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Dangerous WebGL Flaws Haunt Chrome and Firefox

16.06.2011
Context--an independent information security consultancy--has published a new report on security flaws with WebGL. The report, "", includes a video clip demonstrating why organizations should think twice about relying on Web browsers built on WebGL.

After Context that , Khronos--the developers of WebGL, and browser vendors have stepped up and taken action to address those concerns. This new report is based on continued research by Context, as well as testing done to determine if the actions taken by Khronos and browser vendors actually work to make WebGL safe.

In a nutshell, it appears the answer is "no". What is the risk? In order to deliver advanced graphics and 3D rendering from the Web without introducing lag and impacting performance, WebGL interacts with the graphics driver at a core level. The low-level functionality of the graphics processor has always been shielded from executable code, and was not designed with security in mind. WebGL exposes the low-level core functions of the system to possible malicious exploits.

Context stresses in the new report that it is not unusual to find security issues with a new technology, but that it is crucial to identify and mitigate those issues as quickly as possible to minimize risk and protect users. Context reviewed conformance tests developed by Khronos designed to assess compliance with the WebGL standard using a variety of operating systems, browsers, and graphics hardware.

"Through this work Context has discovered that neither Chrome nor Firefox passed the Khronos tests, including a number that are directly related to security. Context then explored the consequences of one of the failed conformance tests: the issue it identified allowed us to extract images containing data from the user's desktop and from other web browser sessions such as authenticated pages."

A Microsoft Security Research & Defense explains, "The security of WebGL as a whole depends on lower levels of the system, including OEM drivers, upholding security guarantees they never really need to worry about before. Attacks that may have previously resulted only in local elevation of privilege may now result in remote compromise," adding, "While it may be possible to mitigate these risks to some extent, the large attack surface exposed by WebGL remains a concern."