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WordPress blogs load (unused) Twemoji.js which uses third-party service
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Description

When browsing a blogpost on wikimediafoundation.org, the following unused script gets loaded.

// Source: wp-includes/js/twemoji.min.js
var twemoji=function(){"use strict";var f={base:"https://twemoji.maxcdn.com/v/12.1.3/",ext:".png",size:"72x72",className:"emoji",convert:{fromCodePoint:
,g=/(?:\ud83d\udc68\ud83c\udffc\u200d\ud83e\udd1d\u200d\ud83d\udc68\ud83c\udffb|\ud83d\udc68\ud83c\udffd\u200d\ud83e\udd1d\u200d\ud83d\udc68\ud83c[\udffb\udffc]|\ud83d\udc68\ud83c\udffe\u200d\ud83e\udd1d\u200d\ud83d\udc68\ud83c[\udffb-\udffd]|\ud83d\udc68\ud83c\udfff\u200d\ud83e\udd1d\u200d\ud83d\udc68\ud83c[\udffb-\udffe]|\ud83d\udc69\ud83c\udffb\u200d\ud83e\udd1d\u200d\ud83d\udc68\ud83c[\udffc-\udfff]|\ud83d\udc69\ud83c\udffc\u200d\ud83e\udd1d\u200d\ud83d\udc68\ud83c[\udffb\udffd-\udfff]|\ud83d\udc69\ud83c\udffc\u200d\ud83e\udd1d\u200d\ud83d\udc69\ud83c\udffb|\ud83d\udc69\ud83c\udffd\u200d\ud83e\udd1d\u200d\ud83d\udc68\ud83c[\udffb\udffc\udffe\udfff]|\ud83d\udc69\ud83c\udffd\u200d\ud83e\udd1d\u200d\ud83d\udc69\ud83c[\udffb\udffc]|\ud83d\udc69\ud83c\udffe\u200d\ud83e\udd1d\u200d\ud83d\udc68\ud83c[\udffb-\udffd\udfff]|\ud83d\udc69\ud83c\udffe\u200d\ud83e\udd1d\u200d\ud83d\udc69\ud83c[\udffb-\udffd]|\ud83d\udc69\ud83c\udfff\u200d\ud83e\udd1d\u200d\ud83d\udc68\ud83c[\udffb-\udffe]|\ud83d\udc69\ud83c\udfff\u200d\ud83e\udd1d\u200d\ud83d\udc69\ud83c[\udffb-\udffe]|\ud83e\uddd1\ud83c\udffb\u200d\ud83e\udd1d\u200d\ud83e\uddd1\ud83c\udffb|\ud83e\uddd1\ud83c\udffc\u200d\ud83e\udd1d\u200d\ud83e\uddd1\ud83c[\udffb\udffc]|\ud83e\uddd1\ud83c\udffd\u200d\ud83e\udd1d\u200d\ud83e\uddd1\ud83c[\udffb-\udffd]|\ud83e\uddd1\ud83c\udffe\u200d\ud83e\udd1d\u200d\ud83e\uddd1\ud83c[\udffb-\udffe]|\ud83e\uddd1\ud83c\udfff\u200d\ud83e\udd1d\u200d\ud83e\uddd1\ud83c[\udffb-\udfff]|\ud83e\uddd1\u200d\ud83e\udd1d\u200d\ud83e\uddd1|\ud83d\udc6b\ud83c[\udffb-\udfff]|\ud83d\udc6c\ud83c[\udffb-\udfff]|\ud83d\udc6d\ud83c[\udffb-\udfff]|\ud83d[\udc6b-\udc6d])|(?:\ud83d[\udc68\udc69])(?:\ud83c[\udffb-\udfff])?\u200d(?:\u2695\ufe0f|\u2696\ufe0f|\u2708\ufe0f|\ud83c[\udf3e\udf73\udf93\udfa4\udfa8\udfeb\udfed]|\ud83d[\udcbb\udcbc\udd27\udd2c\ude80\ude92]|\ud83e[\uddaf-\uddb3\uddbc\uddbd])|(?:\ud83c[\udfcb\udfcc]|\ud83d[\udd74\udd75]|\u26f9)((?:\ud83c[\udffb-\udfff]|\ufe0f)\u200d[\u2640\u2642]\ufe0f)|(?:\ud83c[\udfc3\udfc4\udfca]|\ud83d[\udc6e\udc71\udc73\udc77\udc81\udc82\udc86\udc87\ude45-\ude47\ude4b\ude4d\ude4e\udea3\udeb4-\udeb6]|\ud83e[\udd26\udd35\udd37-\udd39\udd3d\udd3e\uddb8\uddb9\uddcd-\uddcf\uddd6-\udddd])(?:\ud83c[\udffb-\udfff])?