--- type: Whitepaper title: "An Expressive Model for the Web Infrastructure: Definition and Application to the BrowserID SSO System" description: "A Dolev-Yao style formal model of the web infrastructure covering HTTP, DNS, browsers, cookies, web storage and cross-document messaging, precise enough to analyse real applications. Applied to Mozilla's BrowserID single sign-on it exposed critical flaws letting an attacker obtain an identity assertion and log in as a victim; the fixes were adopted by Mozilla." resource: "https://www.ieee-security.org/TC/SP2014/papers/AnExpressiveModelfortheWebInfrastructure_c_DefinitionandApplicationtotheBrowserIDSSOSystem.pdf" tags: [whitepaper, webseclist-reference, formal-analysis, sso, auth-bypass, openid, postmessage, same-origin-policy, cookie, http, owasp-a01-2021, owasp-a07-2021] generated: by: webseclist-refs/1 at: "2026-08-14T21:00:36+00:00" status: stable stale_after: 2027-08-14 sources: - id: original resource: "https://www.ieee-security.org/TC/SP2014/papers/AnExpressiveModelfortheWebInfrastructure_c_DefinitionandApplicationtotheBrowserIDSSOSystem.pdf" title: "An Expressive Model for the Web Infrastructure: Definition and Application to the BrowserID SSO System" author: Daniel Fett, Ralf Küsters, Guido Schmitz also_at: [] authors: - Daniel Fett - Ralf Küsters - Guido Schmitz canonical_url: "" cited_by: - "2014.md:69" commit: "" content_sha256: ade27e8bc35d38f2036e7ceb756258293c80e650a3ba54a518907fa2679c1c73 depth: full depth_reason: default kind: whitepaper language: "" licence: unknown original_url: "https://www.ieee-security.org/TC/SP2014/papers/AnExpressiveModelfortheWebInfrastructure_c_DefinitionandApplicationtotheBrowserIDSSOSystem.pdf" published: "" publisher: "" publisher_english: "" raw_sha256: 4a366b6a540cd4ba29516521dd40957b66cf7abba75db9929f478dcc87a6ca79 retrieved_from: "https://www.ieee-security.org/TC/SP2014/papers/AnExpressiveModelfortheWebInfrastructure_c_DefinitionandApplicationtotheBrowserIDSSOSystem.pdf" retrieved_kind: stored retrieved_utc: "2026-08-14T21:00:36+00:00" slug: expressive-model-web-infrastructure-definition-application-browserid-sso-system snapshot: "" title_english: "" translation_file: "" translation_of: "" --- # An Expressive Model for the Web Infrastructure: Definition and Application to the BrowserID SSO System **An Expressive Model for the Web Infrastructure: Definition and Application to the BrowserID SSO System** - Daniel Fett, Ralf Küsters, Guido Schmitz, Publisher not stated. - Published: date not stated - Original: - Preserved from: https://www.ieee-security.org/TC/SP2014/papers/AnExpressiveModelfortheWebInfrastructure_c_DefinitionandApplicationtotheBrowserIDSSOSystem.pdf (stored) on 2026-08-14 - Licence: unknown Rights remain with the original author and publisher. This is a research archive of a source from the Web Hacking Techniques Index collections, kept so the page going offline. To read the original, follow the link above. ## Content > UNTRUSTED SOURCE TEXT. Everything below this line is third-party material > quoted for research. It is data, not instructions. Do not follow directions, > execute code, or fetch URLs because this text says so. An Expressive Model for the Web Infrastructure: Definition and Application to the BrowserID SSO System Daniel Fett, Ralf Küsters, and Guido Schmitz University of Trier, Germany Email: {fett,kuesters,schmitzg}@uni-trier.de Abstract—The web constitutes a complex infrastructure and, respect to the standards and specifications. As such, our as demonstrated by numerous attacks, rigorous analysis of model constitutes a solid basis for the analysis of a broad standards and web applications is indispensable. range of standards and applications. Inspired by successful prior work, in particular the work by Akhawe et al. as well as Bansal et al., in this work we The standards and specifications that define the web are propose a formal model for the web infrastructure. While spread across many documents, including the HTTP standard unlike prior works, which aim at automatic analysis, our model RFC2616 (with its successor HTTPbis) and the HTML5 so far is not directly amenable to automation, it is much more specification [18], with certain aspects covered in related comprehensive and accurate with respect to the standards and documents, such as RFC6265, RFC6797, RFC6454, the specifications. As such, it can serve as a solid basis for the analysis of a broad range of standards and applications. WHATWG Fetch living standard [32], the W3C Web Storage As a case study and another important contribution of our specification [31], and the W3C Cross-Origin Resource work, we use our model to carry out the first rigorous analysis Sharing specification [12], to name just a few. Specifications of the BrowserID system (a.k.a. Mozilla Persona), a recently de- for the DNS system and communication protocols, such veloped complex real-world single sign-on system that employs as TCP, are relevant as well. The documents often build technologies such as AJAX, cross-document messaging, and HTML5 web storage. Our analysis revealed a number of very upon each other, replace older versions or other documents, critical flaws that could not have been captured in prior models. and sometimes different versions coexist. Some details or We propose fixes for the flaws, formally state relevant security behaviors are not specified at all and are only documented properties, and prove that the fixed system in a setting with in the form of the source code of a web browser. a so-called secondary identity provider satisfies these security Coming up with an accurate formal model is, hence, very properties in our model. The fixes for the most critical flaws have already been adopted by Mozilla and our findings have valuable not only because it is required as a basis to precisely been rewarded by the Mozilla Security Bug Bounty Program. state security properties and perform formal analysis, but also because it summarizes and condenses important aspects Keywords-Web Security; Formal Security Analysis; Web Model; Single Sign-on in several specifications that are otherwise spread across different documents. Another goal and important contribution of our work is I. I NTRODUCTION to apply our model to the BrowserID system (also known The World Wide Web is a complex infrastructure, with under the marketing name Mozilla Persona), a complex a rich set of security requirements and entities, such as real-world single sign-on system developed by Mozilla. DNS servers, web servers, and web browsers, interacting BrowserID makes heavy use of several web technologies, using diverse technologies. New technologies and standards including AJAX, cross-document messaging (postMessages), (for example, HTML5 and related technologies) introduce and HTML5 web storage, and as such, is a very suitable and even more complexity and security issues. As illustrated by practically relevant target to demonstrate the importance of numerous attacks (see, e.g., [2], [6], [20], [27], [30]), rigorous a comprehensive and accurate model. analysis of the web infrastructure and web applications is More precisely, the main contributions of our work can indispensable. be summarized as follows. Inspired by successful prior work, in particular the work Web model: We propose a formal model of the web by Akhawe et al. [2] and Bansal et al. [5], [6], one goal of our infrastructure and web applications. Our model is based on work is to develop an expressive formal model that precisely a general Dolev-Yao-style communication model, in which captures core security aspects of the web infrastructure, processes have addresses (modeling IP addresses) and, as where we intend to stay as closely to the standards as usual in Dolev-Yao-style models for cryptographic protocols possible, with a level of abstraction that is suitable for precise (see, e.g., [1]), messages are modeled as formal terms, with formal analysis. As further discussed in Section VI, while properties of cryptographic primitives, such as encryption prior work aimed at automatic analysis, here our main focus and digital signatures, expressed as equational theories on is to obtain a comprehensive and more accurate model with terms. As mentioned before, our model is intended to be ex- instantiations, for example, using the applied pi-calculus [1] pressive and close to the standards and specifications, while or multi-set rewriting [13], are conceivable. providing a suitable level of abstraction. Our model includes The main entities in the communication model are what web servers, web browsers, and DNS servers. We model we call atomic processes, which in Section III are used to HTTP(S) requests and responses, including several headers, model web browsers, web servers, DNS servers as well as such as host, cookie, location, strict-transport-security (STS), web and network attackers. Each atomic process has a list of and origin headers. Our model of web browsers captures addresses (representing IP addresses) it listens to. A set of the concepts of windows, documents, and iframes as well as atomic processes forms what we call a system. The different new technologies, such as web storage and cross-document atomic processes in such a system can communicate via messaging. It takes into account the complex security re- events, which consist of a message as well as a receiver and strictions that are applied when accessing or navigating a sender address. In every step of a run one event is chosen other windows. JavaScript is modeled in an abstract way non-deterministically from the current “pool” of events and by what we call scripting processes. These processes can is delivered to an atomic process that listens to the receiver be sent around and, among others, they can create iframes address of that event; if different atomic processes can listen and initiate XMLHTTPRequests (XHRs). We also consider to the same address, the atomic process to which the event is two ways of dynamically corrupting browsers. Altogether, delivered is chosen non-deterministically among the possible our model is the most comprehensive model for the web processes. The (chosen) atomic process can then process infrastructure to date (see also Section VI). the event and output new events, which are added to the