In the worst case scenario, a malicious site might execute a Spectre-like attack to gain access to memory of the other site. Without Site Isolation, Firefox might load a malicious site in the same process as a site that is handling sensitive information. Let’s take a closer look at the following example which demonstrates how an attacker can access your private data when executing a Spectre-like attack. Going forward, it was clear that we needed to fundamentally re-architecture the security design of Firefox to mitigate future variations of such vulnerabilities. Back when the attacks were announced publicly, Firefox teams promptly reduced the precision of high-precision timers and disabled APIs that allowed such timers to be implemented to keep our users safe. While band-aid countermeasures deployed by OS, CPU and major web browser vendors quickly neutralized the attacks, they came with a performance cost and were designed to be temporary.
#FIREFOX HACKING SITES CODE#
The researchers exploited fundamental assumptions about modern hardware execution, and were able to demonstrate how untrusted code can access and read memory anywhere within a process’ address space, even in a language as high level as JavaScript (which powers almost every single website). In early 2018, security researchers disclosed two major vulnerabilities, known as Meltdown and Spectre. To fully protect your private information, a modern web browser not only needs to provide protections on the application layer but also needs to entirely separate the memory space of different sites – the new Site Isolation security architecture in Firefox provides those security guarantees.
Unfortunately, the web evolves and so do the techniques of malicious actors. the same-origin policy which prevents adversaries from accessing such information when loaded into the same application. In more detail, whenever you open a website and enter a password, a credit card number, or any other sensitive information, you want to be sure that this information is kept secure and inaccessible to malicious actors.Īs a first line of defence Firefox enforces a variety of security mechanisms, e.g. This new security architecture allows Firefox to completely separate code originating from different sites and, in turn, defend against malicious sites trying to access sensitive information from other sites you are visiting. Site Isolation builds upon a new security architecture that extends current protection mechanisms by separating (web) content and loading each site in its own operating system process. To protect you against new types of attacks from malicious sites and to meet the security principles of Mozilla, we set out to redesign Firefox on desktop. Get a lifetime subscription to VPN Unlimited for all your devices with a one-time purchase from the new Gadget Hacks Shop, and watch Hulu or Netflix without regional restrictions, increase security when browsing on public networks, and more.Like any web browser, Firefox loads code from untrusted and potentially hostile websites and runs it on your computer. Keep Your Connection Secure Without a Monthly Bill. Another trick is using a JavaScript injection, but that's a little more complicated. The basic approach would be to just ask for them in the preferences.
Boy, what you could do with somebody else's password! Other Methodsīelieve it or not, but this "Inspect Element" maneuver is just one of the many ways to reveal saved passwords in a browser.
#FIREFOX HACKING SITES PASSWORD#
Like, if your fooling around on your friend's computer, or if some bozo actually saved his/her password on a public computer. Obviously, this could be used to reveal other people's passwords, too. The second you do, the password box that was previously filled with those standard security dots will now show the complete text of whatever password was saved there.