaneously released ESR-versions, fix several security issues on top of that. The aggregate rating is high and you can check out the list for the stable version here.

Expect more Firefox updates in the future, beginning with Firefox 151

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

Mozilla releases a new stable version of its open source Firefox web browser every four weeks. This new version introduces new features, bug and security fixes. Up until now, smaller updates were released between two major releases.

These point updates do not include new features usually but fix security issues and/or non-security issues. The releases were not predictable up until now. While you could almost be certain that a point update would be released, it was never really certain when.

This changes with the release of Firefox 151. Mozilla is switching to the same point update release rhythm that Google uses for its Chrome web browser currently.

Put simply, Mozilla plans to release a point update every week going forward. This means three Firefox point releases at the very same day of the week in-between major releases. Three point updates will follow the release of Firefox 151 and any other major browser release that follows.

The organization confirmed the change on the official Wiki (via Sören Hentzschel):

Starting with Fx151, we now have 3 weekly dot releases for Desktop and Android
Release calendar updates will be live shortly

Other than that, there is no explanation from Mozilla regarding the change yet. Considering that Google announced recently to shorten Chrome release cycles to two weeks, it is likely an attempt to stay ahead of major developments and push out fixes faster to the user base.

With AI helping Mozilla find security issues in Firefox, it is probably one reason why the organization decided to push out more updates to get these fixes on user systems as soon as possible.

This is the new Firefox design that is currently in testing

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

News leaked some time ago that Mozilla was working on a new design for its open source Firefox web browser. Now, with the most recent version of the cutting edge Nightly browser comes the first glimpse of that new design.

However, the new Firefox design is not enabled by default and it may take some time before that is going to be the case.

What is Project Nova?

Internally dubbed Project Nova, this redesign departs from Firefox’s current aesthetic in favor of a much softer, modern interface heavily characterized by rounded elements. The most striking changes include the address bar and tabs, which now sit within a segmented, “floating island” UI element.

Additionally, web page content no longer sits flush against the edges of the browser window; instead, it is elegantly framed within a rounded container. Combined with curved hover effects and refreshed icons, Nova gives Firefox a noticeably more fluid and approachable appearance.

Beyond its structural changes, the Nova redesign introduces a fresh splash of personality through customizable pastel gradients and vibrant color accents on the new tab page and menus. As the major successor to the “Proton” UI introduced in 2021, Nova also brings functional layout updates, including improved integration for vertical tabs, a built-in compact mode to decrease UI spacing, and a revamped settings page.

How to enable Nova in Firefox

Make sure that you have installed the latest version of Firefox Nightly. Nova will come to Beta and Stable Firefox eventually, but this may take some time. If you want to give Nova a try right now, you need the development version.

  1. Load about:config in the Firefox address bar.
  2. Search for browser.nova.enabled.
  3. Use the toggle at the end of the line to set the preference to True.
  4. Restart Firefox.

If all worked out, you should see first bits of the new design in action.

It is not the biggest of re-designs at the moment. In fact, depending on the theme and website, you may not even notice that much has changed to begin with.

Firefox

Firefox 150.0.1 is out with a Facebook fix and security patches

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

Mozilla released point updates for its open source Firefox web browser yesterday evening. The updates are available for all three supported stable versions of the browser:

  • Firefox 150.0.1
  • Firefox 140.10.1 ESR
  • Firefox 115.35.1 ESR

However, only the main stable release, Firefox 150.0.1 is getting bug fixes and security patches. The two extended support release versions do get the security fixes only.

Here are the fixed security issues:

  • CVE-2026-7320: Information disclosure due to incorrect boundary conditions in the Audio/Video component
  • CVE-2026-7322: Memory safety bugs fixed in Firefox ESR 115.35.1, Firefox ESR 140.10.1 and Firefox 150.0.1
  • CVE-2026-7323: Memory safety bugs fixed in Firefox ESR 140.10.1 and Firefox 150.0.1
  • CVE-2026-7324: Memory safety bugs fixed in Firefox 150.0.1

The changes in Firefox 150.0.1

Mozilla lists five non-security fixes and a change in the official release notes:

  • Fixed issues accessing Facebook and other unnamed websites on systems with Bitdefender security software installed.
  • Fixed an issue where a geolocation permission prompt would be shown again on a second attempt.
  • Fixed an issue that prevented tabs to be added to older saved tab groups.
  • Fixed a drop-down menu display issue that had them show all list items at once.
  • Fixed a zooming issue on macOS and Windows that caused some borders and outlines on some page elements to disappear.

