Unigram: Requires full access to all system resources

[lostmsu]

Just had to uninstall. Nice permission set was the only reason why I used Unigram over other clients.

[FrayxRulez]

Yeah sorry but we really love to steal your private data!

[lostmsu]

@FrayxRulez I am not alleging that you do. But as an engineer you surely respect the least privilege principle.

[FrayxRulez]

runFullTrust permission is only being used to create the icon in the system tray area, at the moment.

I believe that the name for this capability is quite erroneous, as it simply allows to use Win32 APIs, but with more restrictions than a classic desktop software when talking about security.
It doesn’t absolutely grant the app to run harmful code on your PC.

Last but not least this is a restricted capability: not everyone is allowed to public an app using it in the store, and developers must ask Microsoft to get whitelisted for this, explaining their needs. Microsoft then checks (both manually and automatically) if everything’s ok before letting any update to arrive in the store.

[FrayxRulez]

(I believe I had to sign some papers back in the days to get the permission to do this 😊)

[lostmsu]

@FrayxRulez yeah, I know how runFullTrust works, I made an app using it, and had to go through the process: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/stack-window-manager/9p4rj8rl7qgs They do not verify the code for safety or anything like that.

In fact having this privilege disables sandbox completely, and the only thing left is redirection of some folders like parts of AppData and some other stuff.

Problem is: if Unigram ends up having an RCE, without sandbox my system would be screwed.

E.g. if the choice is between the tray icon, and restricted privileges I'll vote for the later.

Side note: I am impressed how Windows Store automatically upgraded Unigram to a version with runFullTrust without asking me. That seems to be a security issue on its own.

[FrayxRulez]

Removing main features isn’t ever an option 😊

I don’t see how Unigram could screw your system, anyway.
The only part of the code to run full trust is the system tray icon, the main app is still sandboxed.

[J0s3f]

I for one love the system tray icon. This was the only reason I wasn't using unigram before (I want to be easily able to quit it).

[lostmsu]

@J0s3f what do you mean by quiting? Windows suspends UWP applications when you close all their windows. And even if you forcibly close the process, it will get push notifications (AFAIK), if Unigram uses them.

[J0s3f]

@lostmsu I don't want push notifications if I close the client.
This never was possible before. Now, if I end it using the tray menu, I don't get notifications exactly like I want.

[woutervanoorschot]

If you just disable background tasks for unigram (in settings) you also wouldn't get notifications when you close the client. This was possible since the very first version of unigram on desktop.

Why would you ever want more processes and more tray icons when the same features are already build into the os.

[MarcAnt01]

Closed since due to a Visual Studio bug atm Unigram is fully uwp

[lostmsu]

@MarcAnt01 either I am missing something, or this regressed. The app requires full trust at the moment.

[FrayxRulez]

@MarcAnt01 either I am missing something, or this regressed. The app requires full trust at the moment.

System tray is back and it requires this permission, but I’m every day more convinced that I should just remove it, it causes much more problems than the ones it solves.

[lostmsu]

@FrayxRulez good to hear! I was about to fork the project 😆

[lostmsu]

@FrayxRulez btw, while doing that I noticed IsLaunchMinimized in SettingsService incorrectly refers to "IsTrayVisible" in setter. Probably should use [CallerMemberName] instead of passing string constants.

[MarcAnt01]

@FrayxRulez if there is no way to fix always online bug I think it should be removed, it is too annoying

[FrayxRulez]

@FrayxRulez btw, while doing that I noticed IsLaunchMinimized in SettingsService incorrectly refers to "IsTrayVisible" in setter. Probably should use [CallerMemberName] instead of passing string constants.

That’s probably why it isn’t working right 😅

[MarcAnt01]

@lotsum yes, Unigram uses Desktop Bridge now, anyway you can build the project and deploy only the uwp app

[lostmsu]

Maybe this work will not be in vein (untested): https://github.com/lostmsu/Unigram/commit/4bc4146d6498e7446c5c493cdda7cbfd2e50c72a (killed tray icon and full trust permission)