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Firefox update 66.0.4 release notes fix most web extensions

After the expiration of a certificate on Friday, nearly all Firefox add-ons were disabled. The new 66.0.4 hotfix release brings all your extensions back to normal.

Chris Jarrard

May 6, 2019 12:55 PM

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Firefox users were in for a rather unpleasant surprise this past Friday when their browser add-ons ceased to function without warning. Because of the expiration of a security certificate by Firefox to check signatures of add-ons for both the desktop and Android versions of its browser, users experienced the invalidation of nearly all plugins. The browser detected the plugins as invalid due to the lack of security signature. After the Firefox team worked over the weekend on the issue, a new hotfix release, 66.0.4, has been made available that returns things to normal.

If you were a Firefox user who experienced problems relating to this weekend’s misfire, you may have a feeling of deja vu. A very similar problem popped up and disabled add-ons for the browser almost 3 years ago and was dubbed “armagadd-on”. Firefox users took to social media over the weekend to discuss “armagadd-on 2.0.”

the firefox armagadd-on is so annoying, with no password manager I'm having to enter all my 30 character random alphanumeric passwords by hand

— james (@400GBofRAM) May 5, 2019

On Saturday, Mozilla’ Kev Needham made a statement on the issue:

Late on Friday May 3rd, we became aware of an issue with Firefox that prevented existing and new add-ons from running or being installed. We are very sorry for the inconvenience caused to people who use Firefox.

Our team identified and rolled-out a temporary fix for all Firefox Desktop users on Release, Beta, and Nightly. The fix will be automatically applied in the background within 24 hours. No active steps need to be taken to make add-ons work again. In particular, please do not delete and/or re-install any add-ons as an attempt to fix the issue. Deleting an add-on removes any data associated with it, where disabling and re-enabling does not.

Hopefully, most users will have their issues sorted out by the hotfix. We’ll be here in 2022 to find out if this certificate expiration happens yet again.

Chris Jarrard

Contributing Tech Editor

Chris Jarrard likes playing games, crankin' tunes, and looking for fights on obscure online message boards. He understands that breakfast food is the only true food. Don't @ him.