The change affects Firefox indirectly only. Mozilla increased the email masks limit of its Relay service to 50 for free users. The previous limit was five.

The new versions are available already. Most non-managed systems should get the updates automatically, but you can speed up the installation by selecting Menu > Help > About Firefox.

Firefox

How to enable Firefox’s secret ad-blocker

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

For years, I asked myself why Mozilla did not add a good content blocker to Firefox. It would be a great fit. An organization that values privacy, an open source browser that blocks most tracking out of the box.

However, for Mozilla, integrating a content blocker would also mean torpedoing its main revenue stream coming from Google.

Mozilla never made the step and others, including Brave, led by Mozilla’s ex-CEO, stepped in to fill that gap.

This changed recently

Mozilla did integrate Brave’s Rust-based adblock engine into its Firefox browser. More precisely, it is part of Firefox 149 and Mozilla describes it as a prototype rich content blocking feature.

It is not yet available as an option in the user-facing interface, let alone as something similar to the Shield feature of Brave. Still, users who run Firefox 149 can enable the content blocker and make use of it right away for testing.

Here is how that works:

  1. Load about:config in the Firefox address bar.
  2. Search for privacy.trackingprotection.content.protection.enabled
  3. Set the value to True with a click on the toggle on its right.
  4. Search for privacy.trackingprotection.content.protection.test_list_urls.
  5. Paste https://easylist.to/easylist/easylist.txt|https://easylist.to/easylist/easyprivacy.txt as the value.
  6. Restart Firefox

This enables two EasyLists, but you can add any other list that uses the same format. Separate lists with the character |.

Clearly, this is done for testing purposes. Mozilla would very likely add controls to the preferences or another user facing interface to make this easier to configure and use.

For now, it is a work in progress implementation, but one that shows that Mozilla could finally integrate what many users of its browser have wanted (or did not know they wanted) for a long time.

Mozilla fixed 271 vulnerabilities in Firefox 150 thanks to AI

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

When Mozilla released Firefox 150 earlier this week, it revealed that it had fixed what looked like the usual number of security issues in the browser. However, what Mozilla did not tell at the time was that it had fixed a significant number of vulnerabilities.

A post on the official Mozilla blog reveals that engineers fixed 271 vulnerabilities in total, a significant number. However, this time, Mozilla’s engineers did not hunt for vulnerabilities using traditional means. Instead, the company used Anthropic’s Mythos AI to do so.

Mozilla writes:

As part of our continued collaboration with Anthropic, we had the opportunity to apply an early version of Claude Mythos Preview to Firefox. This week’s release of Firefox 150 includes fixes for 271 vulnerabilities identified during this initial evaluation.

So, what is Claude Mythos?

Claude Mythos is a powerful, unreleased frontier AI model developed by Anthropic. Announced in April 2026, it is famous—and highly controversial—for its unprecedented capabilities in cybersecurity, specifically its ability to autonomously hunt down and exploit software vulnerabilities.

This is not the first time that Mozilla used an AI from Anthropic for that purpose. Back in February 2026, it used Claude and discovered 22 “security-sensitive bugs”.

Mozilla says that this is great news for software developers and what it calls defenders, legitimate developers who need to secure their applications against a constant barrage of threats.

While the use of AI continues to be controversial, it is usually ethical and privacy concerns that are raised. Good uses for AI, like using it to discover vulnerabilities before the bad guys find them, is probably something that most might not find nearly as problematic.

I would not go as far and say that the days of the 0-day threats are numbered, as Mozilla does, but it looks as if it can help. Still, threat actors could also leverage AI tools for finding vulnerabilities.