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arXiv · 2001.07421

Information Leaks via Safari's Intelligent Tracking Prevention

Artur Janc·Krzysztof Kotowicz·Lukas Weichselbaum·Roberto Clapis
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Abstract

Intelligent Tracking Prevention (ITP) is a privacy mechanism implemented by Apple's Safari browser, released in October 2017. ITP aims to reduce the cross-site tracking of web users by limiting the capabilities of cookies and other website data. As part of a routine security review, the Information Security Engineering team at Google has identified multiple security and privacy issues in Safari's ITP design. These issues have a number of unexpected consequences, including the disclosure of the user's web browsing habits, allowing persistent cross-site tracking, and enabling cross-site information leaks (including cross-site search). This report is a modestly expanded version of our original vulnerability submission to Apple (WebKit bug #201319), providing additional context and edited for clarity. A number of the issues discussed here have been addressed in Safari 13.0.4 and iOS 13.3, released in December 2019.

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Artur Janc, Krzysztof Kotowicz, Lukas Weichselbaum, Roberto Clapis. 2020-01-21. Information Leaks via Safari's Intelligent Tracking Prevention. https://arxiv.org/abs/2001.07421

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