Firefox Disabled All My Extentions

127 points by vengefulduck 7 years ago

I opened Firefox and all of my extensions are disabled saying One or more installed add-ons cannot be verified and have been disabled. Is anyone else experiencing this?

neogodless 7 years ago

Yes - see https://www.reddit.com/r/firefox/comments/bkcjoa/all_of_my_a... and https://www.reddit.com/r/firefox/comments/bk54mu/addonsexten...

Cannot tell if it's related to https://www.reddit.com/r/firefox/comments/bjwz8n/addon_polic... (Says new Add-On Policy effective June 10th, 2019, so shouldn't be causing this. But...)

As mentioned elsewhere, seems like when your clock hits 5/4 midnight UTC, you're done. I tried setting my clock in the past, but that did not fix the issue for me. (Clock was previously auto w/ daylight savings time enabled.)

Super interesting to watch /r/firefox go from 3.8k active/online users to 5.6k over the past half hour...

Edit: As mentioned below, there are GitHub/Bugzilla entries. They seem to be aware and starting to work towards a fix, though the explanation of the problem hasn't emerged yet.

https://github.com/mozilla/addons/issues/978

  • pedrocr 7 years ago

    The "fix" in the second link is amusing. The user had the clock wrong so the bug hit sooner. Adjusting the clock to the correct time "fixed" it but the issue is probably now back. Too bad there wasn't a root cause analysis of that failure. We wouldn't be having the widespread issue.

    • dirtgrub 7 years ago

      Somebody somewhere is going to feel silly and shamefully flip the 'more magic' switch back, or so I suspect.

      Clearly resetting your date is a "fix" in the temporal sense that it works until you apparently hit the magic deadline again, but I'm curious why this only hit one of my machines. Pretty sure I was running the same FF version on both, but not certain. Again wondering if it's due to a difference in the configs, since I've 'modified' those at different times with different lists of needless crap to disable.

  • KeenFox 7 years ago

    Over 10,000 now.

livueta 7 years ago

Yep. +1 frequency.

It's not like I was running an old version of FF with XUL extensions or anything like that, either - latest version, addons properly signed, all added from Mozilla site.

On top of that, attempts to re-add extensions via https://addons.mozilla.org result in "Download failed. Please check your connection." errors. This makes me suspect that there's something up with Mozilla inf.

There are definitely some good arguments in favor of Mozilla-signed addons, but events like this that expose an (apparent) SPoF are less than great. If only running one of the Firefox forks didn't involve getting security patches late...

MrEldritch 7 years ago

Bugzilla issue here: https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1548973

It's a signing cert failure, not an intentional move. Still... this is going to destroy user trust in Firefox.

  • xvector 7 years ago

    > Still... this is going to destroy user trust in Firefox.

    The bug name ("armagadd-on" 2.0) is quite fitting :)

  • spectramax 7 years ago

    Major bugs like this are uncommon but they happen. I know they're working on the fix. There is nothing more they could do than to fix the issue and prevent it from happening again.

    This is not an intentional move, shit happens. I wouldn't lose trust so quickly. They're trying to make addons more safe and secure.

xvector 7 years ago

I think this fail-closed behavior is more of a security issue than the one it is trying to solve. All of my security add-ons - Privacy Badger, NoScript, Decentraleyes, and many more were disabled. Even worse, it happened without notice to the user.

One moment I was browsing the internet (just barely) secured by these add-ons, and the next moment, all of them disappeared (without warning) and I only noticed when I saw my password manager was missing.

  • euroclear 7 years ago

    I got a small message at the top of the tab saying that my add-ons had been disabled. Still, not nearly enough considering what happened.

  • twhb 7 years ago

    I love my privacy too but you’ve got to keep the magnitude of things in mind. Those extensions are making it harder to correlate your interactions with different companies, this fail-closed behavior is protecting you against criminals gaining access to all your online accounts.

