There is a problem with an intermediate certificate that is used to sign extensions. This is being worked by the Add-ons team.

See:

• [/questions/1257928] Will the disabling of add-ons be fixed, or is it the new way?
• https://discourse.mozilla.org/t/certificate-issue-causing-add-ons-to-be-disabled-or-fail-to-install/39047

At about 6:10 PST we received a report that a certificate issue for Firefox is causing add-ons to stop working and add-on installs to fail.
Our team is actively working on a fix. We will update as soon as we have more information.

• Bug 1548973 - (armagadd-on-2.0) All extensions disabled due to expiration of intermediate signing cert

(please do not comment in bug reports
https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/page.cgi?id=etiquette.html)

Mozilla has rolled-out a fix for this. The fix will be automatically applied in the background within the next few hours, you don’t need to take active steps.

In order to be able to provide this fix on short notice, they are using the Studies system. You can check if you have studies enabled

1. Go to [=] > Preferences > Privacy & Security.
2. Make sure Allow Firefox to install and run studies is check marked.

I you had it disabled, you can disable studies again after your add-ons have been re-enabled.

They are working on a general fix that doesn't need to rely on this and will keep you updated.

Just checked and I did have studies enabled. I just launched FF so I'll wait and see if anything really happens. However, this latest screw-up tells me I need to seriously look at moving to another browser.

romad said

Just checked and I did have studies enabled. I just launched FF so I'll wait and see if anything really happens. However, this latest screw-up tells me I need to seriously look at moving to another browser.

Please follow the update regarding this mishap: https://blog.mozilla.org/addons/2019/05/04/update-regarding-add-ons-in-firefox/ .

All "about:studies tells me is "You have not participated in any studies."

Obviously no one at Mozilla is paying any attention to the blog as people are not getting any replies from Mozilla to their questions. Several don't have a "Studies" setting in their preferences, others have to run older FF versions because their hardware can't run newer versions. AFAICT, only those running FF66 seem to have had some success.

Hello reromad said

All "about:studies tells me is "You have not participated in any studies." Obviously no one at Mozilla is paying any attention to the blog as people are not getting any replies from Mozilla to their questions. Several don't have a "Studies" setting in their preferences, others have to run older FF versions because their hardware can't run newer versions. AFAICT, only those running FF66 seem to have had some success.

Hello romad,

Please check if below option is enabled:

• Firefox Options/Preferences -> Privacy & Security -> Allow Firefox to install and run studies (scroll down to find the setting)
• Note: Studies can be disabled again after the add-ons have been re-enabled

And now Mozilla will not even allow comments to be posted. Looks like they are burying their head in the sand!

Chandan, what parts of these posts I made don't you understand?

"Just checked and I did have studies enabled."

"All "about:studies tells me is "You have not participated in any studies."

I HAVE DONE everything I was told to check by Chris above so as to fix this latest Firefox problem!

As part of my "quick-fix" solution, I've moved my bookmarks from Firefox to Safari. While it isn't my preferred solution, it looks like it will have to do given Mozilla has admitted their "fix" only works on the current Desktop release and not their ESR releases.

So if Mozilla's "fix" doesn't work for you, you may want to move to a different browser until your version of FF is fixed (IF ever).

You can temporarily set app.normandy.run_interval_seconds to a lower value (21600 => 60) to see whether that installs the hotfix. Close/Quit and restart Firefox and check about:studies.

• hotfix-update-xpi-signing-intermediate-bug-1548973
• hotfix-reset-xpi-verification-timestamp-1548973

You may have to refresh the about:studies page a few times.

Do NOT forget to reset app.normandy.run_interval_seconds when about:studies shows that the hotfix has been applied.

You can open the about:config page via the location/address bar. You can accept the warning and click "I accept the risk!" to continue.

• http://kb.mozillazine.org/about:config

See also:

• https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/add-ons-disabled-or-fail-to-install-firefox
• https://blog.mozilla.org/addons/2019/05/04/update-regarding-add-ons-in-firefox/

cor-el, that is not a solution for me as Mozilla has admitted their "quick-fix" is only for the current version of Desktop Firefox. Mozilla also said it does NOT work for those of us on the ESR channel, for those who have FF versions earlier than the current one, and versions included with Linux.

See these threads about to add the certificate manually:

• /questions/1258208 plugins could not be verified firefox esr 52
• /questions/1258275 How do I re-enable the add-ons WITHOUT being forced to upgrade

Wonder of wonders! I just launched Firefox 60.1esr so I could continue to copy bookmarks and settings to Safari and my add-ons are back! I then went to about:studies and found this:

hotfix-update-xpi-signing-intermediate-bug-1548973 Active•This is a hotfix that updates an intermediate certificate used for signing add-ons. It is one of the mechanisms used to fix bug 1548973.

However, I'm still going to continue to setup Safari so it has the same bookmarks/settings as Firefox 60.1esr as I just can't trust Mozilla anymore.

Note that Firefox 60.6.2 ESR has been released to fix this for ESR 60 (release: 66.0.4)

cor-el said

Note that Firefox 60.6.2 ESR has been released to fix this for ESR 60 (release: 66.0.4)

Thanks. I'll check it out.