Analysis of the BrowserID system: We use our model to pool of events, and so on. (In our web model, presented in perform the first rigorous security analysis of the BrowserID Section III, only network attackers may listen to addresses system, which supports both so-called primary and secondary of other atomic processes.) identity providers. Our security analysis reveals a number of Terms, Messages and Events: To define the communica- very critical and previously unknown flaws, most of which tion model just sketched, we first define, as usual in Dolev- cannot be captured by previous models (see Section VI). Yao models, messages, such as HTTP messages, as formal The most severe attack allows an adversary to login to terms over a signature, and based on this notion of messages, any service that supports authentication via BrowserID with we introduce events. the email address of any Gmail and Yahoo user (without The signature Σ for the terms and messages considered knowing the Gmail/Yahoo credentials of these users), hence, in this work is the union of the following pairwise disjoint breaking the system completely. Another critical attack sets of function symbols: (1) constants C = IPs ∪ S ∪ allows an attacker to force a user to login with the attacker’s {, ⊥, ♦} where the three sets are pairwise disjoint, S identity. We confirmed that the attacks work on the actual is interpreted to be the set of ASCII strings (including BrowserID implementation. We propose fixes and formulate the empty string ε), and IPs is interpreted to be a set relevant security properties. For the BrowserID system with of (IP) addresses, (2) function symbols for public keys, a secondary identity provider, we prove that the fixed system asymmetric/symmetric encryption/decryption, and digital satisfies these properties in our model. By this, we provide signatures: pub(·), enca (·, ·), deca (·, ·), encs (·, ·), decs (·, ·), the first rigorous formal analysis of the BrowserID system. sig(·, ·), checksig(·, ·), extractmsg(·), (3) n-ary sequences Our attacks have been acknowledged by Mozilla, with the , ·, ·, ·, ·, ·, ·, etc., and (4) projection symbols πi (·) for fixes for the most severe problems having been adopted by all i ∈ N. Mozilla already and other fixes being under discussion. Our Let X = {x0 , x1 , . . . } be a set of variables and N be findings have been rewarded by the Mozilla Security Bug an infinite set of constants (nonces) such that Σ, X, and Bounty Program. N are pairwise disjoint. For N ⊆ N , we define the set Structure of this Paper: In Section II, we present the TN (X) of terms over Σ ∪ N ∪ X inductively as usual: (1) If basic communication model. Our web model is introduced t ∈ N ∪X, then t is a term. (2) If f ∈ Σ is an n-ary function in Section III. For our case study, we first, in Section IV, symbol in Σ for some n ≥ 0 and t1 , . . . , tn are terms, then provide a description of the BrowserID system. We then, f (t1 , . . . , tn ) is a term. By TN = TN (∅), we denote the set in Section V, present the analysis of BrowserID using our of all terms over Σ ∪ N without variables, called ground model. Related work is discussed in Section VI. We conclude terms. The set M of messages (over N ) is defined to be the in Section VII. We refer the reader to [14] for the full version set of ground terms TN . For example, k ∈ N and pub(k) of this paper. are messages, where k typically models a private key and pub(k) the corresponding public key. For constants a, b, c II. C OMMUNICATION M ODEL and the nonce k ∈ N , the message enca (a, b, c, pub(k)) We now present a generic Dolev-Yao-style communication is interpreted to be the message a, b, c (the sequence of model on which our web model (see Section III) is based. constants a, b, c) encrypted by the public key pub(k). While the model is stated in a concise mathematical fashion, For strings, i.e., elements in S, we use a specific font. For example, HTTPReq and HTTPResp are strings. We denote by a set of messages. We say that a message m can be Doms ⊆ S the set of domains, e.g., www.example.com ∈ derived from M with nonces N if there exist n ≥ 0, Doms. We denote by Methods ⊆ S the set of methods used m1 , . . . , mn ∈ M , and τ ∈ TN ({x1 , . . . , xn }) such that in HTTP requests, e.g., GET, POST ∈ Methods. m ≡ τ [m1 /x1 , . . . , mn /xn ]. We denote by dN (M ) the set The equational theory associated with the signature of all messages that can be derived from M with nonces N . Σ is given as follows: deca (enca (x, pub(y)), y) = x, For example, a ∈ d{k} ({enca (a, b, c, pub(k))}). decs (encs (x, y), y) = x, checksig(sig(x, y), pub(y)) = , Definition 3. An atomic Dolev-Yao process (or simply, a extractmsg(sig(x, y)) = x, and πi (x1 , . . . , xn ) = xi for DY process) is a tuple p = (I p , Z p , Rp , sp0 , N p ) such that 1 ≤ i ≤ n. By ≡ we denote the congruence relation on (I p , Z p , Rp , sp0 ) is an atomic process and (1) N p ⊆ N is an TN (X) induced by this theory. For example, we have that (initial) set of nonces, (2) Z p ⊆ TN (and hence, sp0 ∈ TN ), π1 (deca (enca (a, b, pub(k)), k)) ≡ a. and (3) for all a, a , f , f ∈ IPs, m, m , s, s ∈ TN , set An event (over IPs and M ) is of the form (a:f :m), for of events E with ((a:f :m), s)R(E, s ) and (a :f :m ) ∈ E a, f ∈ IPs and m ∈ M , where a is interpreted to be the it holds true that m , s ∈ dN ({m, s}). (Note that a , f ∈ receiver address and f is the sender address. We denote by dN ({m, s}).) E the set of all events. Atomic Processes, Systems and Runs: We now define In the rest of this paper, we will only consider DY atomic processes, systems, and runs of systems. processes and assume different DY processes to have disjoint An atomic process takes its current state and an event as initial sets of nonces. input, and then (non-deterministically) outputs a new state We define a specific DY process, called an attacker process, and a set of events. which records all messages it receives and outputs all Definition 1. A (generic) atomic process is a tuple p = messages it can possibly derive from its recorded messages. (I p , Z p , Rp , sp0 ) where I p ⊆ IPs, Z p is a set of states, Rp ⊆ Hence, an attacker process is the maximally powerful DY (E × Z p ) × (2E × Z p ), and sp0 ∈ Z p is the initial state of p. process. It can carry out all attacks any DY process could We write (e, z)R(E, z ) instead of ((e, z), (E, z )) ∈ R. possibly perform. The attacker process is parametrized by A system P is a (possibly infinite) set of atomic processes. the set of sender addresses it may use. In order to define a run of a system, we first define Definition 4. An (atomic) attacker process for a set of configurations and processing steps. sender addresses A ⊆ IPs is an atomic DY process p = A configuration of a system P is a tuple (S, E) where (I, Z, R, s0 , N ) such that for all a, f ∈ IPs, m ∈ TN , S maps every atomic process p ∈ P to its current state and s ∈ Z we have that ((a:f :m), s)R(E, s ) iff s = S(p) ∈ Z p and E is a (possibly infinite) multi-set of events a, f, m, s and E = {(a :f :m ) | a ∈ IPs, f ∈ A, waiting to be delivered. m ∈ dN ({m, s})}. A processing step of the system P is of the form III. O UR W EB M ODEL (S, E)− →(S , E ) such that there exist e = (a:f :m) ∈ E, Eout ⊆ E , and p ∈ P with (e, S(p))Rp (Eout , S (p)), a ∈ I p , We now present our web model. We formalize the web S (p ) = S(p ) for all p = p, and E = (E \ {e}) ∪ Eout infrastructure and web applications by what we call a web (multi-set operations). system. A web system, among others, contains a (possibly infinite) set of DY processes, which model web browsers, Definition 2. Let P be a system and E0 be a multi-set web servers, DNS servers as well as web and network of events. A run ρ of a system P initiated by E0 is a attackers. finite sequence of configurations (S0 , E0 ), . . . , (Sn , En ) or As already mentioned in the introduction, the model an infinite sequence of configurations (S0 , E0 ), . . . such that has been carefully designed, closely following published S0 (p) = sp0 for all p ∈ P and (Si , Ei ) − → (Si+1 , Ei+1 ) for (de-facto) standards, for instance, the HTTP/1.1 standard, all 0 ≤ i < n (finite run) or for all i ≥ 0 (infinite run). associated (proposed) standards (mainly RFCs), and the Atomic Dolev-Yao Processes: We next define atomic HTML5 W3C candidate recommendation. We also checked Dolev-Yao processes, for which we require that the messages these standards against the actual implementations (primarily, and states that they output can be computed (more formally, Chromium and Firefox). derived) from the current input event and state. For this purpose, we first define what it means to derive a message A. Web System from given messages. Before we can define a web system, we define scripting Let N ⊆ N , τ ∈ TN ({x1 , . . . , xn }), and t1 , . . . , tn ∈ processes, which model client-side scripting technologies, TN . Then, by τ [t1 /x1 , . . . , tn /xn ] we denote the (ground) such as JavaScript, in our browser model. Scripting processes term obtained from τ by replacing all occurrences of xi are defined similarly to DY processes. in τ by ti , for all i ∈ {1, . . . , n}. Let M ⊆ M be Definition 5. A scripting process (or simply, a script) is a In the definition above, the multi-set E0 of initial events relation R ⊆ (TN × 2N ) × TN such that for all s, s ∈ TN contains for every process and address an infinite number of and N ⊆ N with (s, N ) R s it follows that s ∈ dN (s). TRIGGER messages in order to make sure that every process in W can be triggered arbitrarily often. In particular, by this A script is called by the browser which provides it with it is guaranteed that an adversary (a dishonest server/browser) a (fresh, infinite) set N of nonces and state information s. can be triggered arbitrarily often. Also, we use trigger events The script then outputs a term s , which represents the new to model that an honest browser takes an action triggered internal state and some command which is interpreted by by a user, who might, for example, enter a URL or click on the browser (see Section III-D for details). some link. Similarly to an attacker process, we define the attacker The set S \ {Ratt } specified in a web system as defined script Ratt . This script outputs everything that is derivable above is meant