    • scoot_718 7 years ago

      Bullshit. Those extensions protect against both. Javascript being an important criminal vector. This fail-closed behaviour is disabling certified code because of an arbitrary date. At time of install the code was verified.

      The code didn't change since. Mozilla is stupid for doing this.

    • harpyeagle 7 years ago

      "Those extensions are making it harder to correlate your interactions with different companies"

      No, this is not a reason.

tekni5 7 years ago

Firefox is about to lose a ton of its users over this. I saw this on a family member's computer just now, couldn't get ublock origin installed or any extension for that matter. Had to install Chrome for them.

This has to be some type of a bug, every extension gets disabled with zero notice and cannot be re-downloaded.

I'm not seeing it myself yet, but haven't restarted firefox in a few hours.

Has anyone tried disabling xpinstall.signatures.required in about:config? Saw someone mention it elsewhere, but didn't try it in time.

  • SAI_Peregrinus 7 years ago

    Disabling xpinstall.signatures.required works.

    • dmitrygr 7 years ago

      only on dev builds

      • Kurkl 7 years ago

        the same happened to me and I am running Linux that sucks Im reaaly thinking in going to chromium

    • mmore 7 years ago

      You need to be on nightly, dev, or ESR for this to work.

      • pepa65 7 years ago

        It works on regular installs. I'm on 66.0.3 from the Ubuntu 18.04's repo. From about:config set xpinstall.signatures.required to True.

  • kmundnic 7 years ago

    Restarting Firefox is not necessary for this to happen. It happened to me while streaming video a few minutes ago. I use containers and I was logged out of my account, since containers were disabled.

micromega 7 years ago

Yes!! Extremely angry right now.

All of my legacy extensions are disabled. My beloved uBlock Origin included. Only Disconnect works. Tried downloading alternatives and can't even do that; keep getting a "download failed. Check your connection." The hilarious part, they said the new add-on signing doesn't affect themes, so why are nine of my themes disabled? It's getting old, all this messing with stuff all the damn time. I don't need you to hold my hand, Firefox.

If I want to run add-ons that don't use Web API then let me do it to my own detriment...

dirtgrub 7 years ago

Same same. Without ad-blockers and other add-ons, I feel like my glasses are broken.

  • dirtgrub 7 years ago

    Fun fact: This happened on one machine of several running Firefox. No idea why. Need to go deeper into configs and break more stupid crap? I wonder if copying over configs from a working machine would fix it. Blech.

happypuppy 7 years ago

If the developer and nightly versions of Firefox 9which are supposed to work properly) make you uncomfortable there are firefox versions that can deliver the same usability and are not affected by this bug.

If you use Android, you can get Fennec from the F-Droid online store.

If you use Windows, you can get Waterfox here: https://www.waterfox.net/

Fennec is just a fork of Firefox with telemetry disabled by default and known third party trackers removed.

Waterfox is a fork of Firefox that tries to be more geared toward users who want more control, its main differences are telemetry is disabled by default and it is supposed to support more extensions but I have not tested this out.

  • sanlyx 7 years ago

    I'm using Fennec F-Droid and can confirm this bug also affected me, and I really don't know if it can be solved without an update (which is not yet available, as it seems)

GracefulSlumber 7 years ago

Yes, happened to me, too. I just downloaded the dev version so that I could disable "xpinstall.signatures.required"(At first, I downloaded Chrome to use instead, but after using it for a little while, I decided that I really do prefer Firefox.) I believe you can also disable the signatures thing in Nightly and ESR. It's a slight annoyance, but I guess that's one of the things about FireFox being openly sourced.

I understand about the 'safety issue', but I think people are more mad about their extensions disappearing than they were about the 'safety' of the extensions themselves.

