Since when does Firefox set DisableAppUpdate automatically?
Good morning,
We are seeing that the key "DisableAppUpdate" being set to TRUE in about:policies. Not sure why this setting is being set. The result of the setting is "Updates disabled by your organization". So we cannot manually update firefox and are not sure why the setting is being set.
We used Procmon to capture logs:
Line 5169544: "2:29:45.2062951 AM","firefox.exe","1720","RegEnumValue","HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Mozilla\Firefox","SUCCESS","Index: 0, Name: DisableAppUpdate, Type: REG_DWORD, Length: 4, Data: 1" Line 5169546: "2:29:45.2063211 AM","firefox.exe","1720","RegEnumValue","HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Mozilla\Firefox","SUCCESS","Index: 0, Name: DisableAppUpdate, Type: REG_DWORD, Length: 4, Data: 1" Line 5169547: "2:29:45.2063338 AM","firefox.exe","1720","RegQueryValue","HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Mozilla\Firefox\DisableAppUpdate","SUCCESS","Type: REG_DWORD, Length: 4, Data: 1" Line 5169548: "2:29:45.2063563 AM","firefox.exe","1720","RegQueryValue","HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Mozilla\Firefox\DisableAppUpdate","SUCCESS","Type: REG_DWORD, Length: 4, Data: 1"
Is there anything in Firefox that can trigger the setting of this key?
All Replies (6)
That's strange. Are you using the Firefox for Enterprise version? I don't think that one has the DisableAppUpdate policy set to true either but something is definitely setting that policy.
I found a similar thread about this from 2021: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1325408#answer-1391171
The suggested fix was to delete a possible GPO policy set in the registry. Can you let us know if Cor-el's advice solves the issue? Thanks
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1347191#answer-1436470 In another thread above, it was mentioned that some security software might be able to set that policy setting. That user had Avira Prime installed and suspected it could have done this. You might have a similar security or protection program doing this.
They also mentioned the registry keys came back after the PC was reset so they changed the key value for DisableAppUpdate policy from 1 to 0 instead and that worked. Located in: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Mozilla\Firefox\
So that's another option if the registry keys return after you restart the computer.
The Procmon log indicates that Firefox is making the change, not Qualys. As you mentioned that a manual installation did not cause this message, it begs the question of the patch source as the root cause.
The Qualys Patch Management source for the latest version in English (assuming 64-bit architecture):
https://download-installer.cdn.mozilla.net/pub/firefox/releases/131.0/win64/en-US/Firefox Setup 131.0.msi For 129.0.1 (for which case data was gathered and assuming 64-bit architecture):
https://download-installer.cdn.mozilla.net/pub/firefox/releases/129.0.1/win64/en-US/Firefox Setup 129.0.1.msi
When utilizing this MSI, we get the same results in our testing regardless of whether Qualys PM installs it or it is done manually.
We suspect that Mozilla has changed the MSI in the locations above and it now displays that message if the updates are installed from this location.
Does this still happen if you boot the computer in Windows Safe Mode with network support?
Hello,
No I haven't tried this. I will see if it might work. but I might report this as a bug to Firefox.
Hey mrvrach, if you do file that Firefox bug please file it here: https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/enter_bug.cgi?product=Firefox&component=Enterprise%20Policies
I setup that link so that it takes you to the Enterprise Policies area where you'll get the fastest response about this issue. Share all the same information you gave us here including the Procmon logs. I hope they can track down why this is happening exactly.
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