689199 - Firefox window jumps to the front

Status: RESOLVED WORKSFORME

(Firefox :: General, defect)

Description

[Nicolas Barbulesco]

Hello,

Win XP. Firefox 3.0.1.

I have the Firefox window A at the front, maximized. Inside it, I use an AJAX Web application. The address has loaded the page only once, and then only parts of the page get dynamically modified. I click on a button. The page gets modified, it says now "Loading…". The server handles the complex request, that takes long time. In the meantime, I click, in my Windows task bar, on the Firefox window B. Now window B is the front window, not maximized. In window B, I read and write my e-mails. Suddenly, the window A jumps to the front. The page has been modified : a PDF document has been generated and now appears in a part of the page, an "iframe" I guess.
This is disturbing and incorrect.
Window A, do not jump to the front when the front window is window B.
Window A, do not steal the focus from window B.
Window A, if you really want my attention, I am OK for your doing something in the task bar, like showing in yellow or briefly blinking, and then *I* decide when I give you my attention.

This can be a security problem. Imagine these variations in the scenario :

In window B, I am typing sensitive info and passwords in my bank's Web site. In window A, the Web application is wicked and triggers some modification the Web page, in order to steal the focus. So I end up typing sensitive characters in window A. I am looking at my keyboard. After a few keystrokes, I look back at the screen. What happens ? 1/ or 2/ :
1/ I see that I am not anymore in my bank's site, so I stop typing, but it's too late ; the wicked page has already sent to some wicked server the keystrokes that I have already typed.
2/ Or, worse : the wicked page has already sent to some wicked server the keystrokes that I have already typed, but the wicked page was designed to now look like my bank's site, so when I look at the screen I don't see the focus theft and I continue typing the sensitive characters, and the wicked page sends them to the wicked server.

Please correct that. Thanks.

Nicolas

Comment 1

[Daniel Veditz [:dveditz]]

Firefox 3.0.1 is extremely old, maybe four years or so. We have since changed the default preference for the ability of a window to "raise or lower" itself.

Does this still happen in Firefox 7? Does it happen if you go into the "Advanced" javascript options and change the value of that preference? Please see http://support.mozilla.com/ for help if you don't understand what I'm asking.

And for safety's sake PLEASE UPGRADE. Firefox 3.0.1 is vulnerable to all kinds of badness we've since fixed. jumping windows is the LEAST of your problems.

I don't see this problem in Firefox 7, worksforme.

Comment 2

[Nicolas Barbulesco]

Another scenario gave me the same problem :

I have a first Firefox window at the front. In it, I enter a Web address ending with ".pdf" and Return. The document loads. In the meantime, I bring a second Firefox window to the front. In it, I start typing a word in the Google search field.
When the PDF document finishes loading, it gets displayed in the first Firefox window, and this window jumps to the front and steals the focus from the second Firefox window ! Some of the letters I had typed have not been inserted in the Google search field of the second window, but have landed in the first window.