Firefox’s development team, Mozilla, is advising users to update their browsers to the latest version to avoid potential issues with add-ons due to the upcoming expiration of a root certificate.
“The root certificate used to verify signed content and add-ons for various Mozilla projects, including Firefox, is set to expire on March 14, 2025,” Mozilla explains.
Unless users update to Firefox version 128 or later (or ESR 115.13+ for ESR users, including Windows 7/8/8.1 and macOS 10.12-10.14 users), the expiration may cause significant disruptions to add-ons, content signing, and DRM-protected media playback.
Mozilla notes that the latest Firefox version includes a new root certificate, preventing such issues from occurring. This update is crucial for all users running Firefox prior to version 128 or ESR versions before 115.13, released on July 9, 2024, across all platforms, including Windows, macOS, Linux, and Android.
Root certificates serve as identifiers for a root certificate authority (CA), a trusted entity ensuring the authenticity of websites, add-ons, and software updates. In this case, the certificate verifies that a browser add-on has been approved by Mozilla.
If the digital certificate expires, systems relying on it will no longer be able to guarantee authenticity and integrity, causing features like add-ons, password breach alerts, or secure media playback to cease functioning.
Additionally, failing to apply the update before the deadline risks causing blocklists for flagging harmful add-ons and revocation lists for recognizing untrusted SSL certificates and preloaded intermediate certificates to become outdated, putting users at greater risk of threats.
“Although it’s possible to continue using Firefox without updating, you may encounter problems such as disabled add-ons, difficulties with DRM media, and other interruptions,” Mozilla warns. “Skipping the update also means missing out on important security fixes and performance improvements.”
Users are strongly advised to verify they are running Firefox version 128 or later by navigating to Menu > Settings > About Firefox. Note that iOS and iPad users are not affected. Since the Tor Browser is a modified version of Firefox ESR, it’s essential for these users to update their installations as well.
