The security vulnerability was discovered in February by Russian security researchers who did not communicate directly with the Mozilla development team. This was the main reason for the long patch development.

The patch has already been included in beta versions of Firefox 3.6.2 which currently undergo quality assurance tests before the final release.

Firefox 3.6 users who are concerned about the security vulnerability are asked to install the latest released beta version of Firefox 3.6.2 to protect their computer system from the remote exploit.

Another option is to use a different web browser for the time being until the official version of Firefox 3.6.2 has been released. We will inform you as usual as soon as we got our hands on the final release of Firefox 3.6.2 which sometimes is 24-48 hours before the official release announcement and the automatic update check notices the new release.

The latest beta of Firefox 3.6.2 which contains the security patch can be downloaded from the Mozilla ftp server.

This comes in addition to changes that have been introduced in the alpha 1 and alpha 2 releases of Firefox 3.7. Interested users can take a look at the release notes of the new Firefox development release for a complete overview of all changes that have been made in all Firefox 3.7 alpha versions.

• Performance An experimental Direct2D rendering backend on Windows is available, turned off by default.
• JavaScript Significant API improvements are available for JS-ctypes, a foreign function interface for extensions. ctypes.jsm now supports complex types including structures, pointers, and arrays.
• Stability Mozilla now uses an infallible allocator: if a request for memory cannot be fulfilled, the allocator aborts. This allows for simplification of the Mozilla code, as well as preventing a class of security errors with unchecked null pointers.
• Plugins Additional fixes for multi-process plugins:

  * crash and hang fixes;
  * the Foxit Reader and Octoshape plugins work correctly;
  * Performance improvements in the delivery of network streams.

The experimental Direct2D rendering backend is disabled by default. Firefox users need to perform the following operation to enable it in the Firefox 3.7 alpha 3 release.

1. Go to about:config
2. Click through the warning, if necessary
3. Enter ‘render’ in the ‘Filter’ box
4. Double-click on ‘gfx.font_rendering.directwrite.enabled’ to set it to true
5. Double click on ‘mozilla.widget.render-mode’, set the value to 6
6. Restart

The Firefox 3.7 alpha 3 download is listed directly in the release notes.

Only the beta changelogs of both new web browser versions are available at the Mozilla website which usually only list some of the updates of the new releases.

Interested users can access the Firefox 3.5.8 and 3.0.18 beta changelogs which do link to the Bugzilla page that lists all the updates in both releases.

Bugzilla lists three critical, three major and 13 normal bug fixes in Firefox 3.0.18 and nine critical, six major and 48 normal or minor bug fixes in Firefox 3.5.8. Both Firefox 3.5.8. and Firefox 3.0.18 will be offered for download at the Mozilla website and from within the web browser after performing a check for browser updates.

Users who do not want to wait that long can take a look at download portals like Betanews or Major Geeks who usually offer downloads for Firefox updates earlier than they are announced at Mozilla. It might also be a good idea to switch to the recently released Firefox 3.6 instead which is currently the newest official Firefox release.

The Firefox developers have announced last year that they want to adapt the multi-process design of those two browsers. The first step towards the goal has been made with the latest Firefox nightlies. These developer releases will now separate plugins into different processes. This means that users will see a Firefox process and processes for the plugins currently used (like Flash) in a process manager.

This new feature is currently available only for Firefox for Linux or Microsoft Windows. It comes with a few issues that the developers are aware of including:

The plugin-crash UI is not finished. The current UI is just a non-localized dialog so that we can get crash reports from nightly testers. This will be changed soon!
On Windows, tearing/repainting issues when scrolling, bug 535295
On Linux, compiz effects and Flash don’t work together on some systems, bug 535612
On Windows, selecting “Print” option in Flash may lock up Firefox, bug 538918
On Windows, hulu won’t switch to full-screen mode, bug 539658
On Linux with GTK+-2.18 or later, GDK assertions and a fatal XError, bug 540197
Firefox-process crashes at NPObjWrapper_NewResolve with silverlight and sometimes Flash, bug 542263

Firefox users who want to test the new multi-process architecture are asked to submit any bugs that they find to Bugzilla so that the developers can analyse and remove them from the web browser.

