Firefox 157 Update Lands With New Design and Security Fixes

MW Contributor · 2026-10-03T21:05:43+08:00

Mozilla has released the Firefox 157 update, its biggest visual refresh in years, with the new look and a large batch of security fixes now rolling out to users in Malaysia through the browser's automatic update system. The new design, internally called Nova, replaces square interface elements with rounded tabs, a rounded address bar and refreshed icons, colours and menus. New built-in themes offer light and dark versions. A Compact Mode returns to reduce toolbar and tab spacing, which helps on smaller laptop screens. The desktop and mobile versions of the browser now share the same design language. The update is not just cosmetic. Firefox 157 patches approximately 76 vulnerabilities, with 38 rated high severity, according to security reporting from SecurityWeek. The flaws include use-after-free bugs, sandbox escapes and privilege escalation issues. At least one flaw carries a critical CVSS score of 9.6. Mozilla has not reported active exploitation in the wild, but users are advised to update promptly. Enterprise users on the Extended Support Release receive the same fixes in Firefox ESR 153.4, 140.17 and 115.42. Two changes matter for privacy-minded users. Firefox now warns in the site information panel and in Settings when the browser has been set up to record its encryption keys, a setting that allows other software on the computer to read encrypted web traffic. Separately, Firefox Suggest address bar recommendations have expanded to 16 European countries including Austria, Belgium, Poland and Spain. Malaysia is not in the expanded list, so Malaysian users will not see the feature arrive with this update. Amazon has been removed from the browser's built-in search engine options. Users who want it back can add it as a custom search engine in the search settings. Video playback improvements include hardware AV1 decoding for WebRTC video calls on supported devices, a fix for HDR videos appearing dull and grey on Windows, and corrected orientation for video shot on phones and tablets in WebRTC calls. Audio and video sync now stays correct when repeatedly changing playback speed on sites such as YouTube. Users who dislike the new look can revert to the previous design without losing the security fixes. Typing about:config in the address bar and setting browser.nova.enabled to false restores the classic interface immediately. The older sidebar can be restored by setting sidebar.revamp to false, though this also disables vertical tabs, and the preference will only remain available until the end of 2027. To install the update, open the browser menu, select Help, then About Firefox. The browser will check for the update and prompt a restart, or users can download the latest version directly from the Mozilla website. Web platform additions include the at-rule() function for @supports and the chain value for the CSS overscroll-behavior property, while alert(), confirm() and prompt() dialogs now follow a page's light or dark colour scheme.

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October 3, 2026 at 9:05 pm
MW Contributor
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Mozilla has released the Firefox 157 update, its biggest visual refresh in years, with the new look and a large batch of security fixes now rolling out to users in Malaysia through the browser’s automatic update system.
The new design, internally called Nova, replaces square interface elements with rounded tabs, a rounded address bar and refreshed icons, colours and menus. New built-in themes offer light and dark versions. A Compact Mode returns to reduce toolbar and tab spacing, which helps on smaller laptop screens. The desktop and mobile versions of the browser now share the same design language.
The update is not just cosmetic. Firefox 157 patches approximately 76 vulnerabilities, with 38 rated high severity, according to security reporting from SecurityWeek. The flaws include use-after-free bugs, sandbox escapes and privilege escalation issues. At least one flaw carries a critical CVSS score of 9.6. Mozilla has not reported active exploitation in the wild, but users are advised to update promptly. Enterprise users on the Extended Support Release receive the same fixes in Firefox ESR 153.4, 140.17 and 115.42.
Two changes matter for privacy-minded users. Firefox now warns in the site information panel and in Settings when the browser has been set up to record its encryption keys, a setting that allows other software on the computer to read encrypted web traffic. Separately, Firefox Suggest address bar recommendations have expanded to 16 European countries including Austria, Belgium, Poland and Spain. Malaysia is not in the expanded list, so Malaysian users will not see the feature arrive with this update.
Amazon has been removed from the browser’s built-in search engine options. Users who want it back can add it as a custom search engine in the search settings.
Video playback improvements include hardware AV1 decoding for WebRTC video calls on supported devices, a fix for HDR videos appearing dull and grey on Windows, and corrected orientation for video shot on phones and tablets in WebRTC calls. Audio and video sync now stays correct when repeatedly changing playback speed on sites such as YouTube.
Users who dislike the new look can revert to the previous design without losing the security fixes. Typing about:config in the address bar and setting browser.nova.enabled to false restores the classic interface immediately. The older sidebar can be restored by setting sidebar.revamp to false, though this also disables vertical tabs, and the preference will only remain available until the end of 2027.
To install the update, open the browser menu, select Help, then About Firefox. The browser will check for the update and prompt a restart, or users can download the latest version directly from the Mozilla website.
Web platform additions include the at-rule() function for @supports and the chain value for the CSS overscroll-behavior property, while alert(), confirm() and prompt() dialogs now follow a page’s light or dark colour scheme.
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