294974 - Javascript uses up all available memory

Status: RESOLVED WORKSFORME

(Firefox :: General, defect)

Description

[Ted Kandell]

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.7.8) Gecko/20050511 Firefox/1.0.4 (ax)
Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.7.8) Gecko/20050511 Firefox/1.0.4 (ax)

When any page on this site is opened, a javascript runs that causes the browser
to run slowly and eventually eats up all the system memory. The notification of
the "script causing Firefox to run slowly" does not appear. It may appear
sometimes if  an attempt is made to close the browser normally, which is too
late. It is impossible to know which URL or tab is causing this, and the user
has to guess.
This is a major security issue - there are websites that are "Firefox Killers".
I believe that this is a script that is repeatedly and rapidly trying to open a
popup window, and this occurs when popups are blocked.

Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
1.Open this link
2.Javascript begins to run but no notification is give that the script is making
Firefox run slowly
3.Eventually the script eats up all the system memory

Actual Results:  
Firefox slows to a crawl, all the system memory is used up, and eventually
Firefox freezes and crashes. Or, the Firefox process will not exit and must be
killed. Sometimes, the "script making Firefox run slowly" dialog box only shows
up after an attempt to close the browser.

Expected Results:  
The user must be notified immediately that a script is causing Firefox to run
slowly, and also state which link is running the script! The existing
notification does not say this, so it is impossible to know which tab has caused
the problem. Scripts causing the browser to run slowly shouldn't be allowed to
use up all the system resources either.

Comment 1

[José Jeria]

WFM: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.8b2) Gecko/20050520
Firefox/1.0+

Comment 2

[William Cline]

Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.7.8) Gecko/20050511
Firefox/1.0.4

Works for me. Perhaps try the latest nightly build? I will mark this as
WORKSFORME if no one else can confirm it. Thanks!