In my opinion, a better way to implement the signature extensions would have been to give users a pop-up or something that said:

"The following extensions do not have a signature from Mozilla. [List user's extensions that don't have a signature.] This means that they may be more unstable or they may not be safe (or as safe) as using an extension that has a verified signature. Would you like to continue using these extensions? {Yes} {No} Mozilla is not responsible for any breached data as a result for using unverified extensions, blah, blah, blah, disclaimer stuffs."

That way Mozilla wouldn't have to be concerned that they would get in trouble for whatever it is that they are worried about, and people could still have their extensions.

RisqSr 7 years ago

Here's what I don't understand, I was using an older version of Firefox (version 56) because there are some addons that I need that don't have an update in version 6x. And even with "no updates" set to "true", and set to not look for updates from the web, my browser was "still" hit by this and disabled????

Sooo............

Is Firefox now going into everyone's browsers and reseting what they don't like and making you doing things their way now????

If so, time to get a new browser if they are going on to Peoples PC's, even those who set them to not update, and forcing changes. I thought MS was bad with what they do, but now Firefox is reseting my browser remotely??? :(

bob_z 7 years ago

We're in the same boat... Still using FF 56 because it doesn't break important add-ons and now this cluster-F. It's disabled most every add-on thereby killing the browser's functionality.

Windows 10/FF 56 setting extensions.legacy.enabled, true and xpinstall.signatures.required, false doesn't work but does in Linux Mint 19/FF 66 does.

We also added app.update.auto, false to stop Firefox from auto-updating untill they un-F this mess

By the way, the "hot-fix" doesn't work for Win10/FF 56

hotfix-update-xpi-intermediate%40mozilla.com-1.0.2-signed.xpi

  • HappySurfer2019 7 years ago

    ANy solution yet, Bob?

    • bob_z 7 years ago

      Well... A "solution" is to run Linux Mint 19/FF 66, disable any further updates of Firefox, run the patch. However, this does not solve the Windows 10/FF 56 issue. I'm real pissed at Mozilla for this HUGE hassle

eaterofbirds 7 years ago

I just "fixed" mine, at least temporarily, that is if this still an issue for all/most. I just did a "refresh firefox" option, which clears and reinstalled all my locked add-ons/extensions and theme.

A fix? votes out, this could very well be temporary...but my customization is gone/reset, so there's that bit of nuisance.

try it if still stuck.

https://support.mozilla.org/tr/kb/reset-preferences-fix-prob...

ChummyKaye 7 years ago

Same here. Opened Firefox after finally getting back online after some rogue Spectrum tech showed up and no-notice, no-knock, no-call shut us off because he claimed there was some unspecified issue with our modem. ALL of my extensions, notably security add-ons I choose to use for obvious reasons, are gone. You think you can go to the web and not be hassled, especially by something like your choice of browsers. What a joke. Once I can recover how I had my firefox set up I'm seeking an alternative.

relax_people 7 years ago

Sure this is annoying, but not the end of the world. There have been far worse bugs. You people need to relax and stop throwing temper tantrums over nonsense.

jsun95 7 years ago

At first I thought it was just my pc messing up till i started to look up and read other ppls commnets. Clearly it's an issue with firefox completely disabling all addons, extensions, and themes. I Hate google chrome but appartly I have to swtith from firefox becuse I cant put up with this issue for a moment. Fireox please fix this issue

jsun95 7 years ago

At first I thought it was just my pc messing up till i started to look up and read other ppls commnets. Clearly it's an issue with firefox completely disabling all addons, extensions, and themes. I Hate google chrome but appartly I have to swtith from firefox becuse I cant put up with this issue for a moment

djh2400 7 years ago

I got all extensions to work temporarily by forcing the following settings in user.js (or could be set manually in about:config):

    user_pref( "extensions.legacy.enabled", true );
    user_pref( "xpinstall.signatures.required", false );

FWIW, I'm on Debian Stable with Firefox 60.6.1esr.

  • pepa65 7 years ago

    I think only the 2nd is needed, my extensions.legacy.enabled is False.

