Firefox users are unable to load some Microsoft websites
- Some Firefox users are allegedly dealing with another annoying issue lately.
- Reports indicate that certain Microsoft-owned sites won't load on Firefox.
- None of the other browsers had similar troubles when loading the same sites.
- However, the latest Mozilla Firefox update will actually fix this ugly problem.
There have been several user reports recently, that outlined the fact that only Mozilla’s Firefox couldn’t access or display some websites that officially belong to the Redmond tech giant.
And although many people thought so, this wasn’t the result of the ongoing browser wars. Actually, many sub-domains, which belonged to Microsoft, refused to load on the latest and stable version of Firefox.
And yes, the above-mentioned websites all worked perfectly when being accessed from Edge, Safari, Chrome, and other popular web browsers, from PCs and mobile versions of the apps.
What caused this annoying issue?
People that wanted to access the websites we’ve talked about, from Firefox, were greeted with the Secure Connection Failed error messages.
An error occurred during a connection to docs.microsoft.com. The OCSP response does not include a status for the certificate being verified.
Error code: MOZILLA_PKIX_ERROR_OCSP_RESPONSE_FOR_CERT_MISSING
• The page you are trying to view cannot be shown because the authenticity of the received data could not be verified.
• Please contact the website owners to inform them of this problem.
Apparently, the problem had something to do with OCSP and its response for Cert being missing. Needless to say, disabling OCSP stapling functionality in Firefox instantly resolved the issue.
Also important to note, is that disabling OCSP is not a recommended solution, although, it is a temporary workaround.
OCSP stands for Online Certificate Status Protocol, which is a method for obtaining certificate revocation information.
Just to sum up a bit, Firefox refused to display Microsoft’s sub-domains because they aren’t doing their OCSP due diligence.
The security protocol checks for certain certificates, and if they were revoked recently, and in the absence of such information, Firefox simply chose not to display the sub-domains.
Microsoft recently forgot to renew a security certificate, and, it just so happened that Mozilla Firefox is the only web browser that goes the extra mile to check for such information.
But you don’t have to be alarmed, because the latest update for Mozilla Firefox, which is version 95.0.1, fixes the issues with Microsoft websites.
There’s a lot of gray area in this case, as it is not clear why Mozilla made any changes, as it is Microsoft’s responsibility to follow due diligence for their OCSP.
What is your opinion on this whole matter? Share your thoughts with us in the comments section below.
