Side-channel attacking browsers through CSS3 features

tl;dr:
We (co-)discovered a side-channel vulnerability in browser implementations of the CSS3 feature “mix-blend-mode” which allowed to leak visual content from cross-origin iframes.
We demonstrate the impact of this vulnerability by showing how visiting a malicious site was enough to de-anonymize Facebook users. In particular, exploitation allowed to leak the profile picture, username and likes of unsuspecting visitors all while requiring no additional user interaction.
This vulnerability affected major browsers like Chrome and Firefox and was disclosed responsibly.

Side-channel attacking browsers through CSS3 features

 

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