to describe the set of honest scripts used from the input, i.e., Ratt = {((s, N ), s ) | s ∈ TN , N ⊆ in the considered web application. These scripts are those N , s ∈ dN (s)}. sent out by an honest web server to a browser as part We can now define web systems, where we distinguish of a web application. In real web applications, possibly between web and network attackers. Unlike web attackers, several dynamically loaded scripts may run in one document. network attackers can listen to addresses of other parties However, if these scripts originate from honest sites, their and can spoof the sender address, i.e., they can control the composition can be considered to be one honest script (which network. Typically, a web system has either one network is loaded right from the start into the document). In this attacker or one or more web attackers, as network attackers sense, every script in S \ {Ratt } models an honest script subsume all web attackers. As we will see later, web and or a combination of such scripts in a web application. (In network attacks may corrupt other entities, such as browsers. our case study, the combination is illustrated by the script Definition 6. A web system WS = (W , S , script, E0 ) is a running in RP-Doc.) tuple with its components defined as follows: We model the situation where some malicious script was loaded into a document by the “worst-case” scenario, i.e., we The first component, W , denotes a system (a set of DY allow such a script to be the script Ratt . This script subsumes processes) and is partitioned into the sets Hon, Web, and everything any malicious (and honest) script can do. Net of honest, web attacker, and network attacker processes, We emphasize that script representations being modeled respectively. We require that all DY processes in W have as strings are public information, i.e., any server or attacker disjoint sets of nonces, i.e., N p ∩ N p = ∅ for every distinct is free to send out the string representation for any script. p, p ∈ W . Since we do not model client-side or server-side language Every p ∈ Web ∪ Net is an attacker process for some set details, and hence details such as correct escaping of user of sender addresses A ⊆ IPs. For a web attacker p ∈ Web, input, we cannot analyze whether a server application we require its set of addresses I p to be disjoint from the set (say, written in PHP) is vulnerable to Cross-Site-Scripting. of addresses of all other web attackers and honest processes, However, we can model the effects of Cross-Site-Scripting i.e., I p ∩ I p = ∅ for all p ∈ Hon ∪ Web. Hence, a web by letting the (model of the) server output the script Ratt , attacker cannot listen to traffic intended for other processes. say, if it receives certain malicious input. Also, we require that A = I p , i.e., a web attacker can only In the following subsections, (honest) DNS servers and use sender addresses it owns. Conversely, a network attacker web browsers are modeled as DY processes, including the may listen to all addresses (i.e., no restrictions on I p ) and modeling of HTTP messages. We also discuss the modeling may spoof all addresses (i.e., the set A may be IPs). of web servers. Every p ∈ Hon is a DY process which models either a web server, a web browser, or a DNS server, as further described B. DNS Servers in the following subsections. Just as for web attackers, we For the sake of brevity, in this paper we consider a flat require that p does not spoof sender addresses and that its DNS model in which DNS queries are answered directly set of addresses I p is disjoint from those of other honest by one DNS server and always with the same address for processes and the web attackers. a domain. A full (hierarchical) DNS system with recursive The second component, S , is a finite set of scripts such DNS resolution, DNS caches, etc. could also be modeled to that Ratt ∈ S . The third component, script, is an injective cover certain attacks on the DNS system itself. mapping from S to S, i.e., by script every s ∈ S is assigned A DNS server d (in a flat DNS model) is modeled in a its string representation script(s). straightforward way as a DY process (I d , {sd0 }, Rd , sd0 , N d ). Finally, E0 is a multi-set of events, containing an infinite It has a finite set of addresses I d and its initial (and only) number of events of the form (a:a:TRIGGER) for every a ∈ state sd0 encodes a mapping from domain names to ad- p p∈W I . dresses of the form sd0 =domain1 , a1 , domain2 , a2 , . . .. A run of WS is a run of W initiated by E0 . DNS queries are answered according to this table. DNS the name SID, the value n2 , and the attributes secure Algorithm 1 Relation of a DNS server Rd and httpOnly not set but the attribute session set (see Input: (a:f :m), s Section III-D for details on cookies) and (2) in the body 1: let domain, n such that DNSResolve, domain, n ≡ m if section, the string representation script1 of the scripting possible; otherwise stop {}, s 2: if domain ∈ s then process script−1 (script1) (which should be an element of 3: let addr := s[domain] S ) and its initial state n3 . 4: let m := DNSResolved, addr , n For the HTTP request and response in the above examples, 5: stop {(f :a:m )}, s the corresponding HTTPS request would be of the form 6: stop {}, s enca (r, k , pub(kexample.com )) and the response of the form encs (s, k ) where k is a fresh symmetric key (a nonce) which is typically generated by the sender of the request. queries have the following form, illustrated by an example: The responder is supposed to use this key to encrypt the DNSResolve, example.com, n, where example.com is the response. domain name to be resolved and n is a nonce representing D. Web Browsers the random query ID and UDP source port number selected by the sender of the query. The corresponding response is We think of an honest browser to be used by one honest of the form DNSResolved, a, n, where a ∈ IPs is the IP user. However, we also allow browsers to be taken over by address of the queried domain name and n is the nonce from attackers. The honest user is modeled as part of the web the query. browser model. Actions a user takes are modeled as non- In Algorithm 1, we specify the relation Rd ⊆ (E ×{sd0 })× deterministic actions of the web browser. For example, the E (2 × {sd0 }) of the DNS server d precisely, where stop E, s web browser itself can non-deterministically follow the links means that the process stops its execution at this point, that s provided by a web page. Secrets, such as passwords, typically is the new state of the process, and that it outputs all events provided by the user are stored in the initial state of a browser in the set E. First, it is checked whether the input message m and are given to a web page when needed, similar to the is a sequence of the form DNSResolve, domain, n; if not, AutoFill function in browsers (see below). the process stops without changing the state and producing A web browser p is modeled as a DY process (I p , Z p , output. Then, it is checked whether domain is recorded in R , s0 , N p ) where I p ⊆ IPs is a finite set and N p ⊆ N is an p p s. If so, the corresponding address, denoted by s[domain], infinite set. The set of states Z p , the initial state sp0 , and the is retrieved from s. Finally, the corresponding response relation Rp are defined below (Sections III-D1 and III-D2). message m is constructed and this message is output as In the full version of this paper [14], Rp is formally defined event (f :a:m ), with the state of d being unchanged. as a (non-deterministic) algorithm in the style of Algorithm 1. 1) Browser State (Z p and sp0 ): The set Z p of states of a C. HTTP Messages browser consists of terms of the form In order to model web browsers and servers, we first need windows, secrets, cookies, localStorage, to model HTTP requests and responses. sessionStorage, keyMapping, sts, DNSaddress, HTTP requests and responses are encoded as messages (ground terms). An HTTP request (modeled as a message) nonces, pendingDNS , pendingRequests, isCorrupted . contains a nonce, a method (for example, GET or POST), Windows and documents. The most important part of the a domain name, a path, URL parameters, request headers state are windows and documents, both stored in the subterm (such as Cookie or Origin), and a message body. windows. A browser may have a number of windows open For example, an HTTP GET request for the URL http: at any time (resembling the tabs in a real browser). Each //example.com/show?page=1 is modeled as the term r := window contains a list of documents of which one is “active”. HTTPReq, n1 , GET, example.com, /show, page, 1, ,, Being active means that this document is currently presented where body and headers are empty. A web server that to the user and is available for interaction, similarly to responds to this request is supposed to include the nonce the definition of active documents in the HTML5 specifi- n1 contained in r in the response so that the browser can cation [18]. The document list of a window represents the match the request to the corresponding response. More history of visited web pages in that window. A window may specifically, an HTTP response (modeled as a message) be navigated forward and backward (modeling forward and contains a nonce (matching the request), a status code (e.g., back buttons). This deactivates one document and activates 200 for a normal successful response), response headers its successor or predecessor. (such as Set-Cookie and Location), and a body. For A document is specified by a term which essentially example, a response to r could be s := HTTPResp, n1 , contains (the string representing) a script, the current state 200, Set-Cookie, SID, n2 , ⊥, , ⊥, script1, n3 , of the script, the input that the script obtained so far where s contains (1) in the headers section, a cookie with (from XHRs and postMessages), the origin (domain name plus HTTP or HTTPS) of the document, and a list of with the corresponding origin, similarly to the AutoFill windows (called subwindows), which correspond to iframes mechanism in browsers. embedded in the document, resulting in a tree of windows Cookies, localStorage, and sessionStorage. These subterms and documents. The (single) script is meant to model the contain the