Mozilla releases final Firefox version before Proton upgrade

 

Mozilla has released Firefox 88 with several small but important updates, it is also the final version of Firefox to ship before Mozilla gives Firefox a facelift with the new Proton interface that we reported on earlier in the month. Some of the main changes in Firefox 88 include the disabling of FTP support and the isolation of window.name data to prevent cross-site privacy leaks.

The most important change in this update is the fact that Mozilla has disabled support for the FTP protocol. The browser vendor said its full removal is planned in an upcoming release. The firm said the FTP protocol is a security risk for users because data isn’t encrypted and is therefore susceptible to man-in-the-middle attacks. Disabling the feature will protect users while Mozilla fully removes support.

Another change on the security front is the isolation of window.name data to prevent cross-site leaks. Mozilla said that window.name data was exempt from the same-origin policy; and attackers could take advantage of sensitive information stored this way. Firefox joins Safari in isolating window.name data with Chromium-based browsers planning to do the same in the future. If you’d like to see how this was implemented on a technical level, check out Mozilla’s blog post on the matter.

Other new features include support for JavaScript embedded in PDF files; smooth pinch-zooming with a touchpad on Linux; and improved screen reader support. If you already have Firefox installed it should update on its own in the coming days; but if you’d prefer to update it manually go to the menu, select Help; and then press About Firefox. Firefox should then download the update. If you run Linux, the update will be delivered soon via the update manager.