Closed Bug 1683214 Opened 5 years ago Closed 5 years ago

Firefox automatically updates even when we set it not to. We need it to not update so that we are able to use legacy applications

Categories

(Toolkit :: Application Update, defect)

Product:
Toolkit
Component:
Application Update
Version:
69 Branch
Type:
defect

Tracking

()

Status:
RESOLVED WORKSFORME

People

(Reporter: benjamin.le, Unassigned)

Details

User Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/87.0.4280.88 Safari/537.36

Steps to reproduce:

Firefox automatically updates even when we set it not to. We need it to not update so that we are able to use legacy applications

Actual results:

Firefox still automatically updates, causing views to be broken and webpage functionality unavailable

Expected results:

Firefox is simply supposed to not update. Our organization only uses this outdated version of Firefox for the legacy application.

Bugbug thinks this bug should belong to this component, but please revert this change in case of error.

Component: Untriaged → Application Update
Product: Firefox → Toolkit

Thanks for filing this bug, but we need some more information to be able to help. Can you tell us what Firefox version you're using, what you're doing to disable updates, and what specifically is happening to make you say that what you're doing isn't working? Thanks again.

Flags: needinfo?(benjamin.le)

Greetings! We are using Firefox version 69. We are performing Registry fixes to disable updates, as well as turning off BITS inside FireFox and delaying all internet connection paths that are used to connect to the Internet to perform the updates.

Flags: needinfo?(benjamin.le)

Thank you for your response, but we will need some more specific answers so we can figure out what's going on.

When you say you are performing "Registry fixes to disable updates", what precisely do you mean? What keys/values/data are you setting? Are you setting them through the Group Policy editor, with regedit, or through some other mechanism?

Also, specifically what is happening that makes you say that what you are doing isn't working? Are you seeing a message that reads "We just need to do one small thing to keep going" when you open a new tab? Are you seeing a popup that says "Restart to update"? Can you confirm that the version number is indeed increasing when Firefox updates? You can see the version number on the about:support page.

Flags: needinfo?(benjamin.le)

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Mozilla]

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Mozilla\Firefox]
"DisableAppUpdate"=dword:00000001

  • Firefox keeps updating to the latest version, which is 84 at the moment. We check the version every time to make sure we're not crazy.

  • We know the product keeps updating because the web-based application (Cisco Finesse) is not showing some of the informative parts (Call/Agent Queue).

Flags: needinfo?(benjamin.le)

Excellent, thank you. Those registry entries look right to me. Could you check whether Firefox is detecting the policy properly, please? If you navigate to about:policies, what do you see? Is DisableAppUpdate listed?

Flags: needinfo?(benjamin.le)

The "about:policies" page shows that "DisableAppUpdate" is true.

Flags: needinfo?(benjamin.le)

we're also deleting anything within the Mozilla family associated with Updates or Maintenance, but this not doing anything.

del C:\ProgramData\Mozilla\updates* -force -Recurse
del "C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Maintenance Service*" -force -Recurse
del "C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\maintenanceservice.exe"
del "C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\maintenanceservice_installer.exe"
del "C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\update-settings.ini"
del "C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\updater.exe"
del "C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\updater.ini"

(In reply to benjamin.le from comment #8)

we're also deleting anything within the Mozilla family associated with Updates or Maintenance, but this not doing anything.
...
del "C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\updater.exe"

This confuses me kind of a lot. Updates are being applied after you deleted the program that installs the updates? I don't really see how that's possible. Regardless, I would highly recommend that you interact with Firefox via the prescribed mechanisms rather than modifying it in ways that the program does not expect.

(In reply to benjamin.le from comment #7)

The "about:policies" page shows that "DisableAppUpdate" is true.

Well this means that the policy system is working properly, so the problem must be in the update system. Could you please post an update log so that I can take a look? Here is how you can do this:

  • Navigate to about:config
  • Set app.update.log to true
  • Open the browser console with either the hotkey (Control+Shift+J) or through the menu (Menu->Web Developer->Browser Console)
  • In the browser, navigate to about:preferences and find the "Update" section
  • Let me know if the "Check for Updates" button available or greyed out. If it is available, click it.
  • In the browser console, put this filter in the input box at the top left: AUS:SVC
  • Attach the AUS:SVC log messages to this bug
Flags: needinfo?(benjamin.le)

certainly!

