Intent to Prototype: Unrestricted WebUSB (available only to Isolated Web Apps)
Ajay Rahatekar
Contact emails
mattre...@chromium.org, alv...@chromium.org
Specification
https://wicg.github.io/webusb/#permissions-policy
Summary
Enables trusted applications to bypass security restrictions in the WebUSB API.
The WebUSB specification defines a blocklist of vulnerable devices and a table of protected interfaces classes that are blocked from access through WebUSB. With this feature, Isolated Web Apps with permission to access the "usb-unrestricted" Permission Policy feature will be allowed to access blocklisted devices and protected interface classes.
Blink component
Search tags
TAG review
None
Risks
Interoperability and Compatibility
WebUSB is only implemented in Chromium-based browsers.
Gecko: No signal
WebKit: No signal
Web developers: No signals
Other signals:
WebView application risks
Does this intent deprecate or change behavior of existing APIs, such that it has potentially high risk for Android WebView-based applications?
None
Goals for experimentation
Allow partners to validate the feature by integrating it into their isolated web applications.
Ongoing technical constraints
None
Debuggability
None
Will this feature be supported on all six Blink platforms (Windows, Mac, Linux, ChromeOS, Android, and Android WebView)?
Unrestricted WebUSB will be supported on desktop OSes (Windows/Mac/Linux/ChromeOS).
The feature will not be available on Android since Isolated Web Apps are not supported in mobile Chrome.
Is this feature fully tested by web-platform-tests?
No, this feature cannot be tested by web platform tests because WPT does not support Isolated Web Apps and this feature is only available in IWAs. Exercising this feature requires a connected device with a protected interface class or blocklisted device IDs and there is no testing API to simulate a connected device of this type.
Flag name on chrome://flags
None
Finch feature name
UnrestrictedUsb
Requires code in //chrome?
Yes, permissions logic in //chrome/browser/usb is modified to allow Isolated Web Apps with the "usb-unrestricted" feature to request access to blocklisted devices.
Tracking bug
Launch bug
https://launch.corp.google.com/launch/4281834
Estimated milestones
Link to entry on the Chrome Platform Status
https://chromestatus.com/feature/5106506475503616
This intent message was generated by Chrome Platform Status.