Mozilla version 16.0.1 fixes vulnerability

Mozilla re-releases version 16 of its web browser, fixing a vulnerability that could have exposed its users’ web browsing history.  Mozilla has updated its Firefox browser to fix a flaw that could have allowed sites to find out which other web pages its users had visited.

The security vulnerability was introduced in the 16th edition of its software, temporarily causing Mozilla to replace it with an older version.

The flawed version of the software was only online for a day.

Firefox had a 20% share of the global desktop browser market in September, according to a study by Netmarketshare.

That places it second only to Microsoft’s Internet Explorer.

“We were quick to recognise the security vulnerability of Firefox 16 and took immediate action to temporarily remove the update from the current installer page,” a spokesman from Mozilla told the BBC.

“As a precaution we asked Firefox users to revert back to using Firefox 15.0.1 whilst we worked to fix the problem. Firefox 16 was released with updates completely ‘throttled’, which meant that users were not automatically updated.

“We take security issues extremely seriously and were able to address the problem with Firefox quickly with limited impact to our users.”