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05 Sep 2009
Mozilla is to launch new functionality which will inform Firefox users if their version of the Adobe Flash Player plug-in is out of date.
John Nightingale, security lead at Mozilla, announced in a blog post yesterday that the upcoming releases of Firefox 3.5.3 and Firefox 3.0.14 will feature the new capabilities.
"Old versions of plug-ins can cause crashes and other stability problems, and can also be a significant security risk," he wrote.
"For now our focus is on the Adobe Flash Player because of its popularity and because some studies have shown that as many as 80 per cent of users currently have an out-of-date version."
After installing the Firefox update, users running an old version of Flash Player will be presented with a message reading: 'You should update Adobe Flash right now. Firefox is up to date but your current version of Flash can cause security and stability issues. Please install the free update as soon as possible.'
Nightingale added that Mozilla will work with other plug-in vendors to provide similar checks and alerts for users.
In separate news, security researchers warned users of Apple's new Snow Leopard operating system this week that Apple has downgraded their version of Flash to an older version which may contain security holes.
Users of the upcoming version of Firefox would be alerted to this issue immediately, said Nightingale.
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Do you agree?
Stupid
This is pretty stupid. The wording of the message is alarmist in tone and implies to less tech-savvy users that the current version of their plug-in has a serious security issue which is almost certainly untrue. Very few releases of the Flash player have been identified as having significant security issues and this blanket coverall message damages the player's reputation in this area.
Posted by: GIl 10 Sep 2009