[webkit-dev] Security problems with CSS shaders (was Re: Starting implementation on W3C Filter Effects)

[Dean Jackson]

On 25/10/2011, at 9:49 AM, Adam Barth wrote:

>> Adam's point in the bug is that any operation that can access colour channels might be able to perform a timing attack. This would include SVG filters operating on HTML content without any hardware acceleration.
>> 
>> For this reason I'm still tempted to suggest the combination of CSS_FILTERS + WEBGL is enough of a switch for ports to disable this, but I'm happy to add another one.
>> 
>> I'm not sure at what point we should take the discussion from this list and onto bugzilla.
> 
> I don't believe you understand the security issue.  I'd recommend you
> seek the advice of security experts to help you make this decision.

OK, I'll make sure CSS Shaders has a separate flag which allows ports to turn it off. But you'll still be susceptible to the same problems with CSS_FILTERS, and with the current implementation of SVG filters that you support.

Dean