\u200d[\u2640\u2642]\ufe0f|(?:\ud83d\udc68\u200d\u2764\ufe0f\u200d\ud83d\udc8b\u200d\ud83d\udc68|\ud83d\udc68\u200d\ud83d\udc68\u200d\ud83d\udc66\u200d\ud83d\udc66|\ud83d\udc68\u200d\ud83d\udc68\u200d\ud83d\udc67\u200d\ud83d[\udc66\udc67]|\ud83d\udc68\u200d\ud83d\udc69\u200d\ud83d\udc66\u200d\ud83d\udc66|\ud83d\udc68\u200d\ud83d\udc69\u200d\ud83d\udc67\u200d\ud83d[\udc66\udc67]|\ud83d\udc69\u200d\u2764\ufe0f\u200d\ud83d\udc8b\u200d\ud83d[\udc68\udc69]|\ud83d\udc69\u200d\ud83d\udc69\u200d\ud83d\udc66\u200d\ud83d\udc66|\ud83d\udc69\u200d\ud83d\udc69\u200d\ud83d\udc67\u200d\ud83d[\udc66\udc67]|\ud83d\udc68\u200d\u2764\ufe0f\u200d\ud83d\udc68|\ud83d\udc68\u200d\ud83d\udc66\u200d\ud83d\udc66|\ud83d\udc68\u200d\ud83d\udc67\u200d\ud83d[\udc66\udc67]|\ud83d\udc68\u200d\ud83d\udc68\u200d\ud83d[\udc66\udc67]|\ud83d\udc68\u200d\ud83d\udc69\u200d\ud83d[\udc66\udc67]|\ud83d\udc69\u200d\u2764\ufe0f\u200d\ud83d[\udc68\udc69]|\ud83d\udc69\u200d\ud83d\udc66\u200d\ud83d\udc66|\ud83d\udc69\u200d\ud83d\udc67\u200d\ud83d[\udc66\udc67]|\ud83d\udc69\u200d\ud83d\udc69\u200d\ud83d[\udc66\udc67]|\ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\u26a7\ufe0f|\ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\ud83c\udf08|\ud83c\udff4\u200d\u2620\ufe0f|\ud83d\udc15\u200d\ud83e\uddba|\ud83d\udc41\u200d\ud83d\udde8|\ud83d\udc68\u200d\ud83d[\udc66\udc67]|\ud83d\udc69\u200d\ud83d[\udc66\udc67]|\ud83d\udc6f\u200d\u2640\ufe0f|\ud83d\udc6f\u200d\u2642\ufe0f|\ud83e\udd3c\u200d\u2640\ufe0f|\ud83e\udd3c\u200d\u2642\ufe0f|\ud83e\uddde\u200d\u2640\ufe0f|\ud83e\uddde\u200d\u2642\ufe0f|\ud83e\udddf\u200d\u2640\ufe0f|\ud83e\udddf\u200d\u2642\ufe0f)|[#*0-9]\ufe0f?\u20e3|(?:[\xa9\xae\u2122\u265f]\ufe0f)|(?:\ud83c[\udc04\udd70\udd71\udd7e\udd7f\ude02\ude1a\ude2f\ude37\udf21\udf24-\udf2c\udf36\udf7d\udf96\udf97\udf99-\udf9b\udf9e\udf9f\udfcd\udfce\udfd4-\udfdf\udff3\udff5\udff7]|\ud83d[\udc3f\udc41\udcfd\udd49\udd4a\udd6f\udd70\udd73\udd76-\udd79\udd87\udd8a-\udd8d\udda5\udda8\uddb1\uddb2\uddbc\uddc2-\uddc4\uddd1-\uddd3\udddc-\uddde\udde1\udde3\udde8\uddef\uddf3\uddfa\udecb\udecd-\udecf\udee0-\udee5\udee9\udef0\udef3]|[\u203c\u2049\u2139\u2194-\u2199\u21a9\u21aa\u231a\u231b\u2328\u23cf\u23ed-\u23ef\u23f1\u23f2\u23f8-\u23fa\u24c2\u25aa\u25ab\u25b6\u25c0\u25fb-\u25fe\u2600-\u2604\u260e\u2611\u2614\u2615\u2618\u2620\u2622\u2623\u2626\u262a\u262e\u262f\u2638-\u263a\u2640\u2642\u2648-\u2653\u2660\u2663\u2665\u2666\u2668\u267b\u267f\u2692-\u2697\u2699\u269b\u269c\u26a0\u26a1\u26a7\u26aa\u26ab\u26b0\u26b1\u26bd\u26be\u26c4\u26c5\u26c8\u26cf\u26d1\u26d3\u26d4\u26e9\u26ea\u26f0-\u26f5\u26f8\u26fa\u26fd\u2702\u2708\u2709\u270f\u2712\u2714\u2716\u271d\u2721\u2733\u2734\u2744\u2747\u2757\u2763\u2764\u27a1\u2934\u2935\u2b05-\u2b07\u2b1b\u2b1c\u2b50\u2b55\u3030\u303d\u3297\u3299])(?:\ufe0f|(?!\ufe0e))|(?:(?:\ud83c[\udfcb\ud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This is currently merely a performance inefficiency since (to my knowledge) our blogposts don't use the wordpress built-in emoji symbols. However if they were somehow triggered, then this script would start to unconditionally contact the https://twemoji.maxcdn.com third-party service in violation of our privacy policy.

