XPost: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general

Using Win98se with Kernel-Ex, I am able to use Firefox 3.x (3.6.28).
Anything above that dont run well.

With all the added security on websites (httpS), I am constantly getting security errors.

Is it possible to take the files used for security from a newer version
of Firefox and replace them in this same version I use?

I'm stuck using Win98 for reasons I dont want to get into, so I am stuck
using FF 3.6.28. It was working fairly well till aoo this security crap
became the rule. And there are no other browser that work anymore. So
modifying FF is my last resort.
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XPost: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general

On Mon, 12 Mar 2018 23:06:28 -0600, james@nospam.com wrote:

Using Win98se with Kernel-Ex, I am able to use Firefox 3.x (3.6.28).
Anything above that dont run well.

With all the added security on websites (httpS), I am constantly getting security errors.

Is it possible to take the files used for security from a newer version
of Firefox and replace them in this same version I use?

I'm stuck using Win98 for reasons I dont want to get into, so I am stuck using FF 3.6.28. It was working fairly well till aoo this security crap became the rule. And there are no other browser that work anymore. So modifying FF is my last resort.

The component/library that handle this is merged into a single (larger) DLL
- which can only be updated by recompiling the web browser software.

You might want to try using a _filtering_ HTTPS proxy software which is installed locally, and use HTTP/S (not SOCKS) to connect to the proxy. With that, the proxy software will handle the secure connection (not the web browser). i.e. it doesn't act as a simple proxy. Note: non-filtering proxy softwares are mostly dumb proxies. So, you just need to find one which is a filtering proxy, supports newer chipers, and supports Windows 9x. If you
can't find any, you might end up having to use server scripts such as PHP or Python with a local web server in order to provide a highly customizable
proxy. But it'll require programming knowledge, though.
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XPost: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general

JJ,

The component/library that handle this is merged into a single
(larger) DLL - which can only be updated by recompiling the
web browser software.

Yup, found that out myself too, looking at/into FF 52 (had the same idea as
the OP). :-\

Question: Do you have any idea which FF version is the last one which does
use the seperate DLLs, and do you know if those security DLLs are up against the current encryptions (if not I do not even have to put effort into it ofcourse).

Info: I'm running FF 16.

Bonus question: Is there any info available about how to use the "single (larger) DLL" to create an SSL socket (DLL function descriptions, example code). In the past I've done some work to figure out which of FF 16-s DLLs where needed to do so (creating intercepting DLLs and looking at which functions and arguments to them where used), but do not really want to have
to repeat that. Also, never figured out how the certificate verification needed to be set up :-(

Regards,
Rudy Wieser
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XPost: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general

In microsoft.public.win98.gen_discussion james@nospam.com wrote:

Using Win98se with Kernel-Ex, I am able to use Firefox 3.x (3.6.28).
Anything above that dont run well.

With all the added security on websites (httpS), I am constantly getting security errors.

Is it possible to take the files used for security from a newer version
of Firefox and replace them in this same version I use?

I'm stuck using Win98 for reasons I dont want to get into, so I am stuck using FF 3.6.28. It was working fairly well till aoo this security crap became the rule. And there are no other browser that work anymore. So modifying FF is my last resort.

The certificates can be updated in Firefox 2, which prevents the prompts telling you of invalid certificates and asking for exceptions. The
process is very manual. As I remember it I had to check the certificate
used by each website, find the equivalent file in the "ca-certificates"
package for Debian Linux, then "import" (or whatever the option in the
Firefox certificates manager was called) that. Many of the certificates included with Firefox 2 are still valid, but for some reason most of
the Certificate Authorities have switched to newer ones (damn, I looked
up how all this certificate stuff worked back when I was doing it and
now I've forgotten everything).

After doing all that, I discovered a bug which caused sites using many
of the added certificates to fail to load with a error window quoting
a meaningless error number appearing in their place. I then had to
remove most of the certificates which I found triggered the error. In
the end the only important website that I managed to "fix" for all my
trouble was Wikipedia, which now loads without any "invalid
certificate" prompt. Hopefully your version of Firefox doesn't have
this bug.

