Mozilla has released Firefox 124.0 Stable and Firefox 115.9 ESR. The new stable version of the organization’s Firefox web browser fixes security issues and introduces some new features and improvements as well.
Notable features include caret browsing support in the integrated PDF reader, expanded availability of the search engines Qwant and Ecosia, and a new tab order view mode in Firefox View.
All development editions of Firefox are updated at around the same time. Firefox Beta and Development editions move to Firefox 125 and Firefox Nightly to version. The Android version follows the desktop version, which means that it is updated to version 124 as well.
Executive Summary
- Firefox 124 is a security update first and foremost.
- Only a few new features or improvements are found in this release, including caret browsing mode support in the PDF viewer.
- Mozilla appears to have fixed the “all black” thumbnails issue on older AMD systems, as it is not listed anymore as an issue.
Firefox 124.0 download and update
Firefox installs updates automatically by default. The new Firefox 124.0 update will also be installed automatically on most non-managed systems. This updating does not happen in real time though.
Note: our review is published before the official release. The updates will become later on the day of publication.
Once released officially, Firefox users may speed up the installation of the update in the following way:
Select Firefox Menu > Help > About Firefox to run a manual update check. Firefox should pick up the update and install it on the device.
Here are the official download locations:
- Firefox Stable download
- Firefox Beta download
- Nightly download
- Firefox ESR download
- Firefox for Android on Google Play
Firefox 124.0 changes
Firefox View: new tab sort order
Firefox View is a tab and activity management feature of the Firefox web browser. It can be activated with a click on the Firefox View button in the main Firefox toolbar to display open and recently closed tabs, as well as tabs from other devices and the browsing history.
Everything is searchable. The open tabs view sorted activity by freshness up until now. Mozilla added the option to sort the listed open tabs by tab order instead in that view. Tab order lists open tabs in the order that they are displayed on Firefox’s tab bar.
Other changes and fixes
- The search engine Qwant is now also available “in the France region” as well as in Belgium, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, and Switzerland.
- The search engine Ecosia is now also available “in the Germany region” as well as Austria, Belgium, Italiy, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland.
- Caret browsing mode is now supported by Firefox’s native PDF viewer.
- Mozilla says that it has improved the population of the jump list of Firefox on the Windows taskbar. It should “allow for a smoother overall browsing experience”. Let me know if you notice any difference.
- Firefox uses the macOS fullscreen API now for all fullscreen windows. This should improve the user experience on macOS.
Developer changes
- Support for AbortSignal.any(), which can be used to abort an operation from multiple signal sources.
- The ::first-letter and ::first-line CSS pseudo-elements can now be applied to the <text> SVG element.
- The runtime.onPerformanceWarning event reveals to extension developers if an extension has runtime performance issues.
- Support for SharedArrayBuffer growable (enable via javascript.options.experimental.sharedarraybuffer_growable).
- Support for resizing ArrayBuffer (enable via javascript.options.experimental.arraybuffer_resizable)
Enterprise changes
Mozilla has added one policy and updated another in Firefox 124.0:
- The AllowFileSelectionDialogs is new. It may be used to control file selection dialogs in Firefox.
- The DNSOverHTTPS policy supports setting a fallback value now to prevent Firefox falling back to the default DNS provider.
Security updates / fixes
The aggregated security rating is high. Mozilla patched 12 security issues and potential security issues in Firefox. This includes one potential memory safety issue with a critical rating. No exploits in the wild.
Outlook
Firefox 125 and Firefox ESR 115.10 will be released on April 16, 2024.
Closing Words
Firefox 124 is a smaller release. Since it fixes security issues, it is still important to update to the new version as soon as possible
