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this post was submitted on 21 Jan 2024
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I just wanted to know. For example: tumbleweed comes with firefox, do people uninstall it and reinstall it in a flatpak? The question comes from curiosity.
Yes. I removed Firefox and installed the flatpak version because it's a little more secure.
EDIT: it might not actually be more secure, but it doesn't appear to be less secure based on how I read the information in the replies.
This is not true. Also this is shepherding to a false definition of security.
You should probably read the included details if you haven’t and address those points directly. I’d love to know what is wrong about the problems they have described.
Did you think I was referring to your post? Because otherwise I don't understand what you are aiming at.
How so?
Is that due to flatpak sandboxing?
Edit: it’s interesting, this repo is saying the opposite, https://github.com/trytomakeyouprivate/Recommended-Flatpak-Apps/blob/main/Apps/Browsers.md
Edit 2: since folks are asking further details are linked in the article. Keep in mind I am not personally making these claims, I am in learn mode just like a lot of other folks.
From https://seirdy.one/notes/2022/06/12/flatpak-and-web-browsers/:
I am not so sure this really establishes that Firefox in a Flatpak is less secure. From the linked bug:
It might be more accurate to say that some per process isolation features don't work because flatpak uses them to isolate Firefox from the rest of the system. This could make it easier to smuggle data between processes in Firefox. It reads like a trade off to me and the impact depends on your security model -- whether you value interprocess isolation more than isolation between the app and the system.
Either way, interesting find! I didn't know some of Firefox's sandboxing is precluded by the Flatpak sandboxing. I edited my comment to dispell the claim that it's more secure.
Yeah as they said it’s complicated, but in an unintuitive way more sandbox of apps can lead to apps being less effective at sandboxing themselves. Which, like you said, can be good bad or neutral depending on your threat model.
Personally I am leaning towards not using browser in Flatpaks since I trust the browser to sandbox itself. Not the position I started from initially where I would have assumed more sandboxing is a uniformly good thing.
Much respect for the discussion. I learned things.
Huh, that is very interesting
This resource makes a claim but presents nothing to back it up. I would like to learn more.
The details are in this link https://seirdy.one/notes/2022/06/12/flatpak-and-web-browsers/