Mozilla has released a new version of its Firefox browser for Desktop and Android. Do keep in mind we’ll focus on the update for Android, of course. Now, we can say that this is a security update through and through, as its main purpose is to patch up some recent vulnerabilities that were discovered by Google. The Mountain View giant discovered ‘Meltdown’ and ‘Spectre’ vulnerabilities, each of which can be rather malicious. This update landed as version 57.0.4 to Android, and also to desktops, in case you were wondering.
The first vulnerability, ‘Meltdown’, affects Intel-made x86 processors, while the second one, ‘Spectre’, can affect pretty much any CPU out there it essentially allows malicious programs to steal data from the memory of other applications, which can cause some serious damage to users, needless to say. Well, the aforementioned vulnerabilities can be used through JavaScript, so Mozilla decided to release a new version of Firefox which essentially disables JavaScript features which are necessary in order for malicious apps to attach your CPU / data. Having said that, Mozilla did not list anything else in the changelog for this version, though it’s commendable that the company reached so quickly, as Google detailed ‘Meltdown’ and ‘Spectre’ vulnerabilities yesterday. It is safe to expect some additional security updates from the company in the near future, though, as Mozilla is probably looking to solve this problem completely.
Having said that, some of you probably remember that Mozilla started pushing out a rather significant update for its Firefox browser back in November last year, the company launched the update under the name ‘Firefox Quantum’. This update’s purpose was to considerably increase Firefox’s speed, mainly when it comes to loading pages, and it was a very welcome update. In addition to speed enhancements, the company also changed up the design of the Firefox Browser’s UI. All in all, the company is doing its best to compete with Chrome, and such fast reactions to security breaches are definitely welcomed. It remains to be seen if Mozilla plans to release any additional ‘Meltdown’ / ‘Spectre’-related security updates in the coming days / weeks, stay tuned.