May 4, 2024

Mozilla Blocks All Versions of Flash in Firefox

Posted July 14, 2015 at 10:08pm by iClarified · 23601 views
Mozilla has blocked all current versions of Flash in its Firefox browser as of its latest update, according to Support Lead Mark Schmidt.

The developer tweeted the news last night:

BIG NEWS!! All versions of Flash are blocked by default in Firefox as of now.

However, Schmidt noted that this does not mean that Flash will be blocked by default going forward.

To be clear, Flash is only blocked until Adobe releases a version which isn't being actively exploited by publicly known vulnerabilities.

The news comes just as Facebook's Chief Security Officer Alex Stamos called for an end-of-life date for Flash saying, "It is time for Adobe to announce the end-of-life date for Flash and to ask the browsers to set killbits on the same day".

Apple has long discouraged the use of Flash with Steve Jobs revealing that "We also know first hand that Flash is the number one reason Macs crash", in his 2010 Thoughts on Flash.

Here's what Adobe said about the latest vulnerabilities found in Flash:

Flash Player is one of the most ubiquitous and widely distributed pieces of software in the world, and as such, is a target of malicious hackers. We are actively working to improve Flash Player security, and as we did in this case, will work to quickly address issues when they are discovered. We continue to partner with browser vendors to both improve Flash Player security as well as invest in, contribute to and support more modern technologies such as HTML5 and JavaScript.

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