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This is safe for the user, because Safari will not load an extension's JavaScript into web pages until the user specifically enables the extension in the Extensions Preferences, so the JavaScript can be inspected before it ever gets run by Safari.

1PASSWORD SAFARI EXTENSION DOWNLOAD

So there you have it, the StopTheMadness JavaScript is open source, though you have to buy the app and download it first to see the source. The extension's JavaScript is in the file script.js in the Resources folder. The extension is itself a package, so you can use 'Show Package Contents' on it too. If you use 'Show Package Contents' in Finder to show the contents of my own StopTheMadness.app, you'll find the Safari app extension StopTheMadness.appex inside the PlugIns folder.

1PASSWORD SAFARI EXTENSION CODE

(By the way, any native code in the extension is sandboxed, and the app itself is also sandboxed if it comes from the Mac App Store.) But the JavaScript that gets loaded into web pages is open source, and it's the JavaScript that has the scary permissions you see in Safari's Extension Preferences. Not entirely open source: native Mac code in the app is not necessarily open source. Is there any way for the user to know this, aside from just trusting the developer? Actually, yes there is! I'll let you in on a little secret: all Safari extensions are open source, in a sense. Legitimate, honest extension developers won't write JavaScript to steal your passwords and other sensitive information. Every Safari extension that runs JavaScript - in other words, almost every Safari extension - will have these same warnings, so what are users supposed to do with the warnings? Avoid Safari extensions entirely? Then why does Apple provide a developer API for Safari extensions, if they aren't meant to be used? Why are Safari extensions available in the Mac App Store? Why does Apple advertise that they're available in the Mac App Store? You get the feeling that different teams within Apple are not on the same page here, and they're giving unhelpful mixed messages to users.

Nonetheless, the Safari warnings are not explained in a way that most users can understand and evaluate. Enabling a malware extension would open you up to very serious problems. If an extension can load JavaScript into a web page, it could do what I just showed you.

Thus, the scary Safari Extensions Preferences warnings are technically accurate. You can use the JavaScript command to get the web page URL as well.

1PASSWORD SAFARI EXTENSION PASSWORD

This JavaScript command should display the password you entered, as shown below. Enter the following:ĭocument.getElementById('password_text_field').value At the bottom there's a console where you can enter JavaScript commands. Don't submit the form if you find that Safari is auto-submitting login forms, my extension StopTheMadness has a feature to stop that! Now open the contextual menu and select the command 'Inspect Element', which will open the Safari Web Inspector. Open the page to manage your Apple ID, and enter some dummy values for testing, not your real Apple ID. Let's see how this works with an example. Almost anything a web page can do, an extension can do too. This is because JavaScript is the same API that the web developers themselves use to build their web pages.

And JavaScript is extremely powerful, it allows access to any and every part of a web page. Loading JavaScript into web pages is how extensions work, it's the API that allows extensions to manipulate web pages. They're not an overreach, they're simply a consequence of the extension's ability to load JavaScript into web pages. However, it's important for users to understand that there's nothing special that an extension does to acquire those permissions. If we could forgo the scary permissions in Safari's Extension Preferences, we would, because we know they scare away users. Most extension developers don't want access to your passwords and other sensitive information (unless of course the extension is for a password manager intentionally designed to handle passwords). Thus, my goal in this blog post is to try to clear up some of the confusion surrounding Safari extension permissions and security. This situation is not good for anyone, either extension users or extension developers. The scary, unexplained warnings also cause App Store customers to leave negative reviews for Safari extensions, accusing the extension developers of 'overreach'.

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