Mozilla Firefox 111.0.1 fixes Windows 11 and macOS crashes
Mozilla has resolved problems that were causing Firefox to crash on macOS and become unresponsive with a blank window when launched on Windows 11 devices. The bug was first reported by a user who suspected that it was affecting Windows 11 users who had installed the KB5023706 cumulative update released this month. The bug report, which was submitted three days ago, explained that when the browser was opened, a blank window with only the Windows buttons would appear, and if the window was closed, the browser would indicate that it was not responding and send a bug report to Microsoft.
The report that was sent to Microsoft following the crash of Firefox indicates that the web browser ceased to function and was terminated due to an issue that caused it to stop interacting with Windows.
According to the report made by the user, uninstalling the KB5023706 Windows update resolved the issue and allowed Firefox to start normally. However, it is uncertain whether the update was the root cause of the problem or if it worsened a timing issue related to the profile being accessible earlier during startup.
Mozilla has addressed the problem that caused the browser to freeze during startup with the release of Firefox 111.0.1, the most recent version that came out on Tuesday. The release notes for Firefox 111.0.1 state that the new version has fixed a bug that caused the browser to hang during startup for some Windows users.
Mozilla addressed a second issue that led to crashes on macOS devices during pinch zooming, which was caused by NativelayerCA checks of invalid areas. Last week, after a fix was authorized, Brad Werth, a Mozilla Platform Engineer, described the problem’s consequences, saying that under specific circumstances, macOS users might encounter crashes when pinch-zooming. The patch removes a deliberate crash that was previously put in place to identify potential invalid pixels. As a result, Mozilla has concluded that those pixels are legitimate, and the check is no longer necessary or useful.
Although the bug report for this issue was initially marked as “wontfix” three years ago, the number of crashes has increased dramatically since the release of Firefox 111.0 on March 15th, indicating that a resolution may have been necessary. Mozilla acknowledged this and included a fix for the problem in the Firefox 111.0.1 changelog, stating that they have resolved a crash issue that occurred on macOS while pinch-zooming under certain conditions.
