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authorDaniel Baumann <daniel.baumann@progress-linux.org>2024-04-19 01:47:29 +0000
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+Script Security
+===============
+
+.. container:: summary
+
+ This page provides an overview of the script security architecture in
+ Gecko.
+
+Like any web browser, Gecko can load JavaScript from untrusted and
+potentially hostile web pages and run it on the user's computer. The
+security model for web content is based on the `same-origin policy
+<https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/Security/Same-origin_policy>`__,
+in which code
+gets full access to objects from its origin but highly restricted access
+to objects from a different origin. The rules for determining whether an
+object is same-origin with another, and what access is allowed
+cross-origin, are now mostly standardized across browsers.
+
+Gecko has an additional problem, though: while its core is written in
+C++, the front-end code is written in JavaScript. This JavaScript code,
+which is commonly referred to as c\ *hrome code*, runs with system
+privileges. If the code is compromised, the attacker can take over the
+user's computer. Legacy SDK extensions also run with chrome privileges.
+
+Having the browser front end in JavaScript has benefits: it can be much
+quicker to develop in JavaScript than in C++, and contributors do not
+need to learn C++. However, JavaScript is a highly dynamic, malleable
+language, and without help it's difficult to write system-privileged
+code that interacts safely with untrusted web content. From the point of
+view of chrome code, the script security model in Gecko is intended to
+provide that help to make writing secure, system-privileged JavaScript a
+realistic expectation.
+
+.. _Security_policy:
+
+Security policy
+---------------
+
+Gecko implements the following security policy:
+
+- **Objects that are same-origin** are able to access each other
+ freely. For example, the objects associated with a document served
+ from *https://example.org/* can access each other, and they can also
+ access objects served from *https://example.org/foo*.
+- **Objects that are cross-origin** get highly restricted access to
+ each other, according to the same-origin policy.
+ For example, code served from *https://example.org/* trying to access
+ objects from *https://somewhere-else.org/* will have restricted
+ access.
+- **Objects in a privileged scope** are allowed complete access to
+ objects in a less privileged scope, but by default they see a
+ `restricted view <#privileged-to-unprivileged-code>`__
+ of such objects, designed to prevent them from being tricked by the
+ untrusted code. An example of this scope is chrome-privileged
+ JavaScript accessing web content.
+- **Objects in a less privileged scope** don't get any access to
+ objects in a more privileged scope, unless the more privileged scope
+ `explicitly clones those objects <#unprivileged-to-privileged-code>`__.
+ An example of this scope is web content accessing objects in a
+ chrome-privileged scope. 
+
+.. _Compartments:
+
+Compartments
+------------
+
+Compartments are the foundation for Gecko's script security
+architecture. A compartment is a specific, separate area of memory. In
+Gecko, there's a separate compartment for every global object. This
+means that each global object and the objects associated with it live in
+their own region of memory.
+
+.. image:: images/compartments.png
+
+Normal content windows are globals, of course, but so are chrome
+windows, sandboxes, workers, the ``ContentFrameMessageManager`` in a frame
+script, and so on.
+
+Gecko guarantees that JavaScript code running in a given compartment is
+only allowed to access objects in the same compartment. When code from
+compartment A tries to access an object in compartment B, Gecko gives it
+a *cross-compartment wrapper*. This is a proxy in compartment A for the
+real object, which lives in compartment B.
+
+.. image:: images/cross-compartment-wrapper.png
+
+Inside the same compartment, all objects share a global and are
+therefore same-origin with each other. Therefore there's no need for any
+security checks, there are no wrappers, and there is no performance
+overhead for the common case of objects in a single window interacting
+with each other.
+
+Whenever cross-compartment access happens, the wrappers enable us to
+implement the appropriate security policy. Because the wrapper we choose
+is specific to the relationship between the two compartments, the
+security policy it implements can be static: when the caller uses the
+wrapper, there's no need to check who is making the call or where it is
+going.
+
+.. _Cross-compartment_access:
+
+Cross-compartment access
+------------------------
+
+.. _Same-origin:
+
+Same-origin
+~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+As we've already seen, the most common scenario for same-origin access
+is when objects belonging to the same window object interact. This all
+takes place within the same compartment, with no need for security
+checks or wrappers.
+
+When objects share an origin but not a global - for example two web
+pages from the same protocol, port, and domain - they belong to two
+different compartments, and the caller gets a *transparent wrapper* to
+the target object.
+
+.. image:: images/same-origin-wrapper.png
+
+Transparent wrappers allow access to all the target's properties:
+functionally, it's as if the target is in the caller's compartment.
+
+.. _Cross-origin:
+
+Cross-origin
+~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+If the two compartments are cross-origin, the caller gets a
+*cross-origin wrapper*.
+
+.. image:: images/cross-origin-wrapper.png
+
+This denies access to all the object's properties, except for a few
+properties of Window and Location objects, as defined by
+the `same-origin
+policy <https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/Security/Same-origin_policy#cross-origin_script_api_access>`__.
+
+.. _Privileged_to_unprivileged_code:
+
+Privileged to unprivileged code
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+The most obvious example of this kind of security relation is between
+system-privileged chrome code and untrusted web content, but there are
+other examples in Gecko. The Add-on SDK runs content scripts in
+sandboxes, which are initialized with an `expanded
+principal <#expanded-principal>`__,
+giving them elevated privileges with respect to the web content they
+operate on, but reduced privileges with respect to chrome.
