Firefox crashhelper.exe ?
brucine Posted messages 24378 Registration date Status Membre Last intervention -
Hello,
For the past few days, seemingly coinciding with update 139, my security software has been periodically intercepting it as an unknown file whether I approve it or not.
Firefox is otherwise working perfectly normally, there are no crashes or reports except for one file
C:\Users\xxx\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Crash Reports\crash_helper_server.log
which is empty and seems to be generated, I’m not sure, every session start or update (this morning 139.0.1).
Does this inspire anyone?
4 réponses
Hello
You can try a repair of FF: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/troubleshoot-and-diagnose-problems-firefox
Hello
"Every time Firefox starts": you can set the update so that it doesn't happen again at any time of day.
If a security program systematically discards the last created file that it has never seen, and for good reason, it's not a security program, it's an anti-update. We need to know what we are asking our security programs to do, which ones we choose and why.
Hello,
Regarding the intervention <1>, there is no malfunction and therefore nothing to repair (I can still do it and reconfigure everything later, it annoys me but it won't change anything), it seems there is only an unwarranted intervention from the security software.
The theory in <2>, which basically says that I would have chosen such security software because it’s worthless or because I am, is surprising.
The interception occurs at two levels: the software itself compares to a list of approved publishers (of which Mozilla is obviously a part) and the user can approve it themselves if the software does not recognize it.
What is curious in this case is that even if I approve, the executable, which is signed with a certificate from Mozilla, seems to come back every update, probably because the Hash changes at that time and the software is doing its job.
Of course, we can either decree that all files from such an approved publisher are valid or approve each request rule by default from the executable in question, but the question is why is this happening now when both Firefox and the security software have been in place for years.
What is worthless is a security software that does not intercept a file it does not recognize; it is then useless.
Hello
No worries, my version 139.0.1 is dated 29-05-2025.
Sometimes it takes a day or two for the security software to add all the new Firefox files to its own database on its site so that it doesn't block them right at Firefox startup. We’ve seen Avast Free, which worked well back in the XP days and was well-regarded at the time, completely crash all the XPs it was installed on back then; we had to manually restore one official file in the official Windows. This isn't as catastrophic; nothing seems to be crashing.
Hello,
If you’re talking about advanced Comodo features, disable them.
Otherwise, do you have any older backups of %AppData%\Mozilla?
I still have version 137.0.1 which works perfectly.
When there are changes that are bothersome with Mozilla Firefox, I revert back if necessary, until the version works well on all the sites I use.
Hello.
Indeed, if it is deleted, it is recreated when Firefox is opened.
Have you tried to add the "Crash reports" folder to the exceptions?
Have you tried disabling all your extensions and restarting Firefox to see if one of them is crashing and causing an attempt to write to the crash helper file?
I only have a backup of the current profile, but I can indeed try to uninstall Firefox, install 137 or 138, re-import my personal files from the backup while still needing some tweaking, and see if the problem resurfaces and/or if the famous executable exists in that version.
I have the antivirus activated because otherwise Windows Defender reactivates which I do not want, but the entire disk is an exception; for the rest (firewall and HIPS defense), we have no choice except to either disable everything or allow all monitored components for that application.
The origin is ambiguous because in case of a blockage, the normal behavior is to indicate the blocking component (firewall, HIPS...) whereas here it does not seem to be a blockage per se, the software simply reports the executable as unknown.
I only have one extension, the same one (NoScript).
I have once again changed the rating (mine, not Comodo's, to whom I submitted the file in case it's a bug on their part) to approved and I checked a box that approves all applications based on the publisher's evaluation (the file is unknown and thus not evaluated but it is signed by Mozilla).
The beast has not reacted again for now; I’m waiting to see if it resurrects to attempt one of the solutions.
This morning, the file crash_helper_server.log was no longer 0 KB but was populated by a line stating that it could not launch crash_helper_server generic error 109, which does me a great deal of good; this afternoon it emptied itself; it seems to be dated from the update 139.0.1 yesterday morning but may simply coincide with the opening of Firefox a few minutes prior (the update is set to notify, but manually).