Mozilla's Firefox Blocks, Unblocks "Unsafe" Microsoft Add-On

October 19, 2009 7:53 a.m. EST

New York, NY (AHN) - The browser battle continues after Mozilla, maker of the open-source Internet browser 'Firefox', blocked a Microsoft-made add-on, saying the software created security vulnerabilities. After talking with Microsoft, Mozilla then unblocked the add-on.

In a corporate blog post, Mozilla's Vice President of Engineering Mike Shaver explains: "I've previously posted about the .NET Framework Assistant add-on that was delivered via Windows Update earlier this year. It's recently surfaced that it has a serious security vulnerability, and Microsoft is recommending that all users disable the add-on."

"Because of the difficulties some users have had entirely removing the add-on, and because of the severity of the risk it represents if not disabled, we contacted Microsoft today to indicate that we were looking to disable the extension and plugin for all users via our blocklisting mechanism. Microsoft agreed with the plan, and we put the blocklist entry live immediately," Shaver added.

Then, two days later, Shaver reported that "Microsoft has now confirmed that the Framework Assistant add-on is not a vector for this attack, and we have removed the entry from the blocklist."