[tbb-bugs] #17009 [Tor Browser]: Shift and Alt keys leak physical Keyboard layout

Tor Bug Tracker & Wiki blackhole at torproject.org
Tue Sep 8 06:33:26 UTC 2015


#17009: Shift and Alt keys leak physical Keyboard layout
-------------------------------------------------+-------------------------
 Reporter:  arthuredelstein                      |          Owner:  tbb-
     Type:  defect                               |  team
 Priority:  normal                               |         Status:  new
Component:  Tor Browser                          |      Milestone:
 Keywords:  tbb-fingerprinting,                  |        Version:
  TorBrowserTeam201509R                          |  Actual Points:
Parent ID:                                       |         Points:
-------------------------------------------------+-------------------------
 In our patch for #15646, we spoofed the KeyboardEvent.code and
 KeyboardEvent.keyCode, so that a KeyboardEvent for a given character
 always reports the same physical key regardless of the true keyboard
 layout. However, it is still possible to deduce keyboard layout by looking
 at key combinations. For example, on an
 [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AZERTY AZERTY] keyboard such as those used
 in France, the digit keys (1,2,3...0) require that the user press the
 Shift key. Even though we spoof the keyboardEvent.shiftKey flag to false
 for digit keys, it's easy to see when Shift is depressed by monitoring the
 keyup and keydown events that the Shift key generates on its own. So that
 gives a method of distinguished QWERTY and AZERTY keyboards. There are
 similar issues with Alt and Shift+Alt generating special characters.

 So I would suggest suppressing all keyup and keydown events for the Shift
 and Alt keys.

--
Ticket URL: <https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/ticket/17009>
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