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The Firefox New Tab page must not show Top Sites, Sponsored Top Sites, Pocket Recommendations, Sponsored Pocket Stories, Searches, Highlights, or Snippets.

Overview

Finding IDVersionRule IDIA ControlsSeverity
V-251573FFOX-00-000029SV-251573r960963_ruleCCI-000381medium
Description
The New Tab page by default shows a list of built-in top sites, as well as the top sites the user has visited. It is detrimental for applications to provide, or install by default, functionality exceeding requirements or mission objectives. These unnecessary capabilities or services are often overlooked and therefore may remain unsecured. They increase the risk to the platform by providing additional attack vectors. Applications are capable of providing a wide variety of functions and services. Some of the functions and services, provided by default, may not be necessary to support essential organizational operations (e.g., key missions, functions). Examples of non-essential capabilities include but are not limited to advertising software or browser plug-ins that are not related to requirements or provide a wide array of functionality not required for every mission but that cannot be disabled. The new tab page must not actively show user activity.
STIGDate
Mozilla Firefox Security Technical Implementation Guide2025-11-25

Related Frameworks

1 mapping across 5 frameworks
SCF0 mappings

No source states a mapping between these directly.

Also reachable in 3 hops (2) derived by us, not asserted by any source

Each of these is a route we composed by chaining published mappings. No publisher states a relationship between the two endpoints.

CFG-01Configuration Management Program
1.00
CFG-03Least Functionality
1.00
NIST 800-530 mappings

No source states a mapping between these directly.

Also reachable in 2 hops (36) derived by us, not asserted by any source

Each of these is a route we composed by chaining published mappings. No publisher states a relationship between the two endpoints.

AC-11Device Lock
1.00
AC-17(1)Monitoring and Control
1.00
AC-17(10)Authenticate Remote Commands
1.00
AC-17(9)Disconnect or Disable Access
1.00
AC-18(1)Authentication and Encryption
1.00
AC-2(1)Automated System Account Management
1.00
AC-3Access Enforcement
1.00
AC-4Information Flow Enforcement
1.00
AU-12Audit Record Generation
1.00
AU-3Content of Audit Records
1.00

+26 more (top 10 by confidence shown)

NIST 800-1710 mappings

No source states a mapping between these directly.

Also reachable in 3 hops (1) derived by us, not asserted by any source

Each of these is a route we composed by chaining published mappings. No publisher states a relationship between the two endpoints.

3.4.6
1.00
CCI1 mapping
CCI-000381
1.00
NIST CSF 2.00 mappings

No source states a mapping between these directly.

Also reachable in 3 hops (2) derived by us, not asserted by any source

Each of these is a route we composed by chaining published mappings. No publisher states a relationship between the two endpoints.

PR.PS-01
1.00
PR.PS-05
1.00

Who does this work

5 NICE work roles and 5 EC-Council certifications.

This is an inference across published mappings, not a single claim by anyone. This check maps to a control, which maps to a Cybersecurity Framework outcome, which NIST assigns to the work roles below. EC-Council separately maps its certifications to those same roles.

A certification prepares someone for a role. It is not evidence that a holder is qualified, and neither NIST nor EC-Council has stated that any certification here addresses this check.

Work-role assignments published by NIST (NICE Framework Components 2.2.0 and the CSF 2.0 OLIR crosswalk). Certification mappings published by EC-Council.

Details

Check Text (C-251573r960963_chk)

Type "about:policies" in the browser address bar. If "FirefoxHome" is not displayed under Policy Name or the Policy Value does not have "Search" with a value of "false", this is a finding. If "FirefoxHome" is not displayed under Policy Name or the Policy Value does not have "TopSites" with a value of "false", this is a finding. If "FirefoxHome" is not displayed under Policy Name or the Policy Value does not have "SponsoredTopSites" with a value of "false", this is a finding. If "FirefoxHome" is not displayed under Policy Name or the Policy Value does not have "Pocket" with a value of "false", this is a finding. If "FirefoxHome" is not displayed under Policy Name or the Policy Value does not have "SponsoredPocket" with a value of "false", this is a finding. If "FirefoxHome" is not displayed under Policy Name or the Policy Value does not have "Highlights" with a value of "false", this is a finding. If "FirefoxHome" is not displayed under Policy Name or the Policy Value does not have "Snippets" with a value of "false", this is a finding. If "FirefoxHome" is not displayed under Policy Name or the Policy Value does not have "Locked" with a value of "true", this is a finding.

Fix Text (F-54962r822780_fix)

Windows group policy: 1. Open the group policy editor tool with "gpedit.msc". 2. Navigate to Policy Path: Computer Configuration\Administrative Templates\Mozilla\Firefox Policy Name: Customize Firefox Home Policy State: Enabled Policy Value: Uncheck "Search" Policy Value: Uncheck "Top Sites" Policy Value: Uncheck "Sponsored Top Sites" Policy Value: Uncheck "Recommended by Pocket" Policy Value: Uncheck "Sponsored Pocket Stories" Policy Value: Uncheck "Download History" Policy Value: Uncheck "Snippets" Policy Value: Check "Do not allow settings to be changed" macOS "plist" file: Add the following: <key>FirefoxHome</key> <dict> <key>Search</key> <false/> <key>TopSites</key> <false/> <key>SponsoredTopSites</key> <false/> <key>Pocket</key> <false/> <key>SponsoredPocket</key> <false/> <key>Highlights</key> <false/> <key>Snippets</key> <false/> <key>Locked</key> <true/> </dict> Linux "policies.json" file: Add the following in the policies section: "FirefoxHome": { "Search": false, "TopSites": false, "SponsoredTopSites": false, "Pocket": false, "SponsoredPocket": false, "Highlights": false, "Snippets": false, "locked": true }