µBlock, a lean and fast blocker

uBlock Origin 1.41.2 Released (February 10, 2022)
Download - 1.41.2 - Firefox (AMO)
Download - 1.41.2 - Chrome (Web Store)
Download - 1.41.2 - Opera (Opera Addons)
Download - 1.41.2 - Edge (Microsoft Edge Addons)
It will take some time until the new version will be available on AMO, Chrome Web Store, etc.

 

Awesome! I just found the dark mode. Is "Disable pre-fetching (to prevent any connection for blocked network requests)" in Firefox. Is that the new Network Blocker?

Very nice! @gorhill.

 

Even with this feature, especially in chrome-based browsers you need to disable "Beacon" from UBO.
Interesting that with Edge this is possible with the rule:

Code:

||*$beacon

instead in Chrome you have to insert:

Code:

||*$object

With Firefox it is possible in about:config.
It is possible to verify with a test:

https://armin.dev/apps/ping-spotter/

 

No, "Disable pre-fetching" has been a feature for a long time.

The new feature is here:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/ulvpzij30nthqat/screenshot_20220211.png

 

Sampei Nihira wrote:
... with Edge this is possible with the rule:
Code:
||*$beacon

For a long time I use in MS Edge / uBlock Origin the rule: ||*$object,ping.

 

No need to block ping with UBO in Edge.
Try to delete that part of the rule.

 

Your simple rule ||*$beacon does everything. Thanks.

 

firefox prefetch, to prefer

Code:

network.dns.disablePrefetch;true
network.dns.disablePrefetchFromHTTPS;true
network.predictor.enable-prefetch;false
network.prefetch-next;false

or by policiy

 

Already set those prefs a long time ago.

 

Thanks. Got it.

 

Just got the new dark mode in Firefox w/ version 141.2. Pretty nice. For some reason, Opera doesn't have the dark mode by default but still updated internally to 1.41.2. What do you-all think of the new dark mode? Not bad, huh?

Spoiler

Edit: OK, I see Krusty already discovered it. Yeah, it's nice.

 

I reverted back to light mode.
Not enough contrast in the Filterlists pane:

 

What does this feature do exactly, and why would you want to disable it?

 

https://github.com/uBlockOrigin/uBlock-issues/wiki/Dashboard:-Settings#disable-pre-fetching
And:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Link_prefetching

 

Thanks, but I'm a bit confused. The way I understand it, is that it's actually a good thing to disable pre-fetching, so why would you want to disable it. Are there any advantages, or am I completely misunderstanding?

 

I think you are misunderstanding.
I didn't disable "disable pre-fetching".

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/v1y0qj7703b7ne3/screenshot_20220212-2.png

Btw, "Uncloak canonical names" is not available in Chromium based browsers.

 

any current browser is able to disable prefetching in its settings, in special chromium based, not that complicated as firefox. there is no need to enable it in ublock.

as this feature came up gorhill told so. at least i set cnameuncloak=false in extended uBo settings as it makes things more complicated as needed.

its absolute not necessary to know that e.g. mozilla.com ends up in 12345678abcde.amazonaws.com and next access on 09876543fghij.amazonaws.com. it makes filtering pretty worse. cdn scoreuniverse is another example.

btw i dont like the new blue buttons, orange was more visible to do something.

 

CNAME-based tracking increasingly used to bypass browsers' anti-tracking defenses.

https://www.theregister.com/2021/02/24/dns_cname_tracking/

CNAME Cloaking, the dangerous disguise of third-party trackers

 

I tried to check if Edge can capture CNAME trackers.
But it fails.
So only Brave,if we consider chrome-based browsers, has this capability.


Is anyone able to verify if indeed Brave blocks CNAME trackers?

 

more click bait than important. you underestimate ublock.

 

How is uBO supposed to block these trackers if they are not uncloaked and are not yet present in a filterlist?
They will be seen as first party requests.

@gorhill wouldn't implement this feature if it was not necessary.

 

I don't use Brave and never will, but from:
https://brave.com/privacy-updates/6-cname-trickery/:

Code:

dig 16ao.mathon.fr

; <<>> DiG 9.16.1-Ubuntu <<>> 16ao.mathon.fr
;; global options: +cmd
;; Got answer:
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 49021
;; flags: qr rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 3, AUTHORITY: 0, ADDITIONAL: 1

;; OPT PSEUDOSECTION:
; EDNS: version: 0, flags:; udp: 65494
;; QUESTION SECTION:
;16ao.mathon.fr.            IN    A

;; ANSWER SECTION:
16ao.mathon.fr.        300    IN    CNAME    mathon.eulerian.net.
mathon.eulerian.net.    7199    IN    CNAME    et5.eulerian.net.
et5.eulerian.net.    7199    IN    A    109.232.193.177

;; Query time: 51 msec
;; SERVER: 127.0.0.53#53(127.0.0.53)
;; WHEN: zo feb 13 07:12:22 CET 2022
;; MSG SIZE  rcvd: 110

[Edit]
In this case 16ao.mathon.fr is already blocked by EasyPrivacy and AdGuard Tracking Protection.

 

Not clickbait:

Large-scale Analysis of DNS-based Tracking Evasion - arXiv (pdf)

https://arxiv.org/pdf/2102.09301

 

Firefox bug (Open)
Block trackers using CNAME Cloaking (1st-party tracker blocking)
Assignee: (no longer active) ...