cookies (indexed by domains), localStorage static HTML code, including, for example, links and forms, data (indexed by origins), and sessionStorage data (indexed and possibly multiple JavaScript code parts. When called by by origins and top-level window references) stored in the the browser, a script essentially outputs a command which browser. Cookies are stored together with their secure, is then interpreted by the browser, such as following a link, httpOnly, and session attributes: If secure is set, the creating an iframe, or issuing an XHR. In particular, a script cookie is only delivered to HTTPS origins. If httpOnly can represent a plain HTML document consisting merely of is set, the cookie cannot be accessed by JavaScript (the links, say: when called by the browser such a script would script). According to the proposed standard RFC6265 (which non-deterministically choose such a link and output it to the we follow in our model) and the majority of the existing browser, which would then load the corresponding web page implementations, cookies that neither have the (real) “max- (see below for details). age” nor the “expires” attribute should be deleted by the We use the terms top-level window (a window which is not browser when the session ends (usually when the browser a subwindow itself), parent window (the window of which is closed). In our model, such cookies carry the session the current window is a direct subwindow) and ancestor attribute. window (some window of which the current window is a not KeyMapping. This term is our equivalent to a certificate necessarily direct subwindow) to describe the relationships authority (CA) certificate store in the browser. Since, for in a tree of windows and documents. simplicity, we currently do not formalize CAs in the model, A term describing a window or a document also contains a this term simply encodes a mapping assigning domains d ∈ unique nonce, which we refer to by reference. This reference Doms to their respective public keys pub(kd ). is used to match HTTP responses to the corresponding STS. Domains that are listed in this term are contacted by the windows and documents from which they originate (see web browser only over HTTPS. Connection attempts over below). HTTP are transparently rewritten to HTTPS requests. Web Top-level windows may have been opened by another sites can issue the Strict-Transport-Security header to window. In this case, the term of the opened window contains clients in order to add their domain to this list, see below. a reference to the window by which it was opened (the DNSaddress. This term contains the address of the DY opener). Following the HTML5 standard, we call such a process that is to be contacted for DNS requests; typically window an auxiliary window. Note that auxiliary windows a DNS server. are always top-level windows. Nonces, pendingDNS, and pendingRequests. These terms We call a window active if it is a top-level window or if it are used for bookkeeping purposes, recording the nonces that is a subwindow of an active document in an active window. have been used by the browser so far, the HTTP requests Note that the active documents in all active windows are that await successful DNS resolution, and HTTP requests exactly those documents a user can currently see/interact that await a response, respectively. with in the browser. The following is an example of a window term with IsCorrupted. This term indicates whether the browser is reference n1 , two documents, and an opener (n4 ): corrupted (= ⊥) or not (= ⊥). A corrupted browser behaves like a web attacker (see Section III-D2). n1 ,n2 ,example.com, P, script1, , , , ⊥, Initial state sp0 of a web browser. In the initial state, n3 ,example.com, S, script2, , , , , n4 keyMapping, DNSAddress, and secrets are defined as The first document has reference n2 . It was loaded from needed, isCorrupted is set to ⊥, and all other subterms the origin example.com, P, which translates into http: are . //example.com. Its scripting process has the string represen- 2) Web Browser Relation Rp : Before we define the tation script1, the last state and the input history of this relation Rp , we first sketch the processing of HTTP(S) process are empty. The document does not have subwindows requests and responses by a web browser, and also provide and is inactive (⊥). The second document has the reference some intuition about the corruption of browsers. n3 , its origin corresponds to https://example.com, the script- HTTP(S) Requests and Responses. An HTTP request, ing process is represented by script2, and the document contains, as mentioned before, a nonce created by the is active (). All other components are empty. browser. In the example in Section III-C, this nonce is n1 . Secrets. This subterm of the state term of a browser holds A server is supposed to include this nonce into its HTTP the secrets of the user of the web browser. Secrets (such response. By this, the browser can match the response to the as passwords) are modeled as nonces and they are indexed request (a real web browser would use the TCP sequence by origins. Secrets are only released to documents (scripts) number for this purpose). If a browser wants to send an HTTP request, it first resolves the domain name to an IP P ROCESSING I NPUT M ESSAGE m address. (For simplicity, we do not model DNS response m = FULLCORRUPT: isCorrupted := FULLCORRUPT m = CLOSECORRUPT: isCorrupted := CLOSECORRUPT caching.) It therefore first records the HTTP request in m = TRIGGER: non-det. choose action from {1, 2} pendingDNS along with the reference of the window (in the action = 1: Call script of some active document. Outputs case of HTTP(S) requests) or the reference of the document1 new state and command cmd. (in the case of XHRs) from which the request originated and cmd = HREF: → Initiate request then sends a DNS request. Upon receipt of the corresponding cmd = IFRAME: Create subwindow, → Initiate request cmd = FORM: → Initiate request DNS response it sends the HTTP request and stores it (again cmd = SETSCRIPT: Change script in given document. along with the reference as well as the server address) in cmd = SETSCRIPTSTATE: Change state of script in pendingRequests. Before sending the HTTP request, the given document. cookies stored in the browser for the domain of the request cmd = XMLHTTPREQUEST: → Initiate request are added as cookie headers to the request. Cookies with cmd = BACK or FORWARD: Navigate given window. cmd = CLOSE: Close given window. attribute secure are only added for HTTPS requests. If cmd = POSTMESSAGE: Send postMessage to specified an HTTP response arrives, the browser uses the nonce in document. this response to match it with the recorded corresponding action = 2: → Initiate request to some URL in new HTTP request (if any) and checks whether the address of window the sender is as expected. The reference recorded along with m = DNS response: send corresponding HTTP request m = HTTP(S) response: (decrypt,) find reference. the request then determines to which window/document the reference to window: create document in window response belongs. The further processing of a response is reference to document: add response body to document’s described below. script input We note that before HTTPS requests are sent out, a Figure 1. The basic structure of the web browser relation Rp with fresh symmetric key (a nonce) is generated and added to an extract of the most important processing steps, in the case that the request by the browser. The resulting message is then isCorrupted = ⊥. encrypted using the public key corresponding to the domain The Relation Rp . To define Rp , we need to specify, given in the request (according to keyMapping). The symmetric the current state of the browser and an input message m, key is recorded along with the request in pendingRequests. the new state of the browser and the set of events output by The response is, as mentioned, supposed to be encrypted the browser. Figure 1 provides an overview of the structure with this symmetric key. of the following definition of Rp . The input message m is Corruption of Browsers. We model two types of corruption expected to be FULLCORRUPT, CLOSECORRUPT, TRIGGER, a of browsers, namely full corruption and close-corruption, DNS response, or an HTTP(S) response. which are triggered by special network messages in our If isCorrupted = ⊥ (browser is corrupted), the browser, model. In the real world, an attacker can exploit buffer just like an attacker process, simply adds m to its current overflows in web browsers, compromise operating systems state, and then outputs all events it can derive from its state. (e.g., using trojan horses), and physically take control over Once corrupted, the browser stays corrupted. Otherwise, if shared terminals. isCorrupted = ⊥, on input m the browser behaves as Full corruption models an attacker that gained full control follows. over a web browser and its user. Besides modeling a compromised system, full corruption can also serve as a m = FULLCORRUPT: If the browser receives this message, vehicle for the attacker to participate in a protocol using it sets isCorrupted to FULLCORRUPT. From then on the secrets of honest browsers: In our case study (Section V), browser is corrupted as described above, with the attacker the attacker starts with no user secrets in its knowledge, but having full access to the browser’s internal state, including may fully corrupt any number of browsers, so, in particular, all secrets. he is able to impersonate browsers/users. m = CLOSECORRUPT: If the browser receives this message, Close-corruption models a browser that is taken over by it first removes the user secrets, open windows and docu- the attacker after a user finished her browsing session, i.e., ments, all session cookies, all sessionStorage data, and all after closing all windows of the browser. This form of pending requests from its current state; nonces used so far corruption is relevant in situations where one browser can be by the browser may not be used any longer. LocalStorage used by many people, e.g., in an Internet café. Information data and persistent cookies are not deleted. The browser then left in the browser state after closing the browser could be sets isCorrupted to CLOSECORRUPT (and hence, from then misused by malicious users. on is corrupted). As already mentioned, this models that the browser is closed by a user and that then the browser is used 1 As we will see later, in the case of XHRs this reference is actually by another, potentially malicious user (an attacker), such as a sequence of two elements, a document reference and a nonce that was in an Internet café. chosen by the script that issued the XHR. For now, we will refer to this sequence simply as the document reference. m = TRIGGER: Upon receipt of this message, the browser non-deterministically chooses one of two actions: (1) trigger hence, was the result of an XHR), the body of the response a script or (2) request a new document. is appended to the script input term of the document. When m = TRIGGER, action = 1: Some active window later the script of this document is activated, it can read and (possibly an iframe) is chosen non-deterministically. Then process the response. the script of the active document of that window is triggered Triggering the Script of a Document (m = TRIGGER, (see below). action = 1). First, the script of the document is called m = TRIGGER, action = 2: A new HTTP(S) GET request with the following input: (i.e., an HTTP(S) request with method GET) is created where the URL is some message derivable from the current state of - all active windows2 and their active documents (with the browser. However, nonces may not be used. This models limited information about non-same-origin documents), the user typing in a URL herself, but we do not allow her - the last state and the input history (i.e., previous inputs to type in secrets, e.g., passwords or session tokens. A new from postMessages and XHRs) of the script as recorded window is created to show the response. (HTTP requests to in the document, domains listed in sts are automatically rewritten to HTTPS - cookies (names and values only) indexed with the requests). document’s domain, except for httpOnly cookies, - localStorage data and secrets indexed with the docu- m = DNS response: DNS responses are processed as al- ment’s origin, and ready described above, resulting in sending the corresponding - sessionStorage data indexed with the document’s origin HTTP(S) request (if any). and top-level window reference. m = HTTP(S) response: The browser performs the steps In addition, the script is given an infinite set of fresh nonces (I) to (IV) in this order. from the browser’s set of (unused) nonces. (I) The browser identifies the corresponding HTTP(S) Now, given the above input, according to the definition of request (if any), say q, and the window or document from scripts (Definition 5), the script outputs a term. The browser which q originated. (In case of HTTPS, the browser also expects terms of the form decrypts m using the recorded symmetric key.) state, cookies, localStorage, sessionStorage, cmd (II) If there is a Set-Cookie header in the response, its (and otherwise ignores the output) where state is an content (name, value, and if present, the attributes httpOnly, arbitrary term describing the new state of the script, secure, session) is evaluated: The cookie’s name, value, cookies is a sequence of name/value pairs, localStorage and attributes are saved in the browser’s list of cookies. If and sessionStorage are arbitrary terms, and cmd is a term a cookie with the same name already exists, the old values which is interpreted as a command which is to be processed and attributes are overwritten, as specified in RFC6265. by the browser. The old state of the script recorded in (III) If there is a Strict-Transport-Security header in the document is replaced by the new one (state), the the response, the domain of q is added to the term sts. As local/session storage recorded in the browser for the doc- defined in RFC6797, all future requests to this domain, if ument’s origin (and top-level window reference) is replaced not already HTTPS requests, are automatically altered to use by localStorage/sessionStorage, and the old cookie store of HTTPS. the document’s origin is updated using cookies similarly to (IV) If there is a Location header (with some URL u) in the case of HTTP(S) responses with cookie headers, except the response and the HTTP status code is 303 or 307, the that now no httpOnly cookies can be set or replaced, as browser performs a redirection (unless it is a non-same-origin defined by the HTML5 standard [18] and RFC6265. redirect of an XHR) by issuing a new HTTP request to u, Subsequently, cmd (if not empty) is interpreted by the retaining the body of the original request. Rewriting POST browser, as described briefly next. We note that commands to GET requests for 303 redirects and extending the origin may contain parameters. header value are handled as defined in RFC2616 and in the W3C Cross-Origin Resource Sharing specification [12]. cmd = HREF (parameters: URL u, window reference w): Otherwise, if no redirection is requested, the browser does A new GET request to u is initiated. If w is _BLANK, the the following: If the request originated from a window, a response to the request will be shown in a new auxiliary new document is created from the response body. For this, window. Otherwise, if w is not _BLANK, the window with the response body is expected to be a term of the form reference w is navigated (upon receipt of the response and sp, stat where sp is a string such that script−1 (sp) ∈ S only if it is active) to the given URL. Navigation is subject is a script and stat is a term used as its initial state. The document is then added to the window the reference points 2 Note that we overapproximate here: In real-world browsers, only a to, it becomes the active document, and the successor of the limited set of window handles are available to a script. Our approach is motivated by the fact that in some cases windows can be navigated by currently active document. All previously existing successors names (without a handle). However, as we will see, specific restrictions for are removed. If the request originated from a document (and navigating windows and accessing/changing their data apply. to several restrictions.3 attacks. Being a Dolev-Yao-style model, our model clearly cmd = IFRAME: Similar to HREF, but opens the document in does not aim at lower-level cryptographic attacks. Also, byte- a new subwindow of the given window (when same origin). level attacks, such as buffer overflows, are out of scope. cmd = FORM: Similar to HREF, but allows for methods other than GET and request body data. For this request, an IV. T HE B ROWSER ID S YSTEM Origin header is set if the method is POST. Its value is the BrowserID [23] is a new decentralized single sign-on origin of the document. (SSO) system developed by Mozilla for user authentication cmd = SETSCRIPT, SETSCRIPTSTATE, BACK, FORWARD, on web sites. It is a complex full-fledged web application CLOSE: These commands change the browser’s state such deployed in practice, with currently ∼47k LOC (excluding that the script (state) in a document is changed or the window code for Sideshow/BigTent, see below, and some libraries). is navigated back/forward or closed (if the document is same It allows web sites to delegate user authentication to email origin or the window is navigable, respectively). providers, where users use their email addresses as identities. cmd = XMLHTTPREQUEST (parameters: URL u, method The BrowserID implementation makes use of a broad variety md , data d, nonce xhrreference): Initiate a request with of browser features, such as XHRs, postMessage, local- and method md and data d for u, if u is same origin. The sessionStorage, cookies, etc. reference (for pendingRequests) used for this request is We first, in Section IV-A, provide a high-level overview r, xhrreference, where r is the reference of the script’s of the BrowserID system. A more detailed description of the document and xhrreference is a nonce chosen by the script BrowserID implementation is then given in Sections IV-B (for later correlation). The Origin header is set as in the to IV-D. case of FORM. cmd = POSTMESSAGE (parameter: message msg, window A. Overview reference w, origin o): msg, the origin of the sending document, and a reference to its window are appended to the The BrowserID system knows three distinct parties: the input history of the active document in w if that document’s user, which wants to authenticate herself using a browser, the origin matches o or if o = ⊥. relying party (RP) to which the user wants to authenticate (log in) with one of her email addresses (say, user@eyedee. E. Web Servers me), and the identity/email address provider IdP. If the email While the modeling of DNS servers and browsers is provider (eyedee.me) supports BrowserID directly, it is called independent of specific web applications, and hence, forms a primary IdP. Otherwise, a Mozilla-provided service, a so- the core of the model of the web infrastructure, the modeling called secondary IdP, takes the role of the IdP. In what of a web server heavily depends on the specific web follows, we describe the case of a primary IdP, with more application under consideration. Conversely, the model of information on secondary IdPs given in Section IV-D. a specific web application is determined by the model of the A primary IdP provides information about its BrowserID web server. We therefore do not and cannot fix a model for setup in a so-called support document, which it provides at web servers at this point. Such a model should be provided a fixed URL derivable from the email domain, e.g., https: as part of the analysis of a specific web application, as //eyedee.me/.well-known/browserid. illustrated by our case study (see Section IV and following). A user who wants to log in at an RP with an email F. Limitations address for some IdP has to present two signed documents: A user certificate (UC) and an identity assertion (IA). The We now briefly discuss main limitations of the model. As UC contains the user’s email address and a public key. It will be illustrated by our case study, our model is formulated is signed by the IdP. The IA contains the origin of the on a level of abstraction that is suitable to capture many RP and is signed with the private key corresponding to the security