Firefox 117: native language translations, last Firefox 102 update and security fixes

Mozilla Firefox 117 is the latest version of the open source Firefox web browser. Launched on August 29, 2023, Firefox 117 ships with the new native language translation feature, enables credit card autofill functionality in additional locales, a new tab-key control on macOS devices, and a new preference that determines Shift-Righ-Click behavior on sites that display their own context menu.

Firefox 117 is a security update as well. It addresses 13 different vulnerabilities in the web browser, several of them rated with a high severity rating.  Firefox ESR 115.2 addresses 14 different security issues, with a severity rating of high or lower. Firefox 102.15, finally, addresses 6 different security issues, also with a severity rating of high or lower.

Executive Summary

• The native translate feature is included, but disabled by default.
• Firefox 117 is security update.
• The last point update for Firefox 102 ESR is released today. It will run out of support on September 26, 2023 when installations will be upgraded to Firefox 115 ESR automatically.

Firefox 117 download and update

Mozilla Firefox 117 is released via the web browser's updating system, and it is also available as a standalone download. Firefox users may select Menu > Help > About Firefox to display the current version that is installed on the device.

The update will be released on August 29, 2023. Depending on when you are reading this, it may not be yet available. Opening the About Firefox page runs a check for updates. Later today, Firefox should pick up the new version 117 and download it when opened.

Here are the official download locations:

• Firefox Stable download
• Firefox Beta download
• Nightly download
• Firefox ESR download
• Firefox for Android on Google Play

Firefox 117.0 new features and improvements

Native Translation feature

The native translate feature of the Firefox web browser is included in the Firefox 117 release. It is disabled by default and Mozilla labels it as beta at the moment. Mozilla plans to roll out the functionality in the coming weeks to Firefox users, and to enable it by default in Firefox 118 next month.

Firefox users may enable the translate feature in Firefox 117 right away, however:

1. Load about:config in the Firefox address bar.
2. Search for browser.translations.enable.
3. Set the status to True.
4. Restart Firefox.

Firefox displays a new translate icon in its address bar when a foreign language page is opened. A click on the icon displays options to translate the page and to configure translations for the language and/or site.

Firefox Translations is different from Google Translate and other translate features of browsers. It is a native translation feature, which means that it does not require cloud connectivity; this improves privacy, as no data is submitted to third-party servers. Firefox needs to download language data the first time a new language needs to be translated. Another downside, at least for the foreseeable future, is that language support is quite limited.

Other changes and fixes

• Firefox 102.15 ESR release is the last release for that version of the Extended Support Release channel. Installations will receive the update to Firefox 115.3 on September 26, 2023 automatically.
• Credit card autofill is now available in the locales IT, ES, AT, BE and PL.
• Firefox users on macOS devices may control tab-key behavior now in the browser's Settings. The new "Use the tab key to move focus between form controls and links" option is available here.
• The new preference dom.event.contextmenu.shift_suppresses_event improves accessibility on sites that display their own context menu when users press Shift-Right-Click.
• Firefox no longer shows its own screen sharing indicator on Wayland desktop environments. The system default sharing indicator will be used instead.

Developer changes

• The math-style and math-depth properties are now supported.
• The contain-intrinsic-size: auto none; syntax is now supported.
• Inline SVGs now support <script> elements with type="module", defer, and async attributes.
• The Range header is now a CORS-safelisted request header when the value is a single byte range.
• The ReadableStream.from() static member is now supported.
• The CanvasRenderingContext2D.getContextAttributes() method can now be used to get the 2D context attributes being used by the browser.
• Web compatibility inspection has been enhanced with the new CSS compatibility tooltip in the Developer Tools Inspector
• console.clear() no longer clears the Console output if the "Enable persistent logs" option is enabled.
• Support for improved CSS nesting is now enabled by default.

Enterprise changes

• The ExtensionSettings policy has been updated to support default_area (introduced in Firefox 113, but not documented until now).

Security updates / fixes

Firefox 117 addresses 13 unique security issues with a severity rating of high or lower. There are no critical security issues in the release.

The links to the security advisories are listed below:

• Firefox 117 Security Issues Fixed
• Firefox ESR 102.15 Security Issues Fixed
• Firefox ESR 115.2 Security Issues Fixed

Outlook

Mozilla plans to release Firefox 118 and Firefox 115.3 ESR on September 26, 2023.

Firefox extension reviews and news

None

Recent Firefox news and tips

• Firefox 116.0.2 is the second point update in a week
• Firefox for Android will soon support all extensions
• Firefox users may import Chrome extensions now
• Mozilla disables Pull-to-refresh by default in Firefox for Android

Additional information / resources

• Firefox 117 release notes
• Firefox 117 for Developers
• Firefox 117 for Enterprise
• Firefox Security Advisories
• Firefox Release Schedule

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