+
+If the caller has a higher privilege than the target object, the caller
+gets an *Xray wrapper* for the object.
+
+.. image:: images/xray-wrapper.png
+
+Xrays are designed to prevent untrusted code from confusing trusted code
+by redefining objects in unexpected ways. For example, privileged code
+using an Xray to a DOM object sees only the original version of the DOM
+object. Any expando properties are not visible, and if any native DOM properties have been
+redefined, they are not visible in the Xray.
+
+The privileged code is able to waive Xrays if it wants unfiltered access to the untrusted object.
+
+See `Xray vision <xray_vision.html>`__ for much more information on Xrays.
+
+.. _Unprivileged_to_privileged_code:
+
+Unprivileged to privileged code
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+If the caller has lower privileges than the target object, then the
+caller gets an *opaque wrapper.*
+
+.. image:: images/opaque-wrapper.png
+
+An opaque wrapper denies all access to the target object.
+
+However, the privileged target is able to copy objects and functions
+into the less privileged scope using the ``exportFunction()`` and
+``cloneInto()`` functions, and the less privileged scope is then able
+to use them.
+
+.. _Security_checks:
+
+Security checks
+---------------
+
+To determine the security relation between two compartments, Gecko uses
+two concepts: *security principals* and the act of *subsuming*. To
+establish the security relationship between two compartments A and B,
+Gecko asks:
+
+*Does the security principal for compartment A subsume the security
+principal for compartment B, and vice versa?*
+
+.. _Subsumes:
+
+Subsumes
+~~~~~~~~
+
++-----------------------------------+-----------------------------------+
+| *A subsumes B* | A has all of the privileges of B, |
+| | and possibly more, and therefore |
+| | A is allowed to see and do |
+| | anything that B can see and do. |
++-----------------------------------+-----------------------------------+
+| *A Subsumes B &&* *B Subsumes A* | A and B are same-origin. |
++-----------------------------------+-----------------------------------+
+| *A Subsumes B && B !Subsumes A* | A is more privileged than B. |
+| | |
+| | A gets access to all of B, by |
+| | default with Xray vision, which |
+| | it may choose to waive. |
+| | |
+| | B gets no access to A, although A |
+| | may choose to export objects to |
+| | B. |
++-----------------------------------+-----------------------------------+
+| *A !Subsumes B && B !Subsumes A* | A and B are cross-origin. |
++-----------------------------------+-----------------------------------+
+
+.. _Security_principals:
+
+Security principals
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+There are four types of security principal: the system principal,
+content principals, expanded principals, and the null principal.
+
+.. _System_principal:
+
+System principal
+^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+
+The system principal passes all security checks. It subsumes itself and
+all other principals. Chrome code, by definition, runs with the system
+principal, as do frame scripts.
+
+.. _Content_principal:
+
+Content principal
+^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+
+A content principal is associated with some web content and is defined
+by the origin
+of the content. For example, a normal DOM window has a content principal
+defined by the window's origin. A content principal subsumes only other
+content principals with the same origin. It is subsumed by the system
+principal, any expanded principals that include its origin, and any
+other content principals with the same origin.
+
+.. _Expanded_principal:
+
+Expanded principal
+^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+
+An expanded principal is specified as an array of origins:
+
+.. code::
+
+ ["http://mozilla.org", "http://moz.org"]
+
+The expanded principal subsumes every content principal it contains. The
+content principals do not subsume the expanded principal, even if the
+expanded principal only contains a single content principal.
+
+Thus ``["http://moz.org"]`` subsumes ``"http://moz.org"`` but not vice
+versa. The expanded principal gets full access to the content principals
+it contains, with Xray vision by default, and the content principals get
+no access to the expanded principal.
+
+This also enables the script security model to treat compartments that
+have expanded principals more like part of the browser than like web
+content. This means, for example, that it can run when JavaScript is
+disabled for web content.
+
+Expanded principals are useful when you want to give code extra
+privileges, including cross-origin access, but don't want to give the
+code full system privileges. For example, expanded principals are used
+in the Add-on SDK to give content scripts cross-domain privileges for a predefined set of
+domains,
+and to protect content scripts from access by untrusted web content,
+without having to give content scripts system privileges.
+
+.. _Null_principal:
+
+Null principal
+^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+
+The null principal fails almost all security checks. It has no
+privileges and can't be accessed by anything but itself and chrome. It
+subsumes no other principals, even other null principals. (This is what
+is used when HTML5 and other specs say "origin is a globally unique
+identifier".)
+
+.. _Principal_relationships:
+
+Principal relationships
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+The diagram below summarizes the relationships between the different
+principals. The arrow connecting principals A and B means "A subsumes
+B".  (A is the start of the arrow, and B is the end.)
+
+.. image:: images/principal-relationships.png
+
+.. _Computing_a_wrapper:
+
+Computing a wrapper
+-------------------
+
+The following diagram shows the factors that determine the kind of
+wrapper that compartment A would get when trying to access an object in
+compartment B.
+
+.. image:: images/computing-a-wrapper.png