Private Browsing Bug Fixed in Firefox 15.0.1

Browser maker Mozilla has patched a bug in the latest major version of Firefox that could have exposed the websites of those using the "Private Browsing" mode. Private Browsing, a feature implemented in most modern browsers, allows users to browse the Web without leaving any trace of the websites visited on the user's computer. But shortly after the latest Firefox release was dished out to end-users, a bug report was filed to claim that any site visited while in the privacy-conscious mode could be found through manual browser cache inspection.

Website addresses, page images, search queries, passwords and cookies - known as cached content - were stored by Firefox 15 when the browser privacy mode was enabled. This allowed anyone with access to the cached content to determine which websites were visited even in the "Private Browsing" mode, potentially exposing a user's privacy. While Firefox 15.0.1 will no longer add "Private Browsing" data to the cache, any existing files stored in the cache will remain.