As planned, the Tails developers released a new version of their live operating system yesterday, Tuesday. Tails 4. 12 does not include any fundamentally new features, but rather focuses on minor corrections and additions to the existing ones Features. Above all, however, it contains important security updates that, among other things, secure the Tor Browser used by default against a critical vulnerability. The developers therefore advise to carry out an update as soon as possible.

The Linux distribution Tails (“The Amnesic Incognito Live System”) should Help users to navigate the Internet anonymously (as possible), bypass state censorship and not leave any traces on computers used. She also brings tools with her to protect sensitive files and digital communication from unauthorized access.

Software updated and secured The Tails update raises the included Tor Browser to the version that was also released yesterday, Tuesday 10. 0.5. The browser is based on Firefox ESR 78. 5, the bug fixes of which we discussed in a separate message:

More importantly, the jump from Tor Browser 10. 02 (Tails 4. 12) on 10.05 in the same step also a critical remote code execution gap (CVE – 2020 – 26950) deleted from Firefox ESR 78. 4.1 and Tor Browser 10. 04 had been removed. So now this fix has also reached Tails.

The Thunderbird e-mail client was 68.12 on 78. 4.2 updated and therefore also against CVE – 2020 – 26950. Instead, the new Thunderbird version offers built-in OpenPGP support to users who have previously used the Enigmail plug-in for encrypted email communication. A separate Tails support article helps with migration and reconfiguration.

Small additions and bug fixes Others The release notes for Tails 4 12 do not mention security-relevant updates – but a few corrections to the surface and under.

(Image: gitlab.tails.boum.org)

Among other things, newly added buttons should facilitate the restart after creating a persistent memory area. In future, only the root user will be allowed to access the root directory in the persistent memory. Problems with the available language variants have also been eliminated. The release notes provide an overview of all changes.

Tails 4. 13: Update and installation If you already use Tails from a USB stick, you can ab Version 4.2 upwards perform an automatic upgrade. How to perform a manual upgrade is explained in a post on the Tails website. Tails developers provide instructions for reinstallation for Linux, macOS and Windows. Caution: According to the release notes, existing persistent storage (and thus also the data stored there) will be lost if you perform a new installation instead of an upgrade.

Tails 4. 14 should be on 15 . December 2020 appear. If you are curious, see the roadmap for future Tails versions for information about planned innovations. (ovw)