The new feature can be disabled by setting the firefox preference dom.ipc.plugins.enabled to false. (via Benjamin Smedbergs)

Is It Compatibly is a Firefox add-on that aids the Firefox user in assessing the add-on compatibility of the web browser. All the add-on does is to display the versions of Firefox that are compatible with each add-on in the browser’s add-on listing.

A Firefox user wanting to upgrade the web browser would simply check that listing prior to upgrading the web browser to see if the new version of Firefox is supported by the add-ons. This compatibility check is a semi-automatic process as the user needs to check the versions against the version of Firefox that will be installed on the computer system. This can take a while for users who have dozens of add-ons installed.

Is It Compatible is a helpful add-on for users who want to make sure that their add-ons are compatible with a new version of Firefox. The add-on itself is compatible with all Firefox 3.x versions and can be downloaded from the Mozilla website.

The release notes have not been updated yet and it is not easy to find information about the changes in the release candidate.

Firefox users who want to read up on the changes before updating their web browser to Firefox 3.6 RC1 might need to wait up to 48 hours before the release preparations have been completed. The release is currently only available at Mozilla ftp servers but it is likely that it will be picked up soon by download portals like Betanews who usually host new versions of the web browser before it is officially announced at the Mozilla website.

The missing release notes are an indication that it will take anywhere from 24-48 hours before the new version of Firefox 3.6 will get officially announced by Mozilla. This will also be the time frame for the discovery of the new version by the automatic update check in the web browser.

The new beta release could be related to the updates yesterday which would suggest that the update fixes security and stability issues in Firefox 3.6. The only option to know for sure is to wait until the developers are publishing information on the Mozilla website.

Users who want to update the web browser right away need to wait until it gets posted on various download portals which usually pick up the new releases faster than the official Mozilla page.

Users who are still on the Firefox 3.5.x branch should consider updating their web browser as soon as possible to fix the issues and protect their web browser from those crash reasons and attacks.

The version of Firefox 3.5.6. will be available for all supported operating systems and languages.

Mozilla has also released Firefox 3.0.16 which is in the same mirror distribution process right now. Several stability and security problems have been fixed in this version of Firefox as well and it is likely that those are the same that have been fixed in Firefox 3.5.6.

Interested users can take a look at the Bugzilla bug list for Firefox 3.5.6 and Firefox 3.0.16. to read up on all the fixes that have been applied to both versions.

A total of 24 bugs (including 7 critical, 3 major) have been fixed in Firefox 3.0.16. 62 bug fixes have been applied to Firefox 3.5.6 of including 11 critical and 6 major ones.

The web browser will automatically pick up the new version once it is announced by the updating service. Users who do not want to wait for that to happen can look at the various download portals (like betanews or Major Geeks) who usually host the new versions faster than they are officially announced.

Interested users can check out the list of changes in the release over at Bugzilla sorted by severity of the fix.

Firefox 3.6 beta 2 is available for download at the official Mozilla Firefox beta download page. It is available there for all supported operating systems and languages. Users who are already running an earlier version of Firefox 3.6 can also perform an update check in the Help menu to initiate the download and installation of the latest beta version directly from within the web browser.

The release notes are posted below:

What’s New in Firefox 3.6 Beta (revision 2)

Firefox 3.6 Beta is built on Mozilla’s Gecko 1.9.2 web rendering platform, which has been under development for several months and contains many improvements for web developers, Add-on developers and users. This version is also faster and more responsive than previous versions, and has been optimized to run on small device operating systems such as Windows CE and Maemo.

* More than 190 bug fixes from the last beta to improve performance, stability, security and features.
* This beta is available in more than 45 languages – get your local version.
* Users can now change their browser’s appearance with a single click, with built in support for Personas.
* Firefox 3.6 will alert users about out of date plugins to keep them safe.
* Open, native video can now be displayed full screen, and supports poster frames.
* Support for the WOFF font format.
* Improved JavaScript performance, overall browser responsiveness and startup time.
* Support for new CSS, DOM and HTML5 web technologies.

