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is Firefox / Mozilla compromised?

  • 2 replies
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  • Last reply by Sirxy

Sirxy
Sirxy
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Just read strange news about data leak(s) in Firefox and Chrome via extensions - https://www.forbes.com/sites/kateoflahertyuk/2019/07/19/data-leak-warning-issued-to-millions-of-google-chrome-and-firefox-users/#15ec03fd3ded

i normally do not use extensions but from few days or week i use Adblock Plus, so i instantly start wondering if i am one of this victims...

after this i read that Firefox is doing review of extensions but not in details, for extensions where it check in details it put or may put Recommended badge next to extension...

so i noticed such "recommended" ads blocker - https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/ublock-origin/?src=search and immediately pressed "Add to Firefox" and... surprise... Firefox recommended blocker extension requires 5 permissions and 4-th is "Store unlimited amount of client-side data"

is this any Firefox very very bad joke or i get/read something very wrong? How is that blocking extension is collecting unlimited users data and its Firefox Recommended...?

how is that possible Mozilla to allow something like this to happen, company which fight for privacy and freedom to allow such suspicious things and even recommend them...? do this means fight = "fight" and privacy = "privacy" (so both are not really what they supposed to be...?)

Just read strange news about data leak(s) in Firefox and Chrome via extensions - https://www.forbes.com/sites/kateoflahertyuk/2019/07/19/data-leak-warning-issued-to-millions-of-google-chrome-and-firefox-users/#15ec03fd3ded i normally do not use extensions but from few days or week i use Adblock Plus, so i instantly start wondering if i am one of this victims... after this i read that Firefox is doing review of extensions but not in details, for extensions where it check in details it put or may put Recommended badge next to extension... so i noticed such "recommended" ads blocker - https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/ublock-origin/?src=search and immediately pressed "Add to Firefox" and... surprise... Firefox recommended blocker extension requires 5 permissions and 4-th is "Store unlimited amount of client-side data" is this any Firefox very very bad joke or i get/read something very wrong? How is that blocking extension is collecting unlimited users data and its Firefox Recommended...? how is that possible Mozilla to allow something like this to happen, company which fight for privacy and freedom to allow such suspicious things and even recommend them...? do this means fight = "fight" and privacy = "privacy" (so both are not really what they supposed to be...?)

Chosen solution

hi, i think you are misunderstanding the impact of the "Store unlimited amount of client-side data" permission. this allows an addon to store data onto your local drive. on chrome there's a limit of 5mb for that by default, on firefox there is no limit enforced atm as far as i know, but that permission allows extensions to store data over that amount. ublock origin can be configured to use multiple separate filter lists to block ads and other nuisances on the web, so it's totally plausible that they may hit the limit and need to go over a few MB of data. they are also transparently explaining this in their release notes: https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/releases/tag/1.18.12

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philipp
philipp
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Chosen Solution

hi, i think you are misunderstanding the impact of the "Store unlimited amount of client-side data" permission. this allows an addon to store data onto your local drive. on chrome there's a limit of 5mb for that by default, on firefox there is no limit enforced atm as far as i know, but that permission allows extensions to store data over that amount. ublock origin can be configured to use multiple separate filter lists to block ads and other nuisances on the web, so it's totally plausible that they may hit the limit and need to go over a few MB of data. they are also transparently explaining this in their release notes: https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/releases/tag/1.18.12

Sirxy
Sirxy Question owner
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hi Philipp, look like it was my misunderstanding of this permission text, why they do not name it "Unlimited local storage" or something maybe my English is not that good so i get it wrong

Thank You very much!