A Firefox/Windows "Scam" warning.

[LIMPET235]

Hi y'awll...
This may be a day or so old but...

Please do NOT fall for this message that may pop up on your screen...
Refer to the askwoody dot com site for the info. > Read Woody's 1st entry link > "See the full post at: etc., etc., etc."
> https://www.askwoody.com/forums/topic/f ... e-is-fake/

The attack works on both Windows and Mac versions of the open source browser.
The only way to close the window is to force-close the entire browser using either the Windows task manager
or the Force Close function in macOS.

Stay safe.

[jscher2000]

Hmm, normally pressing the Esc key rapid fire will cancel the reload-authenticate cycle so you can use Ctrl+W/Command+W to close the bad tab. But few people are versed in the magic of the Esc key.

[mightyglydd]

And then there's a real Windows nag...

EOL: KB4524752

https://www.computerworld.com/article/3 ... -keys.html

[Brummelchen]

i am pretty sure mozilla resolved this issue with a htaccess mask month ago - just close the tab.

[therube]

No, the bug is still live.
If this is the correct bug, Bug 1571003 Basic auth confirmation prompt spam / DOS, then it is to be fixed in FF 72 (or perhaps some dot release, if it comes about).

I posted a live link in this thread, if you're inclined to test, safely, https://www.dslreports.com/forum/r32565 ... ding-users.

[therube]

This looks to be "fixed" in FF 72.

(The page still shows up, still goes through all its machinations, still uses CPU, but at least with a couple ESC ESC, you can close the page...)

Fix might end up in 70, if there is another dot release.

[Brummelchen]

with firefox 70 +ublock i can close the mask, but then the tab freezes, firefox tell me a page is slowing it down. in firefox 72 closing the tab lakes firefox crash, in firefox 70 i opened another empty tab - still very slow - and close the bad tab. after a small period firefox gets back to normale usage without using cpu. a second test in v72 did same. firefox parent process is spiking, delegating the action to a child process and terminates this one when ready, all fine.

ok - another test with firefox 70 and a brand new profile, ofc sandboxed. nothing changed - i can close the mask with [x] or "Cancel", the page is spiking and thus firefox, but i can close the tab and after some period firefox behave normal as written above. thats what i know that mozilla has set its options for such "uncloseable" pages with a htaccess mask.