Have you been trying out Firefox 3.6 already? If so, what is your impression so far?

The release notes are – as usual – not up yet and the fixed bugs list at Bugzilla shows only four fixes in this latest version. One of the bugs that has been fixed was rated critical on the other hand with the other three rated as normal.

The description of the release on the Mozilla website states that it is a “short-cycle security and sustained engineering release to fix several top crashing bugs”. In other words a stability update for the web browser. The Firefox release schedule which we posted a few days ago indicates that the next version of the web browser (Firefox 3.5.6) will be released about a month from now on December 15.

We have uploaded the US-English version of Firefox 3.5.5:

Mac
Windows
Linux

Cautious users might want to wait until the official release announcement is public to update their browser from the official source.

• Users can now change their browser’s appearance with a single click, with built in support for Personas.
• Firefox 3.6 will alert users about out of date plugins to keep them safe.
• Open, native video can now be displayed full screen, and supports poster frames.
• Support for the WOFF font format.
• Improved JavaScript performance, overall browser responsiveness and startup time.
• Support for new CSS, DOM and HTML5 web technologies.

The most noticeable feature in Firefox 3.6 up to this point is the performance increase. New web technologies are great for web developers but websites that make use of them are still rare. The addition of Personas support – which brings the option to change the basic appearance of Firefox without restarting the web browser – raised questions by some users who preferred that it would remain an add-on that could be installed by the Firefox users who wanted the functionality. Now everyone, even those that never make use of the appearance changing features, are stuck with yet another module in Firefox.

Firefox 3.6 Beta 1 is available for direct download at the Mozilla website. Users who are tempted to try the latest version of the web browser should keep in mind that most add-ons will not work right out of the box. Installing an add-on like the Nightly Tester Tools is recommended to force compatibility.

The Firefox 3.5.4. release notes classify the update as a security and stability update making it an recommended update for every Firefox user. The full list of fixes and changes lists a total of 124 items with seven marked as critical and 13 as major. The Firefox 3.0.15 release notes list fewer items but still mention several security and stability fixes for that version of the web browser making it a recommended update as well.

It should also be noted that Firefox 2.x is no longer supported by the developers who ask users to update to the Firefox 3.x branch as the older branch contains known security and stability issues that are not (and will not be) fixed.

Both Firefox 3.5.4 and 3.0.15 are available from the Mozilla firefox website.

The beta release notes which are currently publicly available mention several security and stability fixes making the update a recommended update for every Firefox user currently working with the 3.5x branch. The bug list lists 43 bugs that have been fixed in this version of Firefox with nine bugs being rated as critical.

Firefox users who do not want to wait for the official release announcement can download the Us version of Firefox 3.5.3. from a file host where we have uploaded the installers to. Firefox 3.5.3 installers for all supported operating systems – that is Microsoft Windows, Linux and Apple Macintosh – have been added to the file host.

Interested users can check the bug list that was fixed in Firefox 3.5.3. Most software portals will soon host this version of Firefox as well on their pages. Cautious users might want to wait until the official release announcement has been made.

A reboot was required after the installation on a Windows system, cannot remember that this ever happened before.

That’s where the Mozilla developers began thinking about solutions for this problem. They quickly came up with the solution to test the version of the Adobe Flash plugin after Firefox updates. Regular Firefox users know that Firefox will open a what’s new page after an update. This what’s new page will contain the Adobe Flash version check.

Firefox users with an outdated version of Adobe Flash will receive the notification that it is outdated. This information contains a link that is directly pointing to the latest version of Adobe Flash at the Adobe website. Hopes are that many users who are running an outdated version of Flash will visit the Adobe website after a Firefox update to download the latest version of Adobe Flash to install it on their computer system.

Users who want to try the Flash check right now can visit the upcoming what’s new page for Firefox 3.5.3.