    • flanker-b1 7 years ago

      I believe both are useful. the second one enables installing new addons and the first one enables disabled addons (unless you already removed them)

  • flanker-b1 7 years ago

    Worked for me! Thanks! PS: It happened to me on the same esr version (only for windows)

FireFoxSucks 7 years ago

Same problem here all my extensions now are gone. I just encountered that issue early in this morning. Tried to find a solution on how to fixed it in the internet but issue stil there i format also my laptop but nothings happen. FF should make a move about this problem they will lost a lot of customers about this one.

HappySurfer2019 7 years ago

You need an ESR version of FIREFOX for the older ADD-INS. Can someone here point us to a suitable D/L now?

I was on ESR versions for a long time. Damn Firefoix, why'd you do this?! We have already FOUGHT it off once!

Many thanks - otherwise a great product, is FireFawx

techdreamer 7 years ago

I had an install of SeaMonkey with NoScript installed and just have been using that - privacy settings all locked down - no problems, have been using it for more than half an hour - couldn't be bothered fiddling around and worrying about it.

  • techdreamer 7 years ago

    They are having a tough day - check out "When Firefox Extensions Goes Down" on YouTube. Have to feel for them :)

Phantom68 7 years ago

Yes, all of mine are gone too. And they won't let you install anything to the add-ons. I saw something about buying a subscription for a login id. They want to start charging for add ons.

mrbestdonuts 7 years ago

Idk in others platforms but on android i just fix (bugzilla post) that by installing version 66.02 and change value in about:config for: "xpinstall.signatures.required false".

  • happypuppy 7 years ago

    In Android I would suggest using Fennec (which can be downloaded using F-Droid). On my android phone this uh, bug? does not seem to affect anything and Mozilla's telemetry is disabled by default. Granted, you can disable it manually in any firefox browser by typing telemetry in the search box in about:config and setting the values you do not feel comfortable with there to false.

alexandriaG 7 years ago

I get the same. All my add-ons don't work. I get a message saying download failed check your connection. Nothing is wrong with my connection.

I also can't set my New Tab to go to google anymore.

FireFoxSucks 7 years ago

I think not all mozilla users are having this kind of problem right now.I tried to install add-ons on my other laptop and made it. So i guess some users only are infected by this issue

Zymandis 7 years ago

The kicker is, I cannot even download new extensions either, it asks me to check my internet connection, but it isn't my internet that is the problem. What the heck is going on.

OrgNet 7 years ago

It didn't happen to me but I just woke up, maybe the issue has been fixed already? I even tried to restart Firefox to make it happen, and my Add-Ons are still fine.

Gonna 7 years ago

When this happened, I just thought it was a natural continuity to Mozilla disable all Firefox add-ons, because what happened to Dissenter.

Good thing Firefox isn't my only browser.

mcrx0 7 years ago

The same sh*t with me, I restarted Firefox process, after restore my session, all addons disabled by default without any option, you know: I know the risk, and accept it

rugrotts 7 years ago

Got it just now. I'm in Australia. They disabled my Avast security among others. I see that this has been going on for hours. What the hell is wron with them

rugrotts 7 years ago

I'm in Australia. Just got this now. Disabled my vast Security amoung others. I see that this has been going on for hours. What the hell is wrong with them

relax_people 7 years ago

Not the end of the world. An annoyance sure, but not the end of the world. You people need to relax and stop throwing temper tantrums over nonsense.

MrPassword 7 years ago

Yes, I also have the "One or more installed add-ons cannot be verified and have been disabled" Someone at Mozilla has lost there marbles.

dmitrygr 7 years ago

I imagine chrome user numbers will grow tomorrow, for better or worse, google chrome team would never let something like this happen

  • cesarb 7 years ago

    > for better or worse, google chrome team would never let something like this happen

    A few years ago, Chrome crashed for everyone on the date daylight saving time started (a quick search tells me it probably was https://bugs.chromium.org/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=287821). So not only would they let something like this happen, it did already happen.

