Firefox 130: Mozilla closes gaps and experiments with AI chatbots

Mozilla released Firefox 130 for Windows, macOS, Linux and Android on September 3. The developers have eliminated numerous security vulnerabilities. They have also improved the translation function and the PDF editor. There is now an easy way to activate experimental functions in the settings. There are also security updates for the two ESR versions.

In the security report for the update to Firefox 130, Mozilla lists nine security vulnerabilities that have been eliminated. The browser manufacturer classifies four of them as high risk. The security vulnerability CVE-2024-8388 (medium risk) only affects Firefox for Android. As far as is known, none of the vulnerabilities have been exploited for attacks. With the menu entry » Help » About Firefox You can manually initiate an update check and download of the update if necessary.

What’s new in Firefox 130: The AI ​​ChatBot of your choice

Anyone who wanted to try out experimental features that are disabled by default in Firefox had to take the less intuitive route via about:config Firefox 130 offers a much more accessible way to enable new, not yet enabled features on the regular settings page with “Firefox Labs”.

For example, you can test the integration of several AI chatbots, although only one is selected at a time. In addition to the prominent rivals ChatGPT and Google Gemini, you can choose from the lesser-known alternatives Anthropic Claude, HuggingChat and Le Chat Mistral. The selected chatbot is then available in the sidebar. You are not required to register with the respective provider in Firefox either.

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The developers have further improved the purely local translation function for web pages, which works without a cloud connection. You can have an entire page translated and immediately mark text and have it translated into another language.

And AI again: The PDF viewer included in Firefox is also a simple PDF editor. This means that you can now automatically generate a description text for the images contained in PDF files. This is done by a local AI, whose appropriate model Firefox downloads when needed. As with the translation function, all your data remains on your computer. Sören Hentzschel describes further innovations in his blog.

▶The latest security updates

Firefox ESR – updates for two versions

As planned, the two-track transition phase for Firefox ESR will end with the release of Firefox ESR 115.15 and 128.2. On October 1st, only Firefox ESR 128 will be released. Rumors that there could be an extension for v115 to support Windows 7 and 8.1 for longer do not seem to have been confirmed so far.

In the updated ESR version 128.2.0, the Mozilla developers have fixed seven security vulnerabilities, and in Firefox ESR 115.15.0 there are four. These are essentially the same vulnerabilities that were fixed in Firefox 130.

Mozilla plans to release Firefox 131 and Firefox ESR 128.3 on October 1st.