  • the "Check for Updates" button is disabled/greyed out
  • 16:17:49.819 AUS:SVC UpdateService:removeDownloadListener - no downloader!
Flags: needinfo?(benjamin.le)

I understand. it's VERY confusing.

Hmm. That one line is all you are getting? It looks like I'm going to need a log from when an update is actually downloaded. Would you be able to provide that?

The steps to obtain the log are the same, but you will have to wait for an update to be downloaded rather than forcing one via about:preferences.

Flags: needinfo?(benjamin.le)

okay. I'll see what another computer says. stand by.

Flags: needinfo?(benjamin.le)

and of course I'll have to wait awhile

this is what I see so far:

AUS:SVC Creating UpdateService
AUS:SVC Logging current UpdateService status:
AUS:SVC UpdateService.canCheckForUpdates - unable to automatically check for updates, the option has been disabled by the administrator.
AUS:SVC getCanApplyUpdates - testing write access C:\ProgramData\Mozilla\updates\308046B0AF4A39CB\update.test
AUS:SVC isServiceInstalled - returning true
AUS:SVC shouldUseService - returning false
AUS:SVC getCanApplyUpdates - testing write access C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\update.test
AUS:SVC getCanApplyUpdates - unable to apply updates. Exception: [Exception... "Component returned failure code: 0x80520015 (NS_ERROR_FILE_ACCESS_DENIED) [nsIFile.create]" nsresult: "0x80520015 (NS_ERROR_FILE_ACCESS_DENIED)" location: "JS frame :: resource://gre/modules/UpdateService.jsm :: getCanApplyUpdates :: line 546" data: no]
AUS:SVC getCanStageUpdates - staging updates is disabled by preference app.update.staging.enabled
AUS:SVC Elevation required: false
AUS:SVC Update being handled by other instance: false
AUS:SVC Downloading: false
AUS:SVC End of UpdateService status
AUS:SVC UpdateService:removeDownloadListener - no downloader!
AUS:SVC UpdateService:removeDownloadListener - no downloader!

AUS:SVC getCanApplyUpdates - testing write access C:\ProgramData\Mozilla\updates\308046B0AF4A39CB\update.test
AUS:SVC isServiceInstalled - returning true
AUS:SVC shouldUseService - returning false
AUS:SVC getCanApplyUpdates - testing write access C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\update.test
AUS:SVC getCanApplyUpdates - unable to apply updates. Exception: [Exception... "Component returned failure code: 0x80520015 (NS_ERROR_FILE_ACCESS_DENIED) [nsIFile.create]" nsresult: "0x80520015 (NS_ERROR_FILE_ACCESS_DENIED)" location: "JS frame :: resource://gre/modules/UpdateService.jsm :: getCanApplyUpdates :: line 546" data: no]
AUS:SVC getCanStageUpdates - staging updates is disabled by preference app.update.staging.enabled
AUS:SVC getCanUseBits - Not using BITS. Disabled by pref.
AUS:SVC isServiceInstalled - returning true
AUS:SVC Checker:getUpdateURL - update URL: https://aus5.mozilla.org/update/6/Firefox/68.12.0/20200817150009/WINNT_x86_64-msvc-x64/en-US/esr/Windows_NT%2010.0.0.0.19042.685%20(x64)/ISET:SSE4_2,MEM:16259/default/default/update.xml
AUS:SVC Checker: checkForUpdates, force: false
AUS:SVC Creating UpdateService
AUS:SVC Logging current UpdateService status:
AUS:SVC UpdateService.canCheckForUpdates - unable to automatically check for updates, the option has been disabled by the administrator.
AUS:SVC getCanApplyUpdates - testing write access C:\ProgramData\Mozilla\updates\308046B0AF4A39CB\update.test
AUS:SVC isServiceInstalled - returning true
AUS:SVC shouldUseService - returning false
AUS:SVC getCanApplyUpdates - testing write access C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\update.test
AUS:SVC getCanApplyUpdates - unable to apply updates. Exception: [Exception... "Component returned failure code: 0x80520015 (NS_ERROR_FILE_ACCESS_DENIED) [nsIFile.create]" nsresult: "0x80520015 (NS_ERROR_FILE_ACCESS_DENIED)" location: "JS frame :: resource://gre/modules/UpdateService.jsm :: getCanApplyUpdates :: line 546" data: no]
AUS:SVC getCanStageUpdates - staging updates is disabled by preference app.update.staging.enabled
AUS:SVC Elevation required: false
AUS:SVC Update being handled by other instance: false
AUS:SVC Downloading: false
AUS:SVC End of UpdateService status
AUS:SVC Checker: checkForUpdates, disabled by policy

It might be best for me to wait until it updates.

