Firefox blocks Flash

If you work in the Flash department of Adobe, you've probably awoken to a huge mass of panicked emails. Mozilla, makers of the Firefox browser, has taken the dramatic step of blocking every single version of Flash from the latest version of its browser.

I mean blocking in the literal sense here. You can't tell the browser you're aware of the risks and that you'd like to proceed anyway. It doesn't just block automatic playback like Safari or pause video like Chrome – it blocks it. If you have Firefox and try to use Flash, this is what will happen:

As someone who used to produce Flash games (no links – your browser would block them anyway), this makes me a little sad, but you can't argue with logic.

In the space of a week, Flash has been found to have three zero-day vulnerabilities that could be exploited by cybercriminals, so it makes perfect sense for Mozilla to take the precautionary step. Indeed, the 400GB of data stolen from Hacking Team earlier this month was said to contain information on Flash vulnerabilities open to exploitation.

For the moment at least, it remains a temporary step. Mozilla's Mark Schmidt tweeted: “Flash is only blocked until Adobe releases a version which isn't being actively exploited by publicly known vulnerabilities.”

Though given he followed up the tweet with a reply to himself simply reading “For now… ;)” you can't help but feel Flash may be on its last legs.

New Facebook chief security officer Alex Stamos has also weighed in on Flash's woes, calling for Adobe to announce an “end-of-life date for Flash”. Over two tweets, he wrote: “It is time for Adobe to announce the end-of-life date for Flash and to ask the browsers to set killbits on the same day.”

“Even if 18 months from now, one set date is the only way to disentangle the dependencies and upgrade the whole ecosystem at once.”

Adobe so far shows no signs of taking this friendly advice. Speaking to The Register, Wiebke Lips, senior manager of Adobe's corporate communications, said: “There are extensive efforts underway internally, in addition to our work with the security community and our counterparts in other organisations, to help keep our products and our users safe.”

The security holes are expected to be patched today, but with this many big names gunning for Flash, simply patching and moving on could just prove to be a short-term fix.

Image: Stefanos Kofopoulos used under Creative Commons