Does firefox ever write to logged in users Documents folder?

[uk_tk]

over the past couple of months I've been getting one alert about firefox attempting to write to my protected Documents folder each session.... Is it part of firefox coding or is some script managing to try to modify my Documents folder? I refuse to permit firefox.exe to modify my protected Documents folder because it could be malware or ransomware scripts now or permit it in the future.

[grundt]

see: https://connect.mozilla.org/t5/discussions/firefox-134-0-blocked-by-defender-needs-controlled-folder... 

[siffemcon]

The cause is https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1948976.

[uk_tk]

Interesting bug thread but some incorrect assumptions about the bug being an attempt to re-create a missing desktop.ini file in %userprofile%\Documents which is not the formal locating method for the users Documents folder, just the LAZY default and because I have a desktop.ini file in that folder already and if firefox.exe is attempting to create the file for some perverse reason, it is attempting to modify or overwrite the existing windows generated desktop.ini and that is bad behaviour for any web browser. For a folder icon changer program it's fine but a web browser in this modern age should never be allowed write access to users data files. I note that one user on that thread seems to be suggesting or providing instructions to toggle off protected folder access, which is NOT the solution for anyone except ransomware developers! It is good (in some respects) to know it is a firefox bug and not one of the many tabs open executing some malicious script gaining write access ability to the Documents folder. I will have to dig out my old github ID and join that thread until it's fixed and the abuse of the users Documents folder as a lazy place to dump backups is dropped by Firefox team.

[grundt]

re:

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@uk_tk wrote:

... I note that one user on that thread seems to be suggesting or providing instructions to toggle off protected folder access, which is NOT the solution for anyone except ransomware developers! ...

Actually ... both comments in the bug thread (regarding "Controlled Folder Access") begin with the phrase "steps to enable the Controlled Folder Access feature".

The information was provided to help the Firefox Team triage the severity and set an appropriate priority on the bug by providing clear instructions on how to reproduce the behavior (rather than just presuming that they're familiar with the feature and know how to toggle it on).

If you'd like to do something helpful, you could upvote the bug (under its Details header).

[uk_tk]

that's also one of the reasons I need to dig up my old github id credentials so I can do that:-) as an aside the correct way to locate the users real Documents folder is to query the reg string value.

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders\Personal not that the default browser backup location should be anywhere inside the users Documents folder wherever that may be.