Chrome 136 fixes 20-year browser history privacy risk
Published on: 2025-04-30 06:18:28
Google is fixing a long-standing privacy issue that, for years, enabled websites to determine users' browsing history through the previously visited links.
The problem arises from allowing sites to style links as ':visited,' meaning showing them as another color instead of the default blue if a user had previously clicked on them.
The system displays this color change regardless of which site they were on when they clicked the link, allowing other sites to potentially use creative scripts that leak the user's browsing history.
Overview of the problem
Source: Google
The issue isn't just a theoretical privacy concern for users but also introduces a series of real security liabilities that enable tracking, profiling, and phishing.
Researchers demonstrated multiple classes of attacks in the past linked to this privacy gap, including timing, pixel, user interaction, and process-level attacks.
The upcoming release of Google Chrome, version number 136, will finally address the 20-year
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