Zotero functionnalities not working anymore

fffred

Hi,

Since a few days (weeks?) zotero (firefox for mac v32, zotero plugin v4.0.12) cannot do anymore the following:
- there is no more button on the address bar to save an item on any of the websites that used to work.
- import from clipboard, or import from bibtex won't work (see error log 1924833443).
- I can not even download the new version of zotero. An error occurs saying that it could not connect to zotero.org (?!). Note that there might be a firewall issue, but zotero.org is accessible from firefox ...

What can be the issue here ?
Thanks

adamsmith

update Zotero. If you can't update, from within Firefox, just re-install from zotero.org/download

If you get an error, we need to know what exactly that is--likely due to some security software (if you use bitdefender, that's the problem).

fffred

I cannot update from the download page "because of connection failure with zotero.org".

I am using a computer at work, and my company probably has a firewall. But zotero.org is not blocked. Is there something specific to unblock ?

adamsmith

most commonly, this get's blocked (by Firefox) because something is intercepting your SSL traffic.

If you click on the lock at the left of the URL bar on zotero.org/download, it will say "Verified by:..." what does it say it's verified by?

edit: note the added URL above.

fffred

It says it's verified by my company (the name of the company I'm working at).

Then it says "the connection to this Website is secure".

I also tried to change the plugin installation permission in the Tools>PageInfo>Permissions tab, but same result.

adamsmith

yup, that's not good practice by your company, which is intercepting SSL traffic. Most of the time that works, but Firefox imposes additional securities when you're trying to download an add-on (which makes a lot of sense).

You should complain about this to your IT, but assuming this doesn't work, the workaround would be to download the .xpi in Safari (i.e. download the _Firefox_ extension is _Safari_) and then drag the downloaded zotero.xpi (it will have some version numbers in the filenam) file to an open Firefox window to install it.

Unfortunately this will likely continue to be a problem as long as your company keeps doing what it's doing in terms of security, so you'll have to repeat this whenever Zotero releases a new version.

Sorry for the inconvenience, but I believe this should affect all installed Firefox add-ons, so it's really a very bad idea on the part of your IT security.

dstillman

Right, just to add a few more details, your connection is not really secure, despite what it's telling you. Your company has installed what's called a "custom root certificate" in your browser that allows it to masquerade as any website. So Firefox will continue to show you a padlock, but you're not actually connected directly to the Zotero servers — you're connected to your company's servers, which are (presumably) reading your data and then sending it on to the original website.

I imagine this is your company's policy and you probably had to agree to it when you started to use the network, but Firefox is actually protecting you by refusing to install extensions over what it knows to be an intercepted connection.

fffred

Ok your solution worked. Thanks.

Why is it bad from the IT security to intercept SSL trafic?

dstillman

Well, the basic answer is that it undermines the fundamental guarantee of HTTPS: that when you see the padlock icon, you're connected directly to a remote server without anyone in between being able to read your traffic. At the very least, any organization that does this should make it explicitly clear to non-technical users that their seemingly secure data is being intercepted.

(There are privacy issues too, but those depend on the organization and the reasons for the monitoring. If the monitoring is done to prevent exfiltration of proprietary data, it's somewhat hard to argue with that. But otherwise I don't think companies should be in the business of intercepting their employees's private web usage, even if it's at work.)

Anyway, the relevant issue here is that you'll need to install Zotero updates manually as long as this is the case.