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Popular iPhone and iPad Apps Snooping on the Pasteboard

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Re: Popular iPhone and iPad Apps Snooping on the Pasteboard

#41

Post by bigiain »

FreakyT wrote: post #16

There are probably other legitimate uses of this, but one is dictionary/translator apps. I can copy a word in Japanese, open my dictionary app, and it will automatically open the entry for the clipboard contents without my needing to take extra steps.

There are arguments for “legitamate uses” of RATs and rootkits.

Im not convinced the convenience of not needing to paste into your dictionary app is a sufficient counter argument to the potential bad uses of completely unrestricted clipboard access...

Re: Popular iPhone and iPad Apps Snooping on the Pasteboard

#42

Post by bigiain »

dwighttk wrote: post #36
dhosek wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

iOS has a system-level interface for password managers so that the passwords are accessed without using the pasteboard.

when that works... pretty sure the fallback is to copy/paste, unless copy/paste from password manager apps also bypasses the clipboard

Also, once you’ve got a password manager installed, it tends to get used for more things than just passwords. iOS’s non clipboard password/login doesn’t help me any when I’m copy pasting, say, my bank details from a secure note in 1Password.

Re: Popular iPhone and iPad Apps Snooping on the Pasteboard

#43

Post by forkexec »

17Track does but only while starting the app and exiting the add tracking number dialog. It doesn't appear to snoop in the background, but there's no way to know for certain. Maybe clipboard access should be gated with a privacy permission like position, contacts, camera, etc.?

Re: Popular iPhone and iPad Apps Snooping on the Pasteboard

#44

Post by bigiain »

diebeforei485 wrote: post #2

As web browsers have gotten more privacy-aware, native apps have fallen behind. This is just another example of that. Recent versions of Chrome show a prompt when websites do this in javascript.

> Recent versions of Chrome show a prompt when websites do this in javascript.

Tin foil hat version: “ ... when website’s other then Google’s do this in JavaScript”...

(It’s sad how much trust Goog have lost, at least with me. I don’t seriously thing Goog would try to slip that behaviour into Chrome, but it’s close enough to believable to make it a funny/not funny response...)

Re: Popular iPhone and iPad Apps Snooping on the Pasteboard

#45

Post by [deleted] »

bigiain wrote: post #37
toyg wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t disagree but the overflowing of permission prompts is how we get people just clicking Yes to everything. There is a balance. Location services are worth of a permission, but the clipboard seems a bit on the trivial side of things. Then again, people paste passwords, so...

> Then again, people paste passwords, so. It’s more serious than that, current security best practice is telling everybody to use a password manager. People are being told that pasting passwords is “the right way to do things”. And that behaviour (at least for me) has morphed into keeping account numbers, credit card numbers, and other important private information in the password manager, and copy pasting those when…

[deleted]

Re: Popular iPhone and iPad Apps Snooping on the Pasteboard

#46

Post by xenadu02 »

andrekandre wrote: post #29
lazyjones wrote: post #7

Is there a MacOS utility that clears the pasteboard N minutes after its last content change?

not sure, but i do seem to remember that passwords copied from the “passwords” screen in system preferences get removed after a minute or so... so that functionality seems to exist in some form... (if i am remembering correctly that is)

Having a "password" pasteboard might not be a bad idea. Disallow reading its contents except by built-in system password input fields.

Re: Popular iPhone and iPad Apps Snooping on the Pasteboard

#48

Post by npunt »

Unfortunately because of the incentives that drive developer business, we have to treat apps with minimal trust for anything potentially sensitive. Clipboards often contain people's names, contact info, passwords, and personal writing. Carte blanche access is something that reveals these and personally I'm not comfortable with it.

There's obviously a balance to be struck with:

a) not introducing unnecessary permissions prompts, causing prompt fatigue in users (thus lowering security)

b) improved UX by saving a step for apps that may use clipboards for legitimate purposes (e.g. shipment tracking numbers, photos, emails, etc)

Here's how I'd solve the problem through improved App Store review:

1. Carte blanche access to pasteboard is removed, replaced with system data detectors, which delineate common data types like shipment tracking numbers, photos, emails/contacts, plaintext, etc.

2. During app submission, any request to access a specific pasteboard data type has to be met with a UX justification, specifically that it has to significantly improve the core user experience in a meaningful way, and developers must promise to not scrape or store the data remotely.

3. If justification is not approved, app may still be published. Routines that call for access to data detector pasteboard must be able to gracefully fall back to non-pasteboard access (since they are used solely for simplifying a UX step).

4. If it is discovered a developer breaks their promise, their app may be pulled from the app store.

(optional) 5. When users get to the particular part of the app that uses pasteboard data AND the current pasteboard data is of the data type that the app has been approved to use, user is presented with a permission prompt to allow it. The permission prompt should not just be boilerplate, it should show the current contents of the pasteboard the app is trying to access.

The last step is a judgment call based on balance of permission prompt fatigue and user trust. If its believed the app store submission process is believed to be a good enough filtering process, then don't present prompts. One way to approach is add the above 4 and see how developers respond, and if it seems insufficient then add #5 in the next iOS release.

Re: Popular iPhone and iPad Apps Snooping on the Pasteboard

#49

Post by bobbylarrybobby »

_bxg1 wrote: post #8
acwan93 wrote: post #3

I really hope we don’t start getting into a parade of dialogs going “X app requests permission to use Y”. I get why it’s important from a privacy-perspective, but most people aren’t going to care. They’ll just mash the “Allow” button until they get what they want.

I don't see why this even needs a dialog. What legitimate reason is there for an app to see my clipboard without me pasting anything?

1. Upon opening, app for service XYZ sees your clipboard has the URL www.xyz.com/whatever and offers to navigate to that link within the app, saving the user from having to find it again in the app or paste the URL in the search bar (if there is a search bar).

2. When using 2FA, 1Password will automatically write your one time code to the clipboard so it can easily be pasted. As a convenience, after 45 seconds or so it restores your previous clipboard contents for you. To do this it has to be able to read them.

3. An OCR app has a "OCR from clipboard" button to extract text from the image currently in the clipboard.

Re: Popular iPhone and iPad Apps Snooping on the Pasteboard

#50

Post by cortesoft »

katsura wrote: post #15
_bxg1 wrote: post #6

> Apps on iOS and iPadOS have unrestricted access to the system-wide general pasteboard, also referred to as the clipboard. Yikes. This is horrible, and really it's unacceptable given Apple's privacy rhetoric. Even the web doesn't have this vulnerability. And it's easy to fix, too! Why in the world should an app be able to see the clipboard? It should only see the text I enter into its fields (via pasting or otherwis…

Browsers use it to help you with the copied links. When you click into the URL bar they offer you to jump to the previously copied link right away.

I think just saying "paste and go" is fine, they don't need to know where it is going before I click yes
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