From 246c80a7e25f68029a5382640a4a4d7ffdf62344 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Seirdy Date: Mon, 15 Jul 2024 00:05:38 -0400 Subject: [PATCH] New note: caveats to Ungoogled Chromium recommendations --- ...s-to-ungoogled-chromium-recommendations.md | 20 +++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 20 insertions(+) create mode 100644 content/notes/caveats-to-ungoogled-chromium-recommendations.md diff --git a/content/notes/caveats-to-ungoogled-chromium-recommendations.md b/content/notes/caveats-to-ungoogled-chromium-recommendations.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e47f317 --- /dev/null +++ b/content/notes/caveats-to-ungoogled-chromium-recommendations.md @@ -0,0 +1,20 @@ +--- +title: "Caveats to Ungoogled Chromium recommendations" +date: 2024-07-15T00:05:38-04:00 +--- +In the wake of a certain ad-funded browser company bundling adtech into its browser yet again, some people have been recommending Ungoogled-Chromium (UGC). I think it's fine to recommend UGC _with caveats,_ such as the fact that it disables component updates that include: + +- Certificate revocation. Chromium uses [downloaded CRLSets](https://www.chromium.org/Home/chromium-security/crlsets/) for revocation; it does not support OCSP. + +- Out of band security patches. When browser components have exploits in the wild, they need to be patched ASAP; updating billions of installations within time-frames measured in hours often means restartless out-of-band updates. + +- Out of band certificate bundle updates. + +If you assume Google uses its component update server logs maliciously, you may wish to consider a fork that still offers component updates provided by a different party's servers. + +UGC disabled mDNS at one point. This exposed local IP addresses over WebRTC for years, but they seem to have shipped a fix in May 2023 to disable non-proxied UDP. + +UGC also disables the Chrome Web Store in favor of installing extensions out of band. Make sure you regularly update your extensions installed out-of-band, since UGC won't do it on its own. Some scripts and a special extension re-implement some of this functionality. + +Overall, UGC is still safer than QtWebEngine despite making heavy compromises to security for privacy (though I can't see how either benefited from disabling mDNS: I'm not aware of threat models under which revealing a local IP to every application is preferable to revealing it to just Google). Running UGC is fine if you understand these trade-offs and have accounted for them. I use it in headless mode to run accessibility and performance tests. +