Accountable Javascript Code Delivery
Ilkan Esiyok, Pascal Berrang, Katriel Cohn-Gordon, Robert Kuennemann

TL;DR
This paper introduces Accountable JS, a protocol and browser extension that enhances transparency and auditability of web application code delivery, addressing a critical gap in web security and accountability.
Contribution
It presents a novel protocol for accountable code delivery, formalizes its security properties, and evaluates its performance and compatibility through real-world case studies.
Findings
Accountable JS improves transparency in web code delivery.
The protocol is formally verified for security properties.
Performance impact on web applications is minimal.
Abstract
The internet is a major distribution platform for web applications, but there are no effective transparency and audit mechanisms in place for the web. Due to the ephemeral nature of web applications, a client visiting a website has no guarantee that the code it receives today is the same as yesterday, or the same as other visitors receive. Despite advances in web security, it is thus challenging to audit web applications before they are rendered in the browser. We propose Accountable JS, a browser extension and opt in protocol for accountable delivery of active content on a web page. We prototype our protocol, formally model its security properties with the Tamarin Prover, and evaluate its compatibility and performance impact with case studies including WhatsApp Web, AdSense and Nimiq. Accountability is beginning to be deployed at scale, with Meta's recent announcement of Code Verify…
Peer Reviews
No public reviews on file for this paper yet. If you reviewed it on a platform where reviews are public (OpenReview, ICLR, NeurIPS, ICML), you can paste yours below so the community can read it here.
Videos
No videos yet. Explain this paper in a talk, walkthrough, or lecture? Add one.
Taxonomy
TopicsWeb Application Security Vulnerabilities · Advanced Malware Detection Techniques · Internet Traffic Analysis and Secure E-voting
