Google Chrome has started blocking seven more TCP ports to improve security. Specifically, the objective is to protect the user against the NAT Slipstreaming 2.0 vulnerability. The popular browser is thus against one of the most recent problems that can compromise security and privacy when browsing the net.
Chrome blocks seven more ports
Google’s browser has proven that it takes user safety very seriously. We have seen on other occasions how they release patches and improvements to cover certain vulnerabilities that may affect. Keep in mind that it is the most used browser, so any failure can affect many users.
We recently saw a new attack called NAT Slipstreaming 2.0 . It is a new version that can compromise internal networks. It basically consists of enticing a user to visit a malicious website and thus bypassing browser-based port restrictions. This could allow an attacker to remotely access TCP / UDP services on the computer of the victim they have attacked. You can even bypass a firewall or NAT protection.
This has caused Google Chrome to get down to work to try to minimize the impact of this new vulnerability. That has caused it to block a total of seven more ports than those that were already blocked.
Now blocks access via HTTP, HTTPS, and FTP to TCP ports 69, 137, 161, 1719, 1720, 1723, and 6566. From Chrome they indicate that these ports are known to be inspected by NAT devices and can be exploited.
If a user tried to connect to a website using any of these ports, Google Chrome would display a message stating that the site cannot be accessed and displays an “ERR_UNSAFE_PORT” error.
This means that a web page that is hosted in one of those ports should be changed to a different port. In this way, problems would be avoided and users could access that site normally.
Other browsers also add mitigations
It should be noted that the case of Google Chrome is not unique. Other important browsers such as Mozilla Firefox, Edge or Safari have also included some changes to try to avoid this problem that could compromise the security of users.
In Edge’s case it could have blocked the same ports as Chrome. It is unknown which would have blocked the other two browsers. However, in all these cases they have sought to protect themselves from the NAT Slipstreaming 2.0 vulnerability.
As we always say, it is essential to have the latest versions at all times. We are not only talking about the browser, as is this case we mentioned, but also about the operating system that we are using or any other program. We need to have the patches available at all times and be protected from possible vulnerabilities that can be exploited by hackers.
We leave you an article where we talk about how to choose the most secure browser. Some aspects that we can take into account.
