1 yr. ago • 96%

LibreWolf doesn't resist fingerprinting effectively (without Canvas Blocker extension)

Fingerprint.com allows you to test web fingerprinting. This is a more advanced method of tracking individuals throughout the web without the need of cookies.

~~Mozilla~~ The Tor Project developed a pretty effective ~~toll~~ tool against this called resistFingerprinting. It can be enabled in about:config. LibreWolf has this feature enabled by default. Sadly, it doesn't really work.

On Firefox you can visit fingerprint.com in a private window with resistFingerprinting enabled and after closing the private window and visiting fingerprint.com again, there will be a new id meaning that you have not been tracked.

~~On LibreWolf you can do the exact same thing but the same id will show up every time. Is there a way to configure LibreWolf to be more effective at resisting fingerprinting?~~

On LibreWolf you can do the exact same thing but the same id will show up everytime. To get the same functionality as Firefox you need to install the Canvas Blocker extension.

Original title of this post: LibreWolf doesn't resist fingerprinting effectively

19 comments

I'm testing in #librewolf latest release (v116.0-1) and I got different fingerprint ID when I open fringerprint.com in a private window and then I close and open it in a normal window.
Is your librewolf updated?

@illectrility @librewolf

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- My LibreWolf is updated to version 116.0-1 (64-bit) and fingerprint.com still shows the exact same ID. I even wiped the installation and clean-installed it. (Which did give me a new ID). Which OS are you running LibreWolf on? I'm on Linux
  
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  @illectrility @librewolf
  I'm on windows 11
  
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- I update it regularly but I'll check
  
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@illectrility Mullvad browser passes the test. It has "New identity" command which restarts the browser nad the ID @ fingerprint.com changes.

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- That's cool I've been looking into Mullvad and it is quite intriguing
  
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This feels like the solution is in the definition of the problem. Why not stick to Firefox?

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- LibreWolf has some nice things going for it. A lot of privacy stuff is pre-configured and it saves time that way but yeah, if stuff like this simply doesn't work I'll be going back to Firefox asap
  
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  @illectrility @Illecors Some website logins don't work e.g.duolingo
  
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What if the site was even able to fingerprint my Tor browser?

I didn't change anything in the browser settings menu. Only thing I did after loading the site for the first time was to click "block canvas fingerprinting".

I'm on Windows 11 BTW.

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- It can't track my TOR Browser when I close it, open it up again and go back to fingerprint.com
  
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  I did that, several times. I tried it natively on Tor Browser for Windows 11. I also tried it in a virtual machine on Tor browser for TailsOS.
  
  On Tails, only resetting the VM did manage to prevent fingerprint(dot)com from tracking the browser, just closing and opening the browser up did not.
  
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i tested on firefox and the id is different, my friend who is on librewolf tested it and got the same result as yours, but then he tested again with the canvas blocker extension and that seems to give different ID. can you also check with that extension on

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- Yes! It works with the extension. Still weird that it doesn't natively do it
  
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https://librewolf.net/docs/testing/ says:

These tests are not intended to be used as oracles, but rather as a way to check your setup and verify that your changes are applied. You should not read too much into the results unless you are sure you understand them, as explained in this article.

https://blog.pastly.net/posts/2019-01-19-about-to-use-tor/#testing-your-fingerprint

BTW I commented about this in the past, see https://gitlab.com/librewolf-community/browser/windows/-/issues/276#note_1137125815

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