New Firefox Version Fixes 13 Security Holes

Mozilla on Thursday released a new version of its Firefox Web browser to correct 13 security holes, including at least five that Mozilla said could let attackers install software without any action on the part of the user.

The update brings Firefox to version 1.5.0.4, and marks the end of the support cycle for an older line of Firefox browser, including any version of Firefox that begins with 1.0 (the last and final version of that series is 1.0.8). As I mentioned last week, if you are using a Firefox version in the 1.0.x family (check which version you're running by clicking on "Help" and then "About Mozilla Firefox"), now would be an excellent time to upgrade, as these and future security updates will not be made available for those versions.

If you're using an older version of Firefox and would like to upgrade to 1.5, follow these instructions (especially the part about backing up your profile, which stores most of your Firefox settings). If the security updates alone won't get you to switch, consider that the newer version of Firefox automatically applies patches when they are ready. There are plenty of other features in Firefox 1.5 that make it worth your while to switch.