1471817 - Twitter Widget Log Helper page pops up in Firefox when Thunderbird loads my Start Page

Status: RESOLVED DUPLICATE of bug 524281

(Thunderbird :: Untriaged, defect)

Description

[GeorgeGR]

User Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64; rv:61.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/61.0
Build ID: 20180621125625

Steps to reproduce:

First of all I am using Thunderbird 52.8.0 (32-bit) in Windows 10 Home 1803 64-bit. In Thunderbird, I switched my default Thunderbird start page to this URL: https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/ethereum/ from Tools -> Options -> General. This is a tested and safe web page to view cryptocurrencies prices. So, from this time, when I close and run the Thunderbird again, then after about 7 seconds a new Firefox tab opens in this URL: https://platform.twitter.com/jot.html with a blank page. This is happening every time I run Thunderbird.


Actual results:

Every time I run Thunderbird a new Firefox tab opens in this URL: https://platform.twitter.com/jot.html with a blank page.


Expected results:

to not run Firefox at all and to not open such URL...

Comment 1

[Jorg K (CEST = GMT+2)]

I can reproduce this. There is something funny going on on this page: https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/ethereum/

If you look at the page source, you see some JS:
<script>!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+"://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js";fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document,"script","twitter-wjs");</script>

I wonder what this is meant to do. Maybe something on this page triggers to open a twitter.com page.

Magnus?

Comment 2

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

George,
DOes it still happne in version 68?

Comment 3

[GeorgeGR]

(In reply to Wayne Mery (:wsmwk) from comment #2)

George,
DOes it still happne in version 68?

Wayne Mery,

now (after a series of updates from 1 year ago) I have the version 60.9.0 (32-bit).

And YES, it still happens in this version too...

Comment 4

[WaltS48 [:walts48]]

(In reply to GeorgeGR from comment #3)

(In reply to Wayne Mery (:wsmwk) from comment #2)

George,
DOes it still happne in version 68?

Wayne Mery,

now (after a series of updates from 1 year ago) I have the version 60.9.0 (32-bit).

And YES, it still happens in this version too...

I haven't seen this in years and no longer use AdBlock Plus in Firefox. I now use uBlock Origin.

What I meant to say was I haven't seen this triggered in the versions of Thunderbird I now use.

I think a blog post I was subscribed to, that used to trigger it, stopped being received, or the blogger changed something in their blog.

But this might help.

https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/mozilla.support.firefox/AWh6_W8TNUA

Comment 5

[GeorgeGR]

@WaltS48,

I have never told that I am using AdBlock or uBlock Origin extensions in my Firefox. I do not use any of these extensions.

Also, what extensions I use in Firefox, is irrelevant with this bug which happens in Thunderbird....

I can't understand the meaning of your post, and how this has to do with Thunderbird.

George.

Comment 6

[WaltS48 [:walts48]]

(In reply to GeorgeGR from comment #5)

@WaltS48,

I have never told that I am using AdBlock or uBlock Origin extensions in my Firefox. I do not use any of these extensions.

Also, what extensions I use in Firefox, is irrelevant with this bug which happens in Thunderbird....

I can't understand the meaning of your post, and how this has to do with Thunderbird.

George.

Sorry for the misinformation in my previous comment.

If you read the support post I linked to, it mentions installing Adblock Plus into Thunderbird and creating a custom filter with these entries.

||twitter.com/i/jot
||platform.twitter.com/jot.html

That did work for me in a version of Thunderbird where an ad blocking extension could be installed.

I tried using the URL you use for my start page in Thunderbird Daily 71.0a1, and a new Firefox tab does open with the Twitter Widget Log Helper blank page after every time I opened that application, so it is still happening.

Comment 7

[Matt]

I think this is a dup of Bug 524281

Comment 8

[GeorgeGR]

(In reply to Matt from comment #7)

I think this is a dup of Bug 524281

*** This bug has been marked as a duplicate of bug 524281 ***

Matt, I don't think this is a duplicate of Bug 524281. It has some similarities but this is an another case here...

Comment 9

[Matt]

George, how is it different, both things attempt to load what appears to be a remote image. The remote image is in fact a twitter tracking script that drops a one pixel image (JOT) using HTTP/s which the operating system treats as a unique link in the default browser.