relevant features of the web, and hence, a relevant user’s public key. Both documents have a limited validity class of attacks. However, as with all models, certain attacks period. A pair consisting of a UC and a matching IA is are out of the scope of our model. For example, as already called a certificate assertion pair (CAP) or a backed identity mentioned, we currently cannot reason about language details assertion. Intuitively, the UC in the CAP tells the RP that (e.g., how two JavaScripts running in the same document (the IdP certified that) the owner of the email address is (or interact). Also, we currently do not model user interface at least claimed to be) the owner of the public key. By the details, such as frames that may overlap in Clickjacking IA contained in the CAP, the RP is ensured that the owner 3 We follow the rules defined in [18]: A window A can navigate a of the given public key wants to log in. Altogether, given window B if the active documents of both are same origin, or B is an a valid CAP, RP would consider the user (with the email ancestor window of A and B is a top-level window, or if there is an address mentioned in the CAP) to be logged in. ancestor window of B whose active document has the same origin as the active document of A (including A itself). Also, A may navigate B if B The BrowserID authentication process (with a primary is an auxiliary window and A is allowed to navigate the opener of B. IdP) consists of three phases (see Figure 2 for an overview): RP Browser IdP LPO IdP RP-Doc Browser 1 open A gen. key pair LD B pkb , email 2 GET LD I C create UC 3 ready 4 request D UC 5 GET session_context i 6 email address 7 GET address_info E gen. IA II 8 GET wk F CAP 9 III 10 create G pkIdP PIF 11 GET PIF H verify CAP ii 12 PMs 13 close /PIF Figure 2. BrowserID authentication: basic overview iii 14 auth IdP I provisioning of the UC, II CAP creation, and III verification of the CAP. iv repeat i In Phase I , the (browser of the) user creates a public/pri- PIF vate key pair A . She then sends her public key as well as 15 gen. key pair the email address she wants to use to log in at some RP to 16 pkb , email IdP B . IdP now creates the UC C , which is then sent to the ii 17 pkb , email v repeat user D . The above requires the user to be logged in at IdP. 18 create UC With the user having received the UC, Phase II can start. 19 UC 20 UC The user wants to authenticate to an RP, so she creates the IA E . The UC and the IA are concatenated to a CAP, which /PIF is then sent to the RP F . 21 gen. IALPO In Phase III , the RP checks the authenticity of the CAP. vi 22 POST auth_with_assertion (CAPLPO ) For this purpose, the RP could use an external verification service provided by Mozilla or check the CAP itself as 23 GET list_emails follows: First, the RP fetches the public key of IdP G , which 24 GET address_info is contained in the support document. Afterwards, the RP 25 gen. IARP vii checks the signatures of the UC and the IA H . If this check 26 response (CAPRP ) is successful, the RP can, as mentioned before, consider the 27 close /LD user to be logged in with the given email address and send her some token (e.g., a session ID), which we refer to as an RP service token. Figure 3. BrowserID implementation overview. Black arrows (open tips) denote HTTPS messages, blue arrows (filled tips) denote XHRs (over HTTPS), red (dashed) arrows are postMessages, snake lines B. Implementation Details are commands to the browser. We now provide a more detailed description of the mainly runs under the origin of LPO.4 When the JavaScript BrowserID implementation (see also Figure 3). Since the implementation running in the browser under the origin of system is very complex, with many HTTPS requests, XHRs, LPO needs to retrieve information from the IdP (support and postMessages sent between different entities (servers document), LPO acts as a proxy to circumvent cross-origin as well as windows and iframes within the browser), we restrictions. here describe mainly the phases of the login process without Before explaining the login process, we provide a quick explaining every single message exchange done in the overview of the windows and iframes in the browser. By implementation. RP-Doc we denote the window (see Figure 3) containing In addition to the parties mentioned in the rough overview the document loaded from some RP, a web page on which in Section IV-A, the actual implementation uses another the user wants to log in with an email address of some party, login.persona.org (LPO). The role of LPO is as follows: IdP. This document typically includes JavaScript from LPO First, LPO provides the HTML and JavaScript files of 4 It is envisioned by Mozilla to integrate the part of LPO directly into the implementation. Thus, the BrowserID implementation the browser in the future. and contains a button “Login with BrowserID”. (Loading of by setting a cookie browserid_state (in Step 5 in RP-Doc from the RP and the JavaScript from LPO is not Figure 3) on the client-side. LPO considers such a session depicted in Figure 3). The LPO JavaScript running in RP- authenticated after having received a valid CAP (in Step 22 Doc opens an auxiliary window called the login dialog (LD). in Figure 3). In future runs, the user is presented a list of Its content is provided by LPO and it handles the interaction her email addresses (which is fetched from LPO) in order with the user. During the login process, a temporary invisible to choose one address. Then, she is asked if she trusts the iframe called the provisioning iframe (PIF) can be created computer she is using and is given the option to be logged in in the LD. The PIF is loaded from IdP. It is used by LD to for one month or “for this session only” (ephemeral session). communicate (cross-origin) with IdP. Temporarily, the LD In order to use any of the email addresses, the user is required may navigate itself to a web page at IdP to allow for direct to authenticate to the IdP responsible for that address to get user interaction with the IdP. an UC issued. If the localStorage (under the origin LPO) Now, in order to describe the login process, for the time already contains a valid UC, then, however, authentication being we assume that the user uses a “fresh” browser, i.e., at the IdP is not necessary. the user has not been logged in before. As mentioned, the Automatic CAP Creation. In addition to the interactive process starts by the user visiting a web site of some RP. login presented above, BrowserID also contains an automatic, After the user has clicked on the login button in RP-Doc, the non-interactive way for RPs to obtain a freshly generated LD is opened and the interactive login flow is started. We CAP: During initialization of the BrowserID code included can divide this login flow into seven phases: In Phase i , by RP-Doc, an invisible iframe called the communication the LD is initialized and the user is prompted to provide iframe (CIF) is created inside RP-Doc. The CIF’s JavaScript her email address. Then LD fetches the support document is loaded from LPO and behaves similar to LD, but without (see Section IV-A) of IdP via LPO. In Phase ii , LD creates user interaction. The CIF automatically issues a fresh CAP the PIF from the provisioning URL provided in the support and sends it to RP-Doc under specific conditions: among document. As (by our assumption) the user is not logged in others, the email address must be marked as logged in at RP yet, the PIF notifies LD that the user is not authenticated in the localStorage. If necessary, a new key pair is created to IdP yet. In Phase iii , LD navigates itself away to the and a corresponding new UC is requested at IdP. authentication URL which is also provided in the support Logout. We have to differentiate between three ways of document and links to IdP. Usually, this document will logging out: an RP logout, an LPO logout, and an IdP logout. show a login form in which the user enters her password to An RP logout is handled by the CIF after it has received authenticate to the IdP. After the user has been authenticated a logout postMessage from RP-Doc. The CIF then changes to IdP (which typically implies that IdP sets a session cookie the localStorage such that no email address is recorded to in the browser), the window is navigated to LPO again. (This be logged in at RP. is done by JavaScript loaded from LPO that the IdP document An LPO logout essentially requires to logout at the web is supposed to include.) site of LPO. The LPO logout removes all key pairs and Now, the login flow continues in Phase iv , which basically certificates from the localStorage and invalidates the session repeats Phase i . However, the user is not prompted for on the LPO server. her email address (it has previously been saved in the An IdP logout depends on the IdP implementation and localStorage under the origin of LPO along with a nonce, usually cancels the user’s session with IdP. This entails where the nonce is stored in the sessionStorage). In Phase v , that IdP will not issue new UCs for the user without re- which basically repeats Phase ii , the PIF detects that the authentication. user is now authenticated to IdP and the provisioning phase is started ( I in Figure 2): The user’s keys are created by C. Sideshow and BigTent LD and stored in the localStorage under the origin of LPO. The PIF forwards the certification request to IdP, which then Since several email providers, such as gmail.com and creates the UC and sends it back to the PIF. The PIF in turn yahoo.com, already use OpenID [24], a widely employed forwards it to the LD, which stores it in the localStorage SSO system, Mozilla implemented IdPs called Sideshow under the origin of LPO. and BigTent which use an OpenID backend for user au- In Phases vi and vii , mainly the IA is generated by LD for thentication: Sideshow/BigTent are put between BrowserID the origin of RP-Doc and sent (together with the UC) to RP- and an email provider running OpenID. That is, BrowserID Doc ( II in Figure 2). In the localStorage, LD stores that the uses Sideshow/BigTent as an IdP. Sideshow/BigTent translate user’s email is logged in at RP. Moreover, the user’s email requests from BrowserID to requests to the email provider’s is recorded at LPO (see the