Why you can't just disable JavaScript
Web Browser Security
As ugly and hard to secure as JavaScript is, it could be worse – we could be using ActiveX.
JavaScript – can't live with it, can't live without it. The modern web is amazing; I can pay my bills, buy a laptop, and order hot pizza all from my web browser. To do all these activities, I must have a web browser with JavaScript enabled. If I disable it, I can't read my email, pay my bills, buy anything, or view approximately half the websites on the planet. But if I enable JavaScript, the bad guys can:
- track who I am with tracking code, such as Google Analytics;
- exploit security vulnerabilities in Firefox (120+ and still going);
- redirect me to hostile websites; and
- hijack actions, such as keyboard and mouse clicks.
Did I just say 120+ security vulnerabilities in Firefox that are exploitable via JavaScript? Yup. And that's not counting the ones that haven't been officially categorized or fixed yet. A perfect example of one of these is CVE-2009-0253; using the onmouseover action to position a 2 by 2 pixel box over a clickable link, an attacker can redirect you to an arbitrary website [1]. Any mouse click event (i.e., clicking on what looks like a legitimate link, image, etc.) over a link results in an onmouseover event that redirects you to, well, wherever the attacker wants:
[...]
Buy this article as PDF
(incl. VAT)
Buy Linux Magazine
US / Canada
UK / Australia
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.
News
-
Red Hat Releases RHEL 10 Early
Red Hat quietly rolled out the official release of RHEL 10.0 a bit early.
-
openSUSE Joins End of 10
openSUSE has decided to not only join the End of 10 movement but it also will no longer support the Deepin Desktop Environment.
-
New Version of Flatpak Released
Flatpak 1.16.1 is now available as the latest, stable version with various improvements.
-
IBM Announces Powerhouse Linux Server
IBM has unleashed a seriously powerful Linux server with the LinuxONE Emperor 5.
-
Plasma Ends LTS Releases
The KDE Plasma development team is doing away with the LTS releases for a good reason.
-
Arch Linux Available for Windows Subsystem for Linux
If you've ever wanted to use a rolling release distribution with WSL, now's your chance.
-
System76 Releases COSMIC Alpha 7
With scores of bug fixes and a really cool workspaces feature, COSMIC is looking to soon migrate from alpha to beta.
-
OpenMandriva Lx 6.0 Available for Installation
The latest release of OpenMandriva has arrived with a new kernel, an updated Plasma desktop, and a server edition.
-
TrueNAS 25.04 Arrives with Thousands of Changes
One of the most popular Linux-based NAS solutions has rolled out the latest edition, based on Ubuntu 25.04.
-
Fedora 42 Available with Two New Spins
The latest release from the Fedora Project includes the usual updates, a new kernel, an official KDE Plasma spin, and a new System76 spin.