2028077 - Closing the TOU or Privacy policy windows opened from their respective links will also close the TOU modal without the user accepting the terms

Status: VERIFIED FIXED

(Firefox :: Messaging System, defect, P1)

Description

[Rares Doghi, Desktop QA]

Attachment: YesNo.mp4

Found in

• Beta 150.0b4

Affected versions

• Nightly 151.0a1 (2026-03-30)
• Beta 150.0b4

Affected platforms

• all

Steps to reproduce

1. Open Firefox 138.0b2 and set the region in about:Config to US
2. Open the latest Build and Reach the Smart Window.
3. Open one of the TOU links and close that window.

Expected result

• The TOU modal should still be displayed when the newly opened window is closed.

Actual result

• When closing the Window with the TOU link it will also close the TOU modal without the user accepting it.
• If a user continues and signs in to Smart window he is never asked again about the TOU.
• Please note that if he signs out and tries to reach the Smart window again it will show the TOU modal again.

Please also note that this issue occurs with our normal Startup TOU modal as well.

Regression range
N/A

Comment 1

[Rares Doghi, Desktop QA]

Hi @Mimi can you take a look at this issue ? It seems that in our latest Beta whenever we open the TOU or Privacy Policy windows and close them it will automatically close the TOU modal without accepting the Terms.

Comment 2

[Mimi Jung]

Thanks for flagging this. Do you happen to have a regression range (for the new user TOU modal)? I'll do some investigating in the meantime.

Comment 3

[Mimi Jung]

8:32.92 INFO: Last good revision: 0fa3dfdbb00c8babe89f202457343e68b5b84f03
8:32.92 INFO: First bad revision: 42131ed5e398ea819dc3cc685879b4dcde1be83d
8:32.92 INFO: Pushlog:
https://hg.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/pushloghtml?fromchange=0fa3dfdbb00c8babe89f202457343e68b5b84f03&tochange=42131ed5e398ea819dc3cc685879b4dcde1be83d

I believe this is related to 2021013, reverting the changes from that patch restores the behavior.

Comment 4

[BugBot [:suhaib / :marco/ :calixte]]

:hsohaney, since you are the author of the regressor, bug 2021013, could you take a look? Also, could you set the severity field?

For more information, please visit BugBot documentation.

Comment 5

[Mimi Jung]

Attachment: Bug 2028077 - Gate Spotlight.close() to owning window to prevent TOU modal from closing when clicking on links

Comment 6

[Rares Doghi, Desktop QA]

Hi @Mimi, I am unable to do a correct regression range since the builds never show the TOS but I manually downloaded the builds and this was the last good build: https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/nightly/2026/03/2026-03-23-00-18-04-mozilla-central/
and this is the first bad build : https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/nightly/2026/03/2026-03-24-00-27-15-mozilla-central/

Comment 7

[Pulsebot]

Pushed by [e-mail]:
https://github.com/mozilla-firefox/firefox/commit/115027061c56
https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/autoland/rev/778678527e88
Gate Spotlight.close() to owning window to prevent TOU modal from closing when clicking on links r=omc-reviewers,sachung,emcminn

Comment 8

[Pulsebot]

Pushed by [e-mail]:
https://github.com/mozilla-firefox/firefox/commit/98bf4b92d3f5
https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/autoland/rev/e5c87c609852
Revert "Bug 2028077 - Gate Spotlight.close() to owning window to prevent TOU modal from closing when clicking on links r=omc-reviewers,sachung,emcminn" for causing bc failures at browser_privatebrowsing_about_nimbus_messaging.js

Comment 9

[rperta]

Backed out for causing bc failures at browser_privatebrowsing_about_nimbus_messaging.js
Backout link
Push with failures
Failure log(s)

Comment 10

[Pulsebot]

Pushed by [e-mail]:
https://github.com/mozilla-firefox/firefox/commit/29c2d4b223e7
https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/autoland/rev/b6d613d7f2c4
Gate Spotlight.close() to owning window to prevent TOU modal from closing when clicking on links r=omc-reviewers,sachung,emcminn

Comment 11

[Florian Quèze [:florian]]

My patch for bug 2028115 is the fix for the failure in comment 9, so I relanded this patch with my patch on top.

Comment 12

[Cristian Tuns]

https://hg.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/rev/b6d613d7f2c4

Comment 13

[Rares Doghi, Desktop QA]

Verified as fixed in our latest Nightly 151.0a1 (2026-04-02)

Comment 14

[BugBot [:suhaib / :marco/ :calixte]]

The patch landed in nightly and beta is affected.
:mjung, is this bug important enough to require an uplift?

• If yes, please nominate the patch for beta approval.
  • See https://wiki.mozilla.org/Release_Management/Requesting_an_Uplift for documentation on how to request an uplift.
• If no, please set status-firefox150 to wontfix.

For more information, please visit BugBot documentation.

Comment 15

[Phabricator Automation]

firefox-beta Uplift Approval Request

• User impact if declined/Reason for urgency: Clicking links (Terms of Use, Privacy Notice) in any Spotlight modals unexpectedly closes the modal when the link's window is closed.

Users can bypass required TOU acceptance in the new user onboarding modal and for Smart Windows TOU/Existing users TOU it would unexpectedly close the Spotlight. For Smart Windows, if a user continues and signs in to Smart window they won't be shown TOU again unless they sign out and try to reach Smart Windows again, allowing them to bypass TOU.

• Code covered by automated testing?: yes
• Fix verified in Nightly?: yes
• Needs manual QE testing?: no
• Steps to reproduce for manual QE testing:
• Risk associated with taking this patch: low
• Explanation of risk level: Patch adds window ownership tracking and has test coverage added to prevent regression. The fix only impacts Spotlight dialogs with links (limited to TOU) while fixing a critical UX issue of bypassing TOU acceptance.
• String changes made/needed?: No
• Is Android affected?: no

Comment 16

[Mimi Jung]

Attachment: Bug 2028077 - Gate Spotlight.close() to owning window to prevent TOU modal from closing when clicking on links

Original Revision: https://phabricator.services.mozilla.com/D291293

Comment 17

[Pulsebot]

https://github.com/mozilla-firefox/firefox/commit/7568b50f5b7a
https://hg.mozilla.org/releases/mozilla-beta/rev/4c60e7a96b41

Comment 18

[Rares Doghi, Desktop QA]

Verified as fixed in our latest Beta 150.0b6 (64-bit)