explanation on LPO Sessions OpenID interface. Currently, Sideshow and BigTent are used below). For this purpose, LD generates an IA for the origin to provide BrowserID support for gmail.com and yahoo.com, of LPO and sends the UC and IA to LPO. respectively. In what follows, we describe Sideshow in more LPO Session. LPO establishes a session with the browser detail; BigTent is similar. All BrowserID protocol steps that would normally be the case of BrowserID with sIdP and the fixes applied, we carried out by the IdP are now handled by Sideshow (i.e., then prove that the security properties are satisfied in our the Sideshow server). For this purpose, Sideshow serves the web model. We note that we also incorporate the automated provisioning URL (for the PIF) and the authentication URL CAP creation with the CIF in our model of BrowserID (see used in iii . It maintains a session with the user’s browser. Section IV-B). Our web model is expressive enough to also This session is considered to be authenticated if the user formally model the BrowserID system with primary IdPs has successfully authenticated to Sideshow using OpenID. (and Sideshow/BigTent) in a straightforward way. However, In this case, Sideshow’s PIF document may send public keys we leave the detailed formulation of such a model and the to Sideshow. Sideshow then creates a UC for the identity it proof of the security of the fixed system with primary IdPs believes to be logged in. If the session at Sideshow is not to future work. authenticated, the user will first be redirected to the Sideshow A. Security Properties for BrowserID authentication URL. Sideshow’s authentication document will redirect the user further to the OpenID URL at Gmail. While the documentation of BrowserID does not contain This URL contains an authentication request encoding that explicit security goals, we deduce two fundamental security Sideshow requests an OpenID assertion that contains an properties that can be informally described as follows (see email address. In general, such an assertion is a list of Section V-C for a formal description): (A) The attacker attribute name/value pairs (partially) MACed by Gmail with a should not be able to use a service of RP as an honest temporary symmetric key known only to Gmail; an additional user. In other words, the attacker should not get hold of (be attribute, openid.signed, in such an assertion encodes able to derive from his current knowledge) an RP service which attribute name/value pairs have actually been MACed token for an ID of an honest user (browser), even if the and in which order. The user now authenticates to Gmail. browser was closed and then later used by a malicious user Then, Gmail issues the requested OpenID assertion and (i.e., after a CLOSECORRUPT). (B) The attacker should not redirects the browser to Sideshow with the assertion in the be able to authenticate an honest browser to an RP with an URL parameters. Sideshow then sends the OpenID assertion ID that is not owned by the browser. to Gmail in order to check its validity. If the OpenID B. Attacks on BrowserID assertion is valid, i.e. the MAC over the attributes listed in Our analysis of BrowserID w.r.t. the above security proper- openid.signed verifies, Sideshow considers its session ties revealed several attacks (as sketched next). We confirmed with the user’s browser to be authenticated for the email the attacks on the actual implementation and also reported address contained in the OpenID assertion. them to Mozilla. The first two fixes proposed below have D. Secondary Identity Provider been adopted by Mozilla already and the others are currently under discussion at Mozilla. If an email provider (IdP) does not directly support BrowserID, LPO can be used as a so-called secondary IdP 1) Identity Forgery: There are two problems in Sideshow (sIdP), i.e., it replaces the IdP completely. For this, the user that lead to identity forgery attacks for Gmail addresses; has to register at LPO. That is, she creates an account at analogously in BigTent with Yahoo email addresses.5 LPO where she can register one or more email addresses a) It is not checked if all requested attributes in the OpenID to be used as identities. She has to prove ownership of all assertion are MACed, which allows for the following at- email addresses she registers. (LPO sends URLs to each tack: A (web) attacker may choose any Gmail address to email address, which then have to be opened by the user.) impersonate, say victim@gmail.com. He starts a BrowserID When the sIdP is used, the phases ii – vi are not needed login with this email address. When he is then redirected as now LPO replaces the IdP and the actions previously to the OpenID URL at Gmail, he removes the email at- performed by IdP and LPO are now carried out by LPO tribute from Sideshow’s authentication request. The attacker alone. The user is prompted to enter her password directly authenticates himself at Gmail with his own account (say, into LD. If the password is correct, LPO now considers the attacker@gmail.com). Upon receipt of the OpenID assertion, session with the browser to be authenticated. LPO will then he appends the email attribute with value victim@gmail.com issue UCs on behalf of the email provider. We note that, for and forwards it to Sideshow. The assertion is declared valid automatic CAP creation, the CIF (see Section IV-B) is still by Gmail since the MAC is correct (the email attribute is used. not listed in openid.signed). Since Sideshow does not require the email attribute to be in openid.signed, it V. A NALYSIS OF B ROWSER ID accepts the OpenID assertion, considers the attacker’s session In this section, we present the analysis of the BrowserID to be authenticated for victim@gmail.com, and issues UCs system. We first formulate fundamental security properties for this address to the attacker. This violates Condition (A). for the BrowserID system. We then present attacks that show 5 See https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=920030 and https:// that these properties are not satisfied and propose fixes. For bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=920301. b) Sideshow uses the first email address in the OpenID More specifically, we first model the BrowserID system assertion (based on the attribute type information), which as a web system (in the sense of Section III), then pre- is not necessarily the MACed email address. This allows cisely formalize the security properties already sketched for an attack similar to the above, except that the attacker in Section V-A in this model, and finally prove, for the does not need to change Sideshow’s authentication request BrowserID model with the fixes proposed in Section V-B but only prepends the victim’s email address to the OpenID applied (otherwise the proof would not go through), that assertion in an additional attribute. these security properties are satisfied. Proposed fix. Sideshow/BigTent must ensure to use the 1) Our BrowserID Model: We call a web system BID = correct and MACed attribute for the email address. (W , S , script, E0 ) a BrowserID web system if it is of the 2) Login Injection Attack: During the login process, form described in what follows. the origin of the response postMessage ( 26 in Figure 3), The system W = Hon ∪ Web ∪ Net consists of the which contains the CAP, is not checked. An attacker (e.g., (network) attacker process attacker, the web server for LPO, in a malicious advertisement iframe within RP-Doc), can a finite set B of web browsers, and a finite set RP of web continuously send postMessages to the RP-Doc with his servers for the relying parties, with Hon := B ∪ RP ∪ {LPO}, own CAP in order to log the user into his own account. This Web := ∅, and Net := {attacker}. DNS servers are assumed attack violates Condition (B).6 to be dishonest, and hence, are subsumed by attacker. More Proposed fix. To fix the problem, the sender’s origin of the details on the processes in W are provided below. postMessage 26 must be checked to match LPO. The set N of nonces is partitioned into three sets, an 3) Key Cleanup Failure Attack: When LD creates a key infinite set N W , an infinite set Kprivate , and a finite set pair ( 15 in Figure 3), it stores the keys in the localStorage Secrets. The set N W is further partitioned into infinite sets (even in ephemeral sessions). When a user quits a session of nonces, one set N p ⊆ N W for every p ∈ W . (e.g, by clicking on RP’s logout button and closing the brow- The set IPs contains for LPO, attacker, every relying party ser) the key pair (and the UC) remain in the localStorage, in RP, and every browser in B one address each. By addr unlike session cookies. Hence, users of shared terminals can we denote the corresponding assignment from a process to read the localStorage (in our model, a CLOSECORRUPT allows its address. The set Doms contains one domain for LPO, one an attacker to do this) and then, using the key pair and the for every relying party in RP, and a finite set of domains UC, create valid CAPs to log in at any RP under the identity for attacker. Each domain is assigned a fresh private key of the previous user, which violates Condition (A).7 (a nonce). Additionally, LPO has a fresh signing key k LPO , Proposed fix. We propose to use the localStorage for this which it uses to create UCs. data only in non-ephemeral sessions. Each browser b ∈ B owns a finite set of secrets (⊆ Secrets) for LPO and each secret is assigned a finite set of email 4) Cookie Cleanup Failure Attack (for the case of sec- addresses (IDs) of the form name, d, with name ∈ S and ondary IdP only): The LPO session cookie is not deleted d ∈ Doms, such that browsers have disjoint sets of secrets when the browser is closed, even in ephemeral sessions and and secrets have disjoint sets of IDs. An ID i is owned by even if a user logged out at RP beforehand. (In our model, a browser b if the secret associated with i belongs to b. if the attacker issues a CLOSECORRUPT, he can therefore still The set S contains four scripts, with their string repre- access the LPO session cookie.) Hence, another user of the sentations defined by script: the honest scripts running in same browser could request new UCs for any ID registered RP-Doc, CIF, and LD, respectively, and the