1540637 - Don't save persistent certificate exceptions in private browsing windows

Status: VERIFIED FIXED

(Firefox :: Security, enhancement, P2)

Description

[Johann Hofmann [:johannh]]

Bug 1492498 made us permanently persist certificate exceptions by default, but as pointed out on Reddit we should probably not do that in private windows, to avoid persisting this part of user history.

Unfortunately I don't think there's currently a way we can contain the exception to only private windows, but making it temporary by default should be good enough.

Comment 1

[Johann Hofmann [:johannh]]

Hey :aqadri, sorry for missing you on IRC, would you be interested in this bug? The idea is that this variable https://searchfox.org/mozilla-central/rev/14dc5b7d8a6da1854b2f9f33f1da77a97368cd54/browser/base/content/browser.js#3196 should not be set to true if we're in a private browser.

Let me know if you have any questions.

Thanks!

Comment 2

[Asra Q [:aqadri]]

(In reply to Johann Hofmann [:johannh] from comment #1)

Hey :aqadri, sorry for missing you on IRC, would you be interested in this bug? The idea is that this variable https://searchfox.org/mozilla-central/rev/14dc5b7d8a6da1854b2f9f33f1da77a97368cd54/browser/base/content/browser.js#3196 should not be set to true if we're in a private browser.

Let me know if you have any questions.

Thanks!

I'll start working on it. Thanks :)

Comment 3

[Asra Q [:aqadri]]

Attachment: Bug 1540637: Don't save persistent certificate exceptions in private browsing windows. r=johannh

Comment 4

[Asra Q [:aqadri]]

Attachment: Bug 1540637: Don't save persistent certificate exceptions in private browsing windows. r=johannh

Comment 5

[Pulsebot]

Pushed by [e-mail]:
https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/autoland/rev/87ac760ffe88
Don't save persistent certificate exceptions in private browsing windows. r=johannh

Comment 6

[Cosmin Sabou [:CosminS]]

https://hg.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/rev/87ac760ffe88

Comment 7

[Johann Hofmann [:johannh]]

Comment on attachment 9056587 [details]
Bug 1540637: Don't save persistent certificate exceptions in private browsing windows. r=johannh

Beta/Release Uplift Approval Request

• Feature/Bug causing the regression: None
• User impact if declined: When users add a certificate exception in a private window, that exception might last longer than they would expect to, potentially compromising the promise of private browsing.
• Is this code covered by automated tests?: No
• Has the fix been verified in Nightly?: No
• Needs manual test from QE?: Yes
• If yes, steps to reproduce: - Open a private window, navigate to https://expired.badssl.com/

• Click "Advanced" -> "Accept the risk and continue"
• You should see a big red page
• Restart the browser
• Open a private window, navigate to https://expired.badssl.com/
• You should see the cert error again

• List of other uplifts needed: None
• Risk to taking this patch: Low
• Why is the change risky/not risky? (and alternatives if risky): Single line patch that amends an existing if-condition.
• String changes made/needed: None

Comment 8

[Pascal Chevrel (relman team) -> :pascalc|PTO until Sept 2]

Let's get it verified by QA on Nightly before uplifting in beta.

Comment 9

[Cornel Ionce [:noni]]

Reproduced this issue using Fx 67.0b10 on Windows 10 x64.

Confirming the fix across platform using Latest Nightly, build ID 20190412093400.
Leaving the qe-verify+ flag until uplift/verification in beta.

Comment 10

[Pascal Chevrel (relman team) -> :pascalc|PTO until Sept 2]

Comment on attachment 9056587 [details]
Bug 1540637: Don't save persistent certificate exceptions in private browsing windows. r=johannh

Low risk and verified by QA in nightly, uplift approved for 67 beta 11, thanks.

Comment 11

[Andreea Pavel [:apavel]]

Tried to uplift this and got a conflict:

mozilla@ubuntu ~/mozilla-unified beta(+4) $ hg graft -er 87ac760ffe88
grafting 534701:87ac760ffe88 "Bug 1540637: Don't save persistent certificate exceptions in private browsing windows. r=johannh"
merging browser/base/content/browser.js
warning: conflicts while merging browser/base/content/browser.js! (edit, then use 'hg resolve --mark')
abort: unresolved conflicts, can't continue
(use 'hg resolve' and 'hg graft --continue')

Comment 12

[Sebastian Hengst [:aryx] (needinfo me if it's about an intermittent or backout)]

https://hg.mozilla.org/releases/mozilla-beta/rev/2dbd0c7ee453

Comment 13

[Cornel Ionce [:noni]]

Also confirming this is fixed on Firefox 67.0b11, build ID: 20190415085659.