On Thu, Apr 9, 2026 at 2:42 PM Will Bartlett <wibartle=
[email protected]> wrote:

> ZjQcmQRYFpfptBannerEnd
> > If I understand correctly, the concern here is that the RP and IDP could
> collude by using high-entropy IDP subdomains (and a wildcard DNS entry),
> effectively creating a covert channel between the RP and IDP.  Is that
> correct?
>
> Yes, that's right. It'd be trivial for an IDP login.idp.example that
> stores cookies in .login.idp.example to ask that app.example use
> https://app-example.login.idp.example/fedcm.config
> <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://app-example.login.idp.example/fedcm.config__;!!Bt8RZUm9aw!5rqaYDydXovOt3CL6litYbPnJ9AJr4sUeENnwXQQiD57bwFZa_dxX1mkW_AAzKpyE-OmpeQUL7baPSBwTlOLXjXEmv0$>
>  or
> https://login.idp.example/app.example/fedcm.config
> <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://login.idp.example/app.example/fedcm.config__;!!Bt8RZUm9aw!5rqaYDydXovOt3CL6litYbPnJ9AJr4sUeENnwXQQiD57bwFZa_dxX1mkW_AAzKpyE-OmpeQUL7baPSBwTlOLJgNaa78$>
>  as
> its config, pointing to accounts and login endpoints in the same domain
> subdomain or subpath, and thereby identify app.example before consent.
>

Thanks, that's actually very different from the attack I imagined. (I
thought we were discussing $USERINFO.login.idp.example).

I'm concerned that restricting IDPs to registrable domains may not present
a substantial countermeasure against this attack.  For ~$10/year, any
colluding RP and IDP can simply register a unique domain name to bypass
this restriction.  They would lose access to the IDP's cookies, but users
could still presumably log in using their usual username+password (etc),
allowing the histories to be joined.

My recommendation:
* Remove the registrable-domain restriction.
* Limit requests to fully origin-scoped cookies.
* Advise user agents to collect anonymized statistics on RP-IDP pairs and
place a warning label on any IDP that is confusingly named or not offered
by a wide range of RPs.

> I didn't see it mentioned explicitly in the spec.
>
> It's in 7.3.1. Manifest Fingerprinting.
> https://w3c-fedid.github.io/FedCM/#manifest-fingerprinting
> <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://w3c-fedid.github.io/FedCM/*manifest-fingerprinting__;Iw!!Bt8RZUm9aw!5rqaYDydXovOt3CL6litYbPnJ9AJr4sUeENnwXQQiD57bwFZa_dxX1mkW_AAzKpyE-OmpeQUL7baPSBwTlOLhq61jkY$>
>

AFAICT that doesn't mention subdomains.


> > If installing a redirect is operationally challenging, the indirection
> can also be encoded in the FedCM JSON response.  Surely publishing a small,
> stable JSON file is achievable even in very basic static site management
> tools.
>
> It's not operationally challenging. It's inconsistent with high
> reliability architectural principles
>

Each new DNS record type that must resolve represents a much greater
reliability impairment than a second HTTP origin.

--Ben

>
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