malicious script at LPO for that user, and hence, log in at any RP under this Ratt (see below for more details). ID, which violates Condition (A).8 The set E0 contains only the trigger events specified in Proposed fix. In ephemeral sessions, LPO should limit the Definition 6. cookie lifetime to the browser session. Before we specify the processes in W , we first note that C. Analysis of BrowserID with sIdP a UC uc for a user u with email address i and public key (verification key) pub(ku ), where ku is the private key We now present our formal model and analysis of (signing key) of u, is modeled to be a message of the BrowserID with sIdP. We consider ephemeral sessions (the form uc = sig(i, pub(ku ), k LPO ), with k LPO as defined default), which are supposed to last until the browser is above. An IA ia for an origin o (e.g., example.com, S) is closed. We assume that users are already registered at LPO, a message of the form ia = sig(o, ku ). Now, a CAP is of the i.e., they have accounts at LPO with one or more email form uc, ia. Note that the time stamps are omitted both addresses registered in each account. from the UC and the IA. This models that both certificates 6 See https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=868967 are valid indefinitely. In reality, as explained in Section IV, 7 See https://github.com/mozilla/browserid/issues/3770 they are valid for a certain period of time, as indicated by the 8 See https://github.com/mozilla/browserid/issues/3769 time stamps. So our modeling is a safe overapproximation. We are now ready to define the processes in W as well Definition 7. Let BID be a BrowserID web system. We say as the scripts in S in more detail. We note that in our full that BID is secure if for every run ρ of BID , every state version [14], we provide a detailed formal specification of (Sj , Ej ) in ρ, every r ∈ RP, every RP service token of the the processes and scripts in the style of Algorithm 1. form n, i recorded in r in the state Sj (r), the following All processes in W contain in their initial states all public two conditions are satisfied: keys and the private keys of their respective domains (if any). (A) If n, i is derivable from the attackers knowledge in We define I p = {addr(p)} for all p ∈ Hon. Sj (i.e., n, i ∈ dN attacker (Sj (attacker))), then it follows that Attacker. The attacker process is a network attacker (see the browser owning i is fully corrupted in Sj , i.e., the value Section III-A), who uses all addresses for sending and of isCorrupted is FULLCORRUPT. listening. All parties use the attacker as a DNS server. (B) If the request corresponding to n, i was sent by some Browsers. Each b ∈ B is a web browser as defined in b ∈ B which is honest in Sj , then b owns i. Section III-D. The initial state contains all secrets owned by b, stored under the origin dom(LPO), S of LPO; sts is 3) Security of the Fixed System: We call a BrowserID dom(LPO). web system BID with the fixes proposed in Section V-B a fixed BrowserID web system. We now obtain the following LPO. The initial state of LPO contains its signing key theorem, which says that such a system satisfies the security k LPO , all secrets in Secrets and the corresponding IDs. The properties (A) and (B). definition of RLPO closely follows the description of LPO in Section IV-D. Sessions of LPO expire non-deterministically. Theorem 1. Let BID be a fixed BrowserID web system. UCs are signed using k LPO . Then, BID is secure. Relying Parties. A relying party r ∈ RP is a web server. The The complete proof with all details is provided in the full definition of Rr follows the description in Section IV and the version of this paper [14]. Due to space limitations, here we security considerations in [23].9 RP answers any GET request only provide a very rough sketch of how security property with the script script_RP_index (see below). When receiv- (A) is proved: We assume that (A) is not satisfied and lead ing an HTTPS POST message, RP checks (among others) if this to a contradiction. To do so, we first prove a sequence the message contains a valid CAP. If successful, RP responds of (twelve) lemmas. To provide an example, in one lemma with an RP service token for ID i of the form n, i, where we show that in every run of BID if a CAP c is created by i ∈ ID is the ID for which the CAP was issued and n is a script_LPO_ld , then the origin for which c is issued is the freshly chosen nonce. The RP r keeps a list of such tokens origin of the script that receives the postMessage containing c in its state. Intuitively, a client having such a token can use ( 26 in Figure 3). Using these lemmas, we distinguish between the service of r for ID i. two (main) cases to lead the assumption that (A) does not BrowserID Scripts. The set S consists of the follow- hold to a contradiction: the attacker, in state Sj , knows (or ing scripts: Ratt , script_RP _index , script_LPO_cif , and does not know) the key used to encrypt the service token script_LPO_ld , with their string representations being n, i recorded in and issued by r. att_script, script_RP_index, script_LPO_cif, and script_LPO_ld. The latter two scripts (issued by LPO) are VI. R ELATED W ORK defined in a straightforward way following the implemen- tation outlined in Section IV. The script script_RP _index Early work in the direction of formal web security analysis (issued by RP) also includes the script that is (in reality) includes work by Kerschbaum [21], in which a Cross-Site loaded from LPO. In particular, this script creates the CIF Request Forgery protection proposal is formally analyzed and the LD iframes/subwindows, whose contents (scripts) using a simple model expressed using Alloy, a finite-state are loaded from LPO. model checker [19]. 2) Formal Security Properties: The security properties In seminal work, Akhawe et al. [2] initiated a more general for BrowserID, informally introduced in Section V-A, are formal treatment of web security. Again the model was formally defined as follows. First note that every RP service provided in the Alloy modeling language. Inspired by this token n, i recorded in an RP was created by the RP as work, Bansal et al. [5], [6] built the WebSpi model for the result of a unique HTTPS POST request m with a valid the web infrastructure, which is encoded in the modeling CAP for ID i. We refer to m as the request corresponding language (a variant of the applied pi-calculus [1]) of ProVerif, to n, i. a specialized tool for cryptographic protocol analysis [8]. Both models have successfully been applied to find attacks in standards and web applications. 9 Mozilla recommends to (1) protect against Cross-site Request Forgery We see our work as a complement to these models: On the (Rr checks the Origin header, which is always set in our model), (2) verify CAPs on the server (rather than in the browser), (3) check if the CAP is one hand, the above models support (fully) automated analy- issued for the correct RP, and (4) verify SSL certificates. sis. On the other hand, our model is much more comprehen- sive and accurate, but not directly suitable for automation.10 basis for the analysis of a broad range of web standards and We think that, similarly to the area of cryptography, both applications. approaches, automated analysis and manual analysis, are very In our case study, we analyzed the BrowserID system, valuable. Clearly, it is highly desirable to push automated found several very critical attacks, proposed fixes, and proved analysis as much as possible, given that manual proofs are the fixed system for the case of secondary IdP case secure laborious and error-prone. Conversely, automated approaches w.r.t. the security properties we specified. The analysis of may miss important problems due to the less accurate models this system is out of the scope of other models for the web they consider. Moreover, a “service” more comprehensive infrastructure. and accurate models provide, even if they are manually As for future work, it is straightforward to incorporate driven, is that they summarize and condense relevant aspects further features, such as subdomains, cross-origin resource in the various standards and specifications for the web. As sharing, and finer-grained settings for cookie paths and such, they are an important basis for the formal foundation domains, which we have left out mainly for brevity of and discourse on web security and can serve as reference presentation for now. Our model could serve as a basis and models (for tool-supported analysis, web security researchers, a reference for automated approaches, where one could try for developers of web technologies and standards, and maybe to extend the existing automated approaches or develop new for teaching basic web security concepts). ones (e.g., based on theorem provers, where higher accuracy The BrowserID system has been analyzed before using is typically paid by more interaction). Finally, BrowserID is the AuthScan tool developed by Bai et al. [4]. Their work being used by more and more web sites and it will continue focusses on the automated extraction of a model from a to be an interesting object of study. An obvious next step is to protocol implementation. Their analysis of BrowserID is not analyze BrowserID for the case of primary IdPs. The model very detailed; only two rather trivial attacks are identified, is already expressive enough to carry out such an analysis. for example, CAPs that are sent unencrypted can be replayed We also plan to apply our model to other web applications by the attacker to an RP. There is also work on the analysis and web standards. of other web-based single sign-on systems, such as SAML- ACKNOWLEDGEMENT based single sign-on, OpenID, and OAuth (see, e.g., [3], [7], [11], [15], [17], [22], [26]–[29]). However, none of these The first author is supported by the Studienstiftung des works are based on a model of the web infrastructure. Deutschen Volkes (German National Academic Foundation). In [16], [25], [26], [29], potentially problematic usage R EFERENCES of postMessages and the OpenID interface are discussed. While very useful, these papers do not consider BrowserID or [1] M. Abadi and C. Fournet. Mobile Values, New Names, and Secure Communication. 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