I suggest disabling or uninstalling this plugin, and also as additional harderning measure it might make sense to add a CSP (Content-Security-Policy) rule in the theme so that even if something like this gets through at one point, that WordPress will automatically block it for us. That way we don't have to keep chasing this down :)

This currently is served on:

  • wikimediafoundation.org
  • diff.wikimedia.org
  • policy.wikimedia.org
  • wikimediaendowment.org
  • techblog.wikimedia.org (4447d8f)

Event Timeline

This is from the WordPress core, not a plugin. The output comes from print_emoji_detection_script which is defined in wp-includes/formatting.php.

I found a plugin at https://wordpress.org/plugins/disable-emojis/ (https://github.com/ryanhellyer/disable-emojis) that looks like it would rip this feature out.

bd808 renamed this task from wikimediafoundation.org blog loads (unused) Twemoji.js which uses third-party service to WordPress blogs load (unused) Twemoji.js which uses third-party service.Aug 4 2020, 11:45 PM
bd808 added a project: Diff-blog.
bd808 updated the task description. (Show Details)
bd808 moved this task from Code changes to Watching on the Technical Blog board.

Dont we have csp on these wordpress websites ? seems prudent.

JFishback_WMF moved this task from Incoming to Backlog on the Privacy Engineering board.

Dont we have csp on these wordpress websites ? seems prudent.

Not currently. We could likely add some policies that are similarly-restrictive (though not identical) to the report-only policy currently in Wikimedia production. Also important to note that CSP isn't always a foolproof measure (T238367).

Dont we have csp on these wordpress websites ? seems prudent.

Not currently. We could likely add some policies that are similarly-restrictive (though not identical) to the report-only policy currently in Wikimedia production. Also important to note that CSP isn't always a foolproof measure (T238367).

Since the WordPress blogs have none of the MW legacy, I suppose it'd make sense to set the CSP rules at the server-level for the blogs, not from within PHP. In any event, the use case of T238367 depends on being able to already write arbitrary javascript which we don't on blogs. That's quite MW specific as well. We wouldn't need to allow any inline scripts really afaik.

Since the WordPress blogs have none of the MW legacy, I suppose it'd make sense to set the CSP rules at the server-level for the blogs, not from within PHP.

I'm not sure if we have access to nginx config settings at Auttomatic, but that would be the best approach, sure. I was more implying that we could copy the current Wikimedia prod CSP as a starting point and tighten it as appropriate for the various WP sites referenced within this task.

In any event, the use case of T238367 depends on being able to already write arbitrary javascript which we don't on blogs. That's quite MW specific as well. We wouldn't need to allow any inline scripts really afaik.

Sure, this was just one example of CSP's exploitability and it not being a perfect solution.

Since the WordPress blogs have none of the MW legacy, I suppose it'd make sense to set the CSP rules at the server-level for the blogs, not from within PHP.

I'm not sure if we have access to nginx config settings at Auttomatic, but that would be the best approach, sure. I was more implying that we could copy the current Wikimedia prod CSP as a starting point and tighten it as appropriate for the various WP sites referenced within this task.

I agree that a change at the server level would be ideal. If that's not possible, then I presume we would need to resort to some tweaks at the theme-level, as proposed earlier.

Hey @Varnent, who should we ping to apply the fixes that have been suggested above?

I had the chance to sync directly with @Varnent who's in charge of those platforms, and I surfaced the solutions proposed above. So far, applying the CSP change at the Nginx server level on WordPress VIP does not seem to be an option. Instead, disabling Twemoji.js through a WordPress plugin would be the applicable solution. The Security-Team is supportive of this approach, which was suggested earlier in this thread and has already been used on the techblog (Cf: 4447d8f).

Varnent, could you please clarify when you think the plugin could be installed and activated on those websites?

In doing some cleanup on the diff-blog board I'm revisiting this task. We did this for Diff back in May. For those with access: https://github.com/wpcomvip/wikimedia-blog-wikimedia-org/pull/230