Electron: SameSite cookie restrictions are not applied to windows opened from links

Overview

Electron is a framework for writing cross-platform desktop applications using JavaScript, HTML and CSS. Prior to versions 42.11.3, 43.7.0, 44.3.0, and 45.0.0-alpha.6, Electron treated pages opened into a new window from links as application-initiated navigations instead of preserving the page containing the link as the initiator. The resulting top-level request could be classified as same-site, causing SameSite=Strict cookies to be sent and Sec-Fetch-Site not to identify the initiating page. An application that loads untrusted content and permits it to open new windows could therefore allow that content to make a credentialed request to another site that relies on SameSite cookies for CSRF protection. This issue is fixed in versions 42.11.3, 43.7.0, 44.3.0, and 45.0.0-alpha.6.

Affected

• electron < 42.11.3
• electron >= 43.0.0-alpha.1, < 43.7.0
• electron >= 44.0.0-alpha.1, < 44.3.0
• electron >= 45.0.0-alpha.1, < 45.0.0-alpha.6

Remediation

Refer to the linked advisories for vendor-supplied fixes and affected version ranges.