We blocklisted the Java plugin yesterday, and there are 2 major updates that you should know about.
Firstly, Apple has released a security update that fixes the security vulnerability in Java. All Mac OS X users should run Software Update and update their Java software as soon as possible. It should be noted that we haven’t blocklisted Java on Mac OS X yet, but we might do so in the following days. If we do so, it will be softblocked, meaning that you still have the choice to keep the plugin enabled.
Secondly, we made a mistake that caused the Windows and Linux block to apply as a hardblock instead of a softblock. This gave affected users no alternative other than disabling the plugin. The problem has been corrected and now the block is back to working as a softblock. However, it can take as much as 24 hours for the blocklist to be reloaded, so here are the instructions that you should follow in order to reload it and enable the plugin.
There are 2 ways to do this, and either one should be sufficient to correct the problem.
A) Install the latest version of Java from java.com.
B) Delete the blocklist.
- Open about:support.
- Look for the Profile Directory entry and click on the button next to it in order to open it.
- Look for blocklist.xml.
- Close Firefox and delete the file. Update: according to the comments below, you might also need to delete pluginreg.dat on the same directory.
- Open about:addons.
- Enable the plugin again.
In a day or so (when the blocklist is reloaded) you’ll see a new warning about the plugin if you’re using a vulnerable version, which you should be able to ignore. Even if you accidentally disable it again, you can follow steps 4 and 5 and this should correct the problem permanently.
Once again, you only need to do one of the 2.
We apologize for the immense inconvenience this has caused. It was never our intention to leave everybody with no choice, although we still strongly urge everyone to update to safe versions of Java as soon as possible.
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