453593 - KB article: Text entered into Firefox is backwards

Status: VERIFIED FIXED

(support.mozilla.org :: Knowledge Base Articles, task)

Description

[[:Cww]]

Edit > Switch text direction or right-click Switch text direction or an RTL extension (I don't know for sure if it exists)

more than likely caused by accidentally pressing a keyboard shortcut... Ctrl-Shift-X

I'm not too sure how common an issue this is (it's not even a feature on en-US versions of the browser) but I've seen it at least twice in the past and it's something simple we should document

Comment 1

[Majken Connor [:Kensie]]

We might be able to make this a help article and a how to article all in one. Make a general article explaining that the feature exists, how to use it and when it'd be used.  I think a title like "Switching the direction of typed text" would be clear for both people who may want to do this on purpose and people who would are having it as a problem.

Comment 2

[straz]

On a Vista x64 installation with Firefox 3.04, I have seen random switches over to reverse text entry.  This affects web page forms and the search dialogue box.  Quiting the program to address typically ends in a hung process.  Will try the Ctrl-Shift-X suggestion or otherwise attempt to document further assuming the issue repeats.

Comment 3

[Bo]

This could also be caused by Bug 407379 - if a screen has a script that launches the print dialog, if you type in another tab, it will be backwards.

Comment 4

[Robert]

This problem is NOT causes by hitting ctrl-shift-X. This problem appears to happen randomly. A few months ago, it would happen once a week, now  it happens multiple times every day on all of my machines, to the point where I am considering dumping firefox altogether. 

Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.9.0.7) Gecko/2009021910 Firefox/3.0.7

Comment 5

[Robert]

by the way, a quick google search for firefox backwards text bug yields many results, I am clearly not the only one who has this problem, there are even multiple youtube videos devoted to the subject.

Comment 6

[john]

I've seen this only once, today, at an exploit site, but have never seen it happen randomly.  Rather than do a separate bug report i just mailed in the relevant details (and got a very speedy reply).  Here's what I wrote:

-- begin --
Reference:  Phishtank Submission #665720

  http://www.phishtank.com/phish_detail.php?phish_id=665720


Exploit Site:

  http://www.rocklandkaratedo.com/Nav/baroda.php?bank=www.bankofbaroda.com


Details:

This bank phishing page and/or its subsequent child-window customer login page performs a (java-based?) keyboard/mouse exploit that persisted in all browser tabs and also in external applications.

Typed text flowed backwards, right to left, and the mouse c/p function was disabled.

Browser and all apps closed with no problem, and a simple re-boot restored normal mouse and keyboard function.  Site reported to Google as "malicious".


Build/Environment:

  Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.9.1a2) Gecko/20080829082037 Shiretoko/3.1a2
-- end --

Brandon's reply from Mozilla Sec noted:  "...I can tell you that we are currently tracking other similar bugs that result in "backwards typing".

Comment 7

[Burf]

In my experience this is actually not a random problem at all, and seems to be a result of a few similar bugs.  I first encountered the problem when I tried to print from a pop-out window.  I was completing an online form and then use their option to create a print-friendly version in a pop-out window.  As long as the print menu is open, the bug continues.  As soon as I complete or cancel the print-job, all typing is returned to normal.  So there's no need for me to close the browser or reboot my OS to fix it.  Also, any text copied and pasted from other applications, such as a word processor, will be entered into the browser properly.

The other bug that I've seen reported quite often sounds java-related and is described on redhat.  https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=478958 

With this bug, it sounds like closing the offending tab doesn't work and the best option is to close Firefox and/or reboot.  

I have never had this problem as the result of a shortcut key combination.

Comment 8

[Brian]

I too saw this on a clients PC today. If you type quickly it seems that whatever is reversing the script can't keep up and some text gets entered the correct way round. Looks more like a rogue/malicious script to me than some genuine FF code. On this occasion FF would close gracefully and had to be terminated, then it worked fine so maybe some malicious code is hooking up the kbd vector?

Comment 9

[Tobias (:Tobbi) Markus]

I'll take this and try to publish a draft for a Knowledge Base article soon.

Comment 10

[Tobias (:Tobbi) Markus]

This is my first draft of the KB article:
https://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Switching+direction+of+typed+text

Comment 11

[Chris Ilias [:cilias]]

Marking this as ready for review. Thanks Tobbi! We'll get to this soon.

Comment 12

[Tom Ellins [:TMZ]]

Thanks Tobbi looks good. The only thing I can think of is maybe adding a note to say this may go after a restart but that is not major and can always be added later. Lets see how this gets on for now so -- reviewed -- moved to KB

https://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Switching+direction+of+typed+text