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List:       webkit-dev
Subject:    Re: [webkit-dev] WebKit team feedback on proposal to limit registerProtocolHandler API to secure con
From:       Maciej Stachowiak <mjs () apple ! com>
Date:       2019-11-21 19:52:13
Message-ID: 1598F707-5DAC-4EEE-95DE-B8F9BF8D990D () apple ! com
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[Attachment #2 (multipart/alternative)]


Hi Eric,

Thanks for asking for our input. I've discussed this with experts on this area at Apple. WebKit does not \
currently support `registerProtocolHander` and likely will not. It's a powerful capability, and hard to \
use sensibly in practice (except perhaps the `mailto:` scheme in particular). Even opening a URL with a \
custom URL scheme is a dangerous powerful capability that we've gated with a permission in Safari (in \
addition to banning specific extra-dangerous schemes). Apple's Universal Links and Android App Links seem \
like a better technical solution for links that link sometimes to websites and sometimes to native apps.

All that said, if `registerProtocolHandler` is implemented at all, it seems better to limit it to secure \
contexts. It might be worth reviewing what schemes get registered to see if it's possible to limit to a \
very short known-safe list.

Regards,
Maciej


> On Nov 20, 2019, at 9:12 AM, Eric Lawrence <elawrence@chromium.org> wrote:
> 
> The Blink team has requested that I inquire whether the WebKit team has a point-of-view about the \
> upcoming change to limit HTML's registerProtocolHandler API to use from secure contexts: \
> https://groups.google.com/a/chromium.org/forum/#!topic/blink-dev/1AOWqzgFQiw \
> <https://groups.google.com/a/chromium.org/forum/#!topic/blink-dev/1AOWqzgFQiw>. This will disallow use \
> of that API from non-secure (HTTP) contexts. 
> As I understand it, Safari does not implement the registerProtocolHandler API. In the past, WebKit \
> contained the IDL for the API in (WebCore::NavigatorContentUtils::registerProtocolHandler), but this \
> was removed earlier this year: https://trac.webkit.org/changeset/243433/webkit \
> <https://trac.webkit.org/changeset/243433/webkit>. 
> Would anyone from WebKit like to express support or objection to the Blink I2I?
> _______________________________________________
> webkit-dev mailing list
> webkit-dev@lists.webkit.org
> https://lists.webkit.org/mailman/listinfo/webkit-dev


[Attachment #5 (unknown)]

<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body \
style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div \
class=""><br class=""></div>Hi Eric,<div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Thanks for asking for \
our input. I've discussed this with experts on this area at Apple. WebKit does not currently support \
`registerProtocolHander` and likely will not. It's a powerful capability, and hard to use sensibly in \
practice (except perhaps the `mailto:` scheme in particular). Even opening a URL with a custom URL scheme \
is a dangerous powerful capability that we've gated with a permission in Safari (in addition to banning \
specific extra-dangerous schemes). Apple's Universal Links and Android App Links seem like a better \
technical solution for links that link sometimes to websites and sometimes to native apps.</div><div \
class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">All that said, if `registerProtocolHandler` is implemented at \
all, it seems better to limit it to secure contexts. It might be worth reviewing what schemes get \
registered to see if it's possible to limit to a very short known-safe list.</div><div class=""><br \
class=""></div><div class="">Regards,</div><div class="">Maciej</div><div class=""><br \
class=""></div><div class=""><div><br class=""><blockquote type="cite" class=""><div class="">On Nov 20, \
2019, at 9:12 AM, Eric Lawrence &lt;<a href="mailto:elawrence@chromium.org" \
class="">elawrence@chromium.org</a>&gt; wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><div \
class=""><div dir="ltr" class=""><div dir="ltr" class=""><div dir="ltr" class=""><div dir="ltr" \
class=""><div dir="ltr" class=""><div dir="ltr" class=""><div class="">The Blink team has requested that \
I inquire whether the WebKit team has a point-of-view about the upcoming change to limit HTML's \
registerProtocolHandler API to use from secure contexts:&nbsp;<a \
href="https://groups.google.com/a/chromium.org/forum/#!topic/blink-dev/1AOWqzgFQiw" \
class="">https://groups.google.com/a/chromium.org/forum/#!topic/blink-dev/1AOWqzgFQiw</a>. This will \
disallow use of that API from non-secure (HTTP) contexts.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div \
class=""><div class="">As I understand it, Safari does not implement the registerProtocolHandler API. In \
the past, WebKit contained the IDL for the API in&nbsp;<span style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, \
&quot;Bitstream Vera Sans&quot;, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10.4px;" \
class="">(WebCore::NavigatorContentUtils::</span><span class="gmail-searchword0" style="background-color: \
rgb(255, 255, 153); font-family: Verdana, Arial, &quot;Bitstream Vera Sans&quot;, Helvetica, sans-serif; \
font-size: 10.4px; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial \
initial;">registerProtocolHandler),</span></div><div class="">but this was removed earlier this \
year:&nbsp;<a href="https://trac.webkit.org/changeset/243433/webkit" \
class="">https://trac.webkit.org/changeset/243433/webkit</a>.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div \
class="">Would anyone from WebKit like to express support or objection to the Blink I2I?</div><div \
class=""></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div> \
_______________________________________________<br class="">webkit-dev mailing list<br class=""><a \
href="mailto:webkit-dev@lists.webkit.org" class="">webkit-dev@lists.webkit.org</a><br \
class="">https://lists.webkit.org/mailman/listinfo/webkit-dev<br class=""></div></blockquote></div><br \
class=""></div></body></html>



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