We have at least 25 separate cases of this exact issue.

Did you ever manage to get a log of Firefox downloading an update?

Flags: needinfo?(benjamin.le)

Greetings Kirk! I was not able to grab a log before it updated again. This is what it looks like on the updated Firefox.

07:52:22.723 AUS:SVC UpdateManager:_loadXMLFileIntoArray - XML file does not exist. path: C:\ProgramData\Mozilla\updates\308046B0AF4A39CB\active-update.xml
07:52:26.951 AUS:SVC UpdateManager:_loadXMLFileIntoArray - XML file does not exist. path: C:\ProgramData\Mozilla\updates\308046B0AF4A39CB\updates.xml
07:52:38.935 AUS:SVC Creating UpdateService
07:52:38.935 AUS:SVC Current UpdateService status: disabledByPolicy
07:52:38.935 AUS:SVC UpdateService:removeDownloadListener - no downloader!

Flags: needinfo?(benjamin.le)

If you'd like to give me a call, my office phone number is 720.728.1833

I'll also point out that our IT team of 4 (I'm on that team as well) has been attempting this on both version 69 and version 68 ESR - they are both automatically updating despite the efforts to disable any sort of updating.

In order to figure out what's going wrong, I will probably need an update log. But there is something else that might shed some light on what's going on in the meantime:

  • Navigate to 'about:preferences` and find the "Update" section.
  • Click the "Show Update History" button.

Could you tell me all the information it gives about the most recent (first listed) update? It should show you a Product version (ex: Nightly 86.0a1), a build ID (ex: 20201220093524), an "installed on" date (ex: Installed on December 20, 2020, 6:54:50 PM), and a status (ex: Status: The Update was successfully installed).

Thanks!

Flags: needinfo?(benjamin.le)

Oh wait. I can see the answer from your last comment:

07:52:26.951 AUS:SVC UpdateManager:_loadXMLFileIntoArray - XML file does not exist. path: C:\ProgramData\Mozilla\updates\308046B0AF4A39CB\updates.xml

updates.xml is where the update history is stored. The fact that you do not have one, coupled with the fact that you have deleted the updater binary, is an extremely strong indication to me that Firefox automatic update is not the source of your problems.

I can make some suggestions about what the problem might be:

  • Firefox is being restored to a different version by a program like Deep Freeze.
  • A newer version of Firefox is being pushed by a server running one of Microsoft's remote administration tools.
  • A package manager like Chocolatey is updating Firefox.

Since all evidence suggests that Firefox is respecting the DisableAppUpdate policy, I am going to go ahead and close this bug. If you find something that indicates that Firefox is indeed at fault, let me know and I'll reopen it.

Status: UNCONFIRMED → RESOLVED
Closed: 5 years ago
Flags: needinfo?(benjamin.le)
Resolution: --- → WORKSFORME

Oh, one other idea for places you could look. We've gotten bug reports before that were a result of antivirus software updating Firefox. Maybe check if your antivirus software has this "feature".

  • I understand where you're coming from. However, I can confirm that our organization's systems management and anti-malware products are not causing the updates.
  • For grins, I also downgraded my personal computer's Firefox to 69 as well, deleted all the maintenance/update modules, and manually unchecked the Update too - it in fact updated to version 72 after a reboot.

I did attempt to reproduce this issue. I installed Firefox 69 on my laptop as well. I enabled the DisableAppUpdate policy. I have rebooted several times. It is still version 69. Perhaps if you reproduce the issue in a virtual machine and send me a copy, I could take a look and see what's going on. But with no logs and no ability for me to reproduce the problem, I'm afraid there's nothing I can do for you.

Wait, Firefox 72? There is no logical reason why you would have been updated to Firefox 72. That is not the newest version on any update channel, including ESR. If Firefox automatic update had caused this, you should have been updated to Firefox 78, if you are on the ESR channel.

  • we will get back to you. it is likely another systems management tool we use: SolarWinds RMM

Ah, my mistake. We had a watershed in 72. So it is conceivable that this is the version we would update to.

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