As for protocols that Firefox 2 doesn't support at all, I haven't seen
any path to updating that individually, and I don't think there is one
for your version of Firefox either. As suggested already, I use a proxy
to get through such barriers, http://www.ploxey.com/ does the job, but
you loose images. It also seems to have trouble in some browsers, but
there are plenty of others to choose from.

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XPost: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general

On Tue, 13 Mar 2018 07:58:28 +0100, R.Wieser wrote:

Question: Do you have any idea which FF version is the last one which does use the seperate DLLs, and do you know if those security DLLs are up against the current encryptions (if not I do not even have to put effort into it ofcourse).

Info: I'm running FF 16.

It's v21. v22 has significant DLL changes. The DLL which handles secure protocol is SSL3.DLL. In v22, it's merged into NSS3.DLL - along with
NSPR4.DLL (network connection library), MOZSQLITE3.DLL, NSSUTIL3.DLL,
PLC4.DLL, PLDS4.DLL, and SMIME3.DLL.

I don't think that SSL module has any support for chipers which are used for today's SSL. Cause IIRC, when I still use FF v26, I had to upgrade to a
newer version in order to support the new chiper (to v28 or v32 if I recall correctly).

Bonus question: Is there any info available about how to use the "single (larger) DLL" to create an SSL socket (DLL function descriptions, example code). In the past I've done some work to figure out which of FF 16-s DLLs where needed to do so (creating intercepting DLLs and looking at which functions and arguments to them where used), but do not really want to have to repeat that. Also, never figured out how the certificate verification needed to be set up :-(

Regards,
Rudy Wieser

MDN doesn't seems to have documentation for the SSL3 module. It only has the one for NSS (the merged version).

<https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Mozilla/Projects/NSS>

Perhaps you can find it by rummaging MDN pages' histories. Or from non
Mozilla websites.

But the exported functions of NSS3.DLL seem to be a simple merge of the
above DLLs. i.e. same set of exported function names. More or less due to updated modules. So, the NSS documentation should cover the SSL3 module functions as well.
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XPost: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general

JJ,

I don't think that SSL module has any support for chipers which
are used for today's SSL.

There goes that idea ...

But the exported functions of NSS3.DLL seem to be a simple
merge of the above DLLs.

Hmmm... If thats so it should be possible to use (most of) my old code with the new DLL. I'll have to try it I guess.

MDN doesn't seems to have documentation for the SSL3 module.
It only has the one for NSS (the merged version).

<https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Mozilla/Projects/NSS>

:-) It turns out I also found that one (probably when looking for that
"verify certificate" part I mentioned).

Perhaps you can find it by rummaging MDN pages' histories. Or
from non Mozilla websites.

When I spend time googling for info I need - as I did for SSL3 and related -
I do not really care where the info comes from, or in which language the comments around the code are put in. Heck, sometimes the *best* info comes from sites other than the companies own (looking at you, microsoft).

MDN pages' histories

Any pointer to where I have to look for them (can't remember having ever
seen any such reference, even when I'm a regular visitor of MSDN pages).

Regards,
Rudy Wieser
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XPost: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general

On Wed, 14 Mar 2018 09:03:00 +0100, R.Wieser wrote:

MDN pages' histories

Any pointer to where I have to look for them (can't remember having ever
seen any such reference, even when I'm a regular visitor of MSDN pages).

Regards,
Rudy Wieser

MDN is a wiki site. A page history can be accessed via the gear icon at top-right of the page contents area.

https://i.imgur.com/Xv79MiU.png

The older version of that NSS article has a link to SSL3 article on (now
dead) Netscape site, but Web Archive shows that the article only describe
what it is, and none about its API.

So, there's a chance that MDN has an article about the SSL3 module, but has been burried since it has been merged into NSS.

The problem is finding it within page histories, because the search feature only search text on latest page versions.
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XPost: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general

JJ,

So, there's a chance that MDN has an article about the SSL3 module, but
has been burried since it has been merged into NSS.

Thanks for the pointers.

I just checked out the merged NSS3 as provided with FF52, but its functions names do differ from the seperate DLLs as supplied with FF16. In short, probably so much for my idea to create a few stub/translation DLLs, so that FF52 NSS3 could be used with older versions of FF.

And geez, FF52 has got a *lot* of (small) "api-ms-win-core-*.dll"s that are needed with it ...

Regards,
Rudy Wieser
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