Hey all!

(I did post this in c/flatpak, but this community is more active. I am not sure where would be more appropriate)

Something that I have been wanting to get working is having my browser and password manager both in flatpak. I really like being sandbox and having faster updates if the distro is on the slower side perhaps.

I have a set up with Firefox as a deb and keepassxc as a flat and that works find as one would expect. I did want to install Vivaldi as a flatpak and was not able to get it to talk with keepass.

In my reading I found this: installing KeePassXC natively, which you’d actually want for security reasons.

installing KeePassXC natively, which you’d actually want for security reasons

What is mean by that line of reasoning?

  • @ozymandias117English
    10•7 months ago

    They’re saying that it only works if your browser is installed natively and your password manager is sandboxed, which is the exact opposite of what you’d want

    The browser is the vulnerable software that needs sandboxing

    Both being sandboxed would be fine, too

    • @[email protected]
      4•7 months ago

      I don’t know if this is still the case, but IIRC browsers (chrome and Firefox) have their own sandboxing which is quite effective, but their efficacy is hindered by flatpak.

        • @ozymandias117English
          3•7 months ago

          Browsers do have their own sandboxing, trying to prevent things like a JavaScript overflow on one website affecting other tabs, etc

          Flatpaks use user namespaces and run each program in their own filesystem snapshot

          Chromium in flathub has been patched to support its own sandboxing inside of the Flatpak sandbox

          Firefox only loses its user namespace, but Flatpak has already put it in its own user namespace

          The only reduction in the browsers own sandboxing is if they’re creating separate user namespaces per remote process, but in about:support, Firefox still lists itself as having the max sandbox level even in the Flatpak

          The nice thing about Flatpak is that you can restrict it even more - e.g. my browser is only allowed to touch files in ~/Downloads/firefox

          I don’t use webcams/mics through Firefox, so it also has no access to those, etc

          You can set fine grained permissions easily with a program called Flatseal to decide what your browser should be able to touch on your machine