Popular Chrome Extensions Leak API Keys, User Data via HTTP and Hardcoded Credentials

Cybersecurity researchers have flagged a number of well-liked Google Chrome extensions which were discovered to transmit information in HTTP and hard-code secrets and techniques of their code, exposing customers to privateness and safety dangers.

“A number of extensively used extensions […] unintentionally transmit delicate information over easy HTTP,” Yuanjing Guo, a safety researcher within the Symantec’s Safety Expertise and Response staff, mentioned. “By doing so, they expose shopping domains, machine IDs, working system particulars, utilization analytics, and even uninstall info, in plaintext.”

The truth that the community visitors is unencrypted additionally implies that they’re inclined to adversary-in-the-middle (AitM) assaults, permitting malicious actors on the identical community comparable to a public Wi-Fi to intercept and, even worse, modify this information, which may result in much more severe penalties.

The record of recognized extensions are under –

• SEMRush Rank (extension ID: idbhoeaiokcojcgappfigpifhpkjgmab) and PI Rank (ID: ccgdboldgdlngcgfdolahmiilojmfndl), which name the URL “rank.trellian[.]com” over plain HTTP
• Browsec VPN (ID: omghfjlpggmjjaagoclmmobgdodcjboh), which makes use of HTTP to name an uninstall URL at “browsec-uninstall.s3-website.eu-central-1.amazonaws[.]com” when a person makes an attempt to uninstall the extension
• MSN New Tab (ID: lklfbkdigihjaaeamncibechhgalldgl) and MSN Homepage, Bing Search & Information (ID: midiombanaceofjhodpdibeppmnamfcj), which transmit a singular machine identifier and different particulars over HTTP to “g.ceipmsn[.]com”
• DualSafe Password Supervisor & Digital Vault (ID: lgbjhdkjmpgjgcbcdlhkokkckpjmedgc), which constructs an HTTP-based URL request to “stats.itopupdate[.]com” together with details about the extension model, person’s browser language, and utilization “sort”

“Though credentials or passwords don’t look like leaked, the truth that a password supervisor makes use of unencrypted requests for telemetry erodes belief in its general safety posture,” Guo mentioned.

Symantec mentioned it additionally recognized one other set of extensions with API keys, secrets and techniques, and tokens immediately embedded within the JavaScript code, which an attacker may weaponize to craft malicious requests and perform varied malicious actions –

• On-line Safety & Privateness extension (ID: gomekmidlodglbbmalcneegieacbdmki), AVG On-line Safety (ID: nbmoafcmbajniiapeidgficgifbfmjfo), Pace Dial [FVD] – New Tab Web page, 3D, Sync (ID: llaficoajjainaijghjlofdfmbjpebpa), and SellerSprite – Amazon Analysis Software (ID: lnbmbgocenenhhhdojdielgnmeflbnfb), which expose a hard-coded Google Analytics 4 (GA4) API secret that an attacker may use to bombard the GA4 endpoint and corrupt metrics
• Equatio – Math Made Digital (ID: hjngolefdpdnooamgdldlkjgmdcmcjnc), which embeds a Microsoft Azure API key used for speech recognition that an attacker may use to inflate the developer’s prices or exhaust their utilization limits
• Superior Display screen Recorder & Screenshot (ID: nlipoenfbbikpbjkfpfillcgkoblgpmj) and Scrolling Screenshot Software & Display screen Seize (ID: mfpiaehgjbbfednooihadalhehabhcjo), which expose the developer’s Amazon Net Companies (AWS) entry key used to add screenshots to the developer’s S3 bucket
• Microsoft Editor – Spelling & Grammar Checker (ID: gpaiobkfhnonedkhhfjpmhdalgeoebfa), which exposes a telemetry key named “StatsApiKey” to log person information for analytics
• Antidote Connector (ID: lmbopdiikkamfphhgcckcjhojnokgfeo), which includes a third-party library referred to as InboxSDK that incorporates hard-coded credentials, together with API keys.
• Watch2Gether (ID: cimpffimgeipdhnhjohpbehjkcdpjolg), which exposes a Tenor GIF search API key
• Belief Pockets (ID: egjidjbpglichdcondbcbdnbeeppgdph), which exposes an API key related to the Ramp Community, a Web3 platform that provides pockets builders a option to let customers purchase or promote crypto immediately from the app
• TravelArrow – Your Digital Journey Agent (ID: coplmfnphahpcknbchcehdikbdieognn), which exposes a geolocation API key when making queries to “ip-api[.]com”

Attackers who find yourself discovering these keys may weaponize them to drive up API prices, host unlawful content material, ship spoofed telemetry information, and mimic cryptocurrency transaction orders, a few of which may see the developer’s ban getting banned.

Including to the priority, Antidote Connector is only one of over 90 extensions that use InboxSDK, which means the opposite extensions are inclined to the identical downside. The names of the opposite extensions weren’t disclosed by Symantec.

“From GA4 analytics secrets and techniques to Azure speech keys, and from AWS S3 credentials to Google-specific tokens, every of those snippets demonstrates how just a few strains of code can jeopardize a complete service,” Guo mentioned. “The answer: by no means retailer delicate credentials on the shopper facet.”

Builders are advisable to change to HTTPS each time they ship or obtain information, retailer credentials securely in a backend server utilizing a credentials administration service, and repeatedly rotate secrets and techniques to additional decrease danger.

The findings present how even well-liked extensions with lots of of hundreds of installations can undergo from trivial misconfigurations and safety blunders like hard-coded credentials, leaving customers’ information in danger.

“Customers of those extensions ought to contemplate eradicating them till the builders deal with the insecure [HTTP] calls,” the corporate mentioned. “The chance isn’t just theoretical; unencrypted visitors is straightforward to seize, and the information can be utilized for profiling, phishing, or different focused assaults.”

“The overarching lesson is that a big set up base or a well known model doesn’t essentially guarantee finest practices round encryption. Extensions needs to be scrutinized for the protocols they use and the information they share, to make sure customers’ info stays really secure.”