Ghacks readers can – as always – download the US-English version of Firefox early from a free file host. The new version of Firefox is hosted at Mediafire. Downloads for Microsoft Windows, Apple Macintosh and Linux are provided as a courtesy to my readers.

• Firefox 3.5.2 for Microsoft Windows
• Firefox 3.5.2 for Apple Macintosh
• Firefox 3.5.2 for Linux

The beta release notes of Firefox 3.5.2 mention several security and stability issues that have been fixed in the new version. This makes it a recommend update for all Firefox 3.5x users. A issue with images with ICC profiles has been fixed as well which now render properly on all computer monitors. The full list of bug fixes and issues can be accessed at Bugzilla.

Please be advised that there might be last minute changes to a release which would then not be covered in this current version of Firefox. While it is usually safe to download and install these releases it is advised to stay away from them if you are a cautious user. Wait for the official release announcement then.

The Mozilla Firefox team is currently distributing the Firefox 3.5.1 update to all mirror websites. It is expected to be announced publicly in the next 48 hours giving Firefox 3.5 users a change to update their web browser to fix the security vulnerability.

The release is not available on any of the popular download portals yet. We took the liberty to upload the US version of Firefox 3.5.1 for the Windows operating to a free file host from where it can be downloaded. Users who use a different operating system or language will have to wait a while longer before they can download and update their version of Firefox.

The big download portals are expected to offer Firefox 3.5.1 soon as a download on their website. Cautious users might want to wait until the new version has been announced officially by the Firefox team. Users who have applied the temporary workaround to Firefox 3.5 should undo the changes by doing the following:

Type in about:config in the Firefox address bar and hit enter. Now filter for the term javascript.options.jit.content and double-click it afterwards to set it to true which enables the Tracemonkey JavaScript engine.

Firefox 3.5.1 US for Windows can be downloaded from Mediafire.

Once the release has been officially announced it can be downloaded from the Mozilla website or by using the built in update checker in the web browser. Considering that the release of the third release candidate of Firefox 3.5 is just a few days ago it is likely that there are not many considerable changes in this version compared to the release candidate.

No changelog has been posted yet to verify this statement. We took the liberty to upload Firefox 3.5 final US for Windows users to a free file host from where it can be downloaded. Users who need other language or operating system installers of the web browser might need to wait until the release becomes officially announced or uploaded to download sites.

You might be interested in the Firefox 3.5 feature set if you have not been using Firefox 3.5 yet (as you might have been waiting for a final release before doing so). You can take a look at the features at the Mozilla Wiki.

Firefox 3.5 RC3 introduces several non-critical changes to the web browser including localization corrections, performance tweaks and changes to the Firefox icon. The final release of Firefox 3.5 is still expected to be released by the end of June. The third release candidate has already been uploaded to some major download sites such as Betanews from where the English version of Firefox 3.5 RC3 can be downloaded for all supported operating systems.

Cautious users are again encouraged to wait for the official Mozilla announcement before they start updating their web browser. The announcement is expected to hit the web in the next 24 hours.

Third party download sites are already hosting Firefox 3.5 RC2 so that users can download it from there without having to wait until the distribution of the release to all mirror servers has been finished. Users can download it from Major Geeks for example already.

No news yet on what changes have been added to Firefox 3.5 RC2 as the release notes have not been updated yet. Cautious users are encouraged to wait for the official announcement before they start downloading, installing and using Firefox 3.5 Release Candidate 2. Everyone else might just want to give it a try right now.

This version of Firefox seems to contain bugfixes which will be also included in the final release of Firefox 3.5. according to a post on the Mozilla Developer News blog. This update does fix the incompatibilities with the Wordpress blogging platform that were introduced with Firefox 3.5b99.

The release notes that have been written for the release candidate release of Firefox 3.5. also contain a download link which users can use to download and install the latest browser version. They do not reveal many information about this particular release though but concentrate on Firefox 3.5 Release Candidate information.

Firefox 3.5 RC1 should be definitely installed by users of previous versions of Firefox 3.5 especially those who have been stuck with 3.5b4 because of the bugs introduced in 3.5b99.