Firefox and Chrome Browser Extensions that Check for Heartbleed [1]
The Heartbleed bug is a very nasty Internet problem that affects us all. Dealing with it is complex and not clear-cut at this time but one thing that many Internet users want to do is check sites to see which ones might still be subject to the bug.
A previous article [3] gave some ways to check sites but a simpler method is now available with new browser extensions for Firefox and for Chrome. How accurate these extensions are I don’t know and they have some other limitations but I still thought it worth pointing them out.
Heartbleed-Ext 3.0 for Firefox browser
This extension is available here [4]. It places a small bleeding heart icon in the browser menu bar. When you go to a website, the heart icon shows green for a site that is “safe”, red for a site still vulnerable to the bug, and yellow for possibly vulnerable. I found that it stayed white for many sites, indicating that it could not determine the status of the site.
The extension does not itself check a site but uses the web service of Filippo Valsorda [5] mentioned in our previous article. The green icon does not distinguish between sites previously vulnerable but patched and sites that never had the problem.
Added: Unless you refresh a tab, it seems that you may get a result that is left over from a previous site.
Chromebleed for Chrome browser
The extension is available here [6]. A bleeding heart icon is placed in the browser menu bar. If you go to an unpatched site, a popup warning will appear. Popups also show indicating some sites as “safe”. This extension also uses the web service of Filippo Valsorda [5]. As with the Firefox extension, a “safe” rating does not distinguish between sites previously vulnerable but patched and sites that never had the problem.
Unfortunately, instructions are lacking but I found from the reviews that you have to enable the extension setting “Allow access to file URLs” and also the extension option “Show all notifications” and restart Chrome. I found that there was sometimes a delay of 15 seconds or more after I went to a site before the popup window appeared.
A note of caution
At the time of this writing, there are questions about the effectiveness of patches for the Heartbleed bug. The recent problems reported [7] about the patches issued by Akamai means that there may be ambiguity in the rating “safe” given to some sites.There are still no easy solutions to this major security problem.
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This tips section is maintained by Vic Laurie [9]. Vic runs several websites with Windows how-to's, guides, and tutorials, including a site for learning about Windows and the Internet [10] and another with Windows 7 tips [11].
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