    • dmitrygr 7 years ago

      That was only in one timezone, on a VERY old Android build, and not a clearly obvious bug.

      Forcing signing by one key, with no way to disable it literally screams "THIS WILL BACKFIRE"

      In fact when Mozilla initially proposed this, they were told this would happen by many users. They ignored that warning x claiming they knew better. The rest is history.

theo1996 7 years ago

I dont understand why cant the browser still use the addons if i have xpinstall.signatures.required=false? (firefox 48)

greendestiny_re 7 years ago

Can Firefox be called open source any longer?

Users can't inspect the code or contribute to the code, which is what addons used to do.

orbach 7 years ago

Would going to a previous version of Firefox solve the problem? I'm at 66.0.3, so maybe going back to 66.0.2?

  • pepa65 7 years ago

    It works on 66.0.3 from the Ubuntu 18.04's repo. From about:config set xpinstall.signatures.required to True.

Zymandis 7 years ago

I cannot even download new extensions to replace the ones that have been disabled, What the heck is going on.

ArmanIc 7 years ago

Same problem, but not at startup but suddenly during working with FF. Printing a page does not work either.

Arman.

coproliet 7 years ago

Yes! Also, installing new add-ons fails with the message that the add-on seems to be damaged.

jps07 7 years ago

Yep. just happened a few minutes ago here in UK. Anyone got a fix for this?

MrHarmony 7 years ago

Yep +1 ... hope it's fixed soon or I'll have to revert to Chrome :(

yazzoo7 7 years ago

Tried changing xpinstall.signatures.required to FALSE. Nope, didn't help

were491 7 years ago

Also, just saying, some extensions like color picker still work for me.

alexandriaG 7 years ago

ll of my add-ons won't install either. I get a message saying download failed check your connection. Nothing is wrong with my connection.

I also can no longer set my new tab feature to go to google.

MrHarmony 7 years ago

Yep +1 here ... tried downgrading to prev version but no joy. :(

theo1996 7 years ago

Why doesnt xpinstall.signatures.required=false do anything?

aminya 7 years ago

What is happennig!?? All my addons are disabled too!!

KShrike 7 years ago

So now we wait for the update that fixes this right?

MrPassword 7 years ago

uBlock Origins was able to somehow get signed through the new update. it's back up and running on Fire Fox for me.

nothappycamper 7 years ago

What is a better browser I can use instead???

MrPassword 7 years ago

Yes, and I'm very upset, as well

fiorilj 7 years ago

Same thing happened to me.

setha2z 7 years ago

Same thing happened to me

fiorilj 7 years ago

Same thing happened to me

were491 7 years ago

ffs i used tree style tab, and now my over 300 tabs i cannot access

  • pepa65 7 years ago

    The keystokes still work. :-) But setting xpinstall.signatures.required to True in about:config fixes the problem.

Kurkl 7 years ago

this is really annoying Im running Linux the same happened to me

yazzoo7 7 years ago

Chrome, here I come.

nothappycamper 7 years ago

I experienced this and I am looking for someone to punish.

nothappycamper 7 years ago

Yes and I am looking for someone to blame and punish.

sharpkiss 7 years ago

I am not responsible for firefox add-ons

  • sharpkiss 7 years ago

    After this time chrome ..! Trust's over.

    • happypuppy 7 years ago

      What's there to trust in Chrome? Google not only gets to see everything you are doing that interests them in the browser but also refuses to allow full functionality and/or use of various extensions (depending on the extension) that are available in firefox. Besides, would you trust a browser by a corporation who tries to hinder those who seek to take control over their mobile devices, try to get spyware into everything and has their search engine programmed to allow them to decide what information you have access to on an individual basis to only let you know what they feel you should know?

      • eaterofbirds 7 years ago

        this^

        I noticed this in anytime Ive used Chrome in the past, and it's only been on a FF issue that has me scrambling for a temporary replacement.