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Chrome 0-day exploit used in Operation WizardOpium

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Re: Chrome 0-day exploit used in Operation WizardOpium

#151
post #70

I know this is a bit a pet peeve of mine, (and not a very popular opinion) but I think the browsers are doing too much, and WebAudio is a very good example of that. Instead of standardizing something low-level to input/output audio and query the hardware, like an OS; it standardizes soooo many things and filters, including downmixers, panners, quadfilters and Convolution (for reverbs); which is where the issue is in…

The issue is that a lot of the use cases for the processes you mention have soft real time requirements where GC pauses are unacceptable, and the underlying OS's have differing world views when it comes to dealing with audio (even on the same OS, there may be different driver APIs with fundamentally different approaches to audio I/O!). So having a simple audio API + ability to do pro-audio like things in JS is not re…

> So having a simple audio API + ability to do pro-audio like things in JS is not really possible in a browser.

Absolutely not: wasm does not have GC pauses.

Re: Chrome 0-day exploit used in Operation WizardOpium

#152
post #70

I know this is a bit a pet peeve of mine, (and not a very popular opinion) but I think the browsers are doing too much, and WebAudio is a very good example of that. Instead of standardizing something low-level to input/output audio and query the hardware, like an OS; it standardizes soooo many things and filters, including downmixers, panners, quadfilters and Convolution (for reverbs); which is where the issue is in…

You'd be right about Firefox or IE, but that's not the case with Chrome, because Chromium OS is a thing. Google is building an OS, not just a browser.

You are completely missing the point: they should do less in C/C++ and more in JS/TS/Wasm.

Re: Chrome 0-day exploit used in Operation WizardOpium

#153
post #70

I know this is a bit a pet peeve of mine, (and not a very popular opinion) but I think the browsers are doing too much, and WebAudio is a very good example of that. Instead of standardizing something low-level to input/output audio and query the hardware, like an OS; it standardizes soooo many things and filters, including downmixers, panners, quadfilters and Convolution (for reverbs); which is where the issue is in…

Where did you see the reference to webaudio? Link to any other relevant details about the vulnerability, specifically?

If you follow the link, you'll see it is in the webaudio convolver.

Re: Chrome 0-day exploit used in Operation WizardOpium

#154
post #70

I know this is a bit a pet peeve of mine, (and not a very popular opinion) but I think the browsers are doing too much, and WebAudio is a very good example of that. Instead of standardizing something low-level to input/output audio and query the hardware, like an OS; it standardizes soooo many things and filters, including downmixers, panners, quadfilters and Convolution (for reverbs); which is where the issue is in…

I disagree. By having the browser implement these features we gain security. Chrome's sandbox is extremely powerful, and they can isolate and restrict all of those features you're describing very deliberately, in a way that a more generalized OS provided tool may not be able to.

> I disagree. By having the browser implement these features we gain security.

This is the opposite: this FFT and convolution code is in C++, and therefore OUTSIDE of the JS sandbox.

My point is that there should be a minimum in C++ and MORE inside the JS sandbox.

Re: Chrome 0-day exploit used in Operation WizardOpium

#155
post #98
post #70

I know this is a bit a pet peeve of mine, (and not a very popular opinion) but I think the browsers are doing too much, and WebAudio is a very good example of that. Instead of standardizing something low-level to input/output audio and query the hardware, like an OS; it standardizes soooo many things and filters, including downmixers, panners, quadfilters and Convolution (for reverbs); which is where the issue is in…

wasm is only a new phenomenon and those APIs were designed without wasm in mind. Note that wasm is also slower and thus more resource (battery) consuming than a native C++ implementation. Also, Chrome is already adding audioworklets to WebAudio so it will become customizeable. Last but not least, browsers are at least a central place that can be patched. Compare this to a possible future where vulnerable wasm librari…

> Note that wasm is also slower and thus more resource (battery) consuming than a native C++ implementation.

My tests for codecs is now around 20% slower than native code, for the naive implementation. And SIMD.wasm helps a lot.

Re: Chrome 0-day exploit used in Operation WizardOpium

#156
post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I disagree. By having the browser implement these features we gain security. Chrome's sandbox is extremely powerful, and they can isolate and restrict all of those features you're describing very deliberately, in a way that a more generalized OS provided tool may not be able to.

> I disagree. By having the browser implement these features we gain security. This is the opposite: this FFT and convolution code is in C++, and therefore OUTSIDE of the JS sandbox. My point is that there should be a minimum in C++ and MORE inside the JS sandbox.

Browsers sandbox more than just the javascript VM/ renderer.

Re: Chrome 0-day exploit used in Operation WizardOpium

#157
post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I disagree. By having the browser implement these features we gain security. This is the opposite: this FFT and convolution code is in C++, and therefore OUTSIDE of the JS sandbox. My point is that there should be a minimum in C++ and MORE inside the JS sandbox.

Browsers sandbox more than just the javascript VM/ renderer.

Obviously not the webaudio part, seeing this exploit.
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