Service Worker Firewall for Client-Side Network Visibility
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing approaches to detecting and mitigating client-side attacks, such as those using Content Security Policy (CSP) or agent-based methods, are limited in visibility into client-side network activity and require intrusive installations, making them difficult to deploy and maintain.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a service worker firewall within web browsers that acts as a client-side network proxy, providing greater visibility and granularity in monitoring and blocking network requests, and using digital signatures to prevent tampering with rules.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If Content Security Policy (CSP) is used to detect client-side attacks, then information collection about network activity is improved, but visibility into request body and headers is lost
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a service worker as an intermediary component between the web application and the network. This service worker acts as a proxy that intercepts, inspects, and monitors all network requests and responses, providing comprehensive visibility into request bodies, headers, and other detailed information that would otherwise be inaccessible to CSP-based approaches.
2Loss of information
If agent-based approach is used to monitor client-side network activity, then visibility into network activity is improved, but deployment complexity and intrusiveness increase
Solution Approach 1:
The service worker firewall is implemented using the browser's native service worker API, which is already part of the web platform. This allows the firewall to be deployed as standard web code without requiring external agent installations, making the system self-sufficient and eliminating the need for separate deployment infrastructure.
Solution Approach 2:
The service worker serves multiple functions: it acts as a network proxy for inspection, provides caching capabilities, enables offline functionality, and implements security policies. By leveraging the multi-functional nature of service workers, the patent achieves comprehensive network monitoring without requiring specialized agent software.
3Measurement precision
If service worker firewall is implemented to monitor network requests, then visibility and monitoring granularity are improved, but risk of rule tampering increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements digital signature verification on service worker rules before they are executed. The rules are signed by the server using a private key, and the service worker verifies the signature using the corresponding public key. This preliminary authentication prevents tampering by ensuring that only authorized rules from the legitimate server can be installed and executed on the client side.
Data Source
AI summary
A method by a service worker firewall middleware component is disclosed. The method includes causing a service worker firewall associated with a web site to be installed on a web browser, obtaining one or more rules in response to receiving a request from the service worker firewall for rules to be applied by the service worker firewall, sending a response to the service worker firewall, wherein the response includes the one or more rules, a digital signature for the one or more rules, and an indication of when the digital signature expires, wherein the digital signature is generated using a private key associated with the website, and receiving a rules violation report from the service worker firewall, wherein the rules violation report was generated as a result of the service worker firewall applying the one or more rules to cross-origin requests.