Feature request: Firefox extension to open URLs in disposable or other VM

[Rudd-O]

Hi, I've longed for the chance to:

a) see a page that won't load because it's not HTTPS, and have a button in the toolbar that, when pushed, asks me which VM to load the URL into
b) right-click on an URL that I know I don't want to load on my current browser, and seeing a menu entry that, when clicked, again asks me which VM to load the URL into

This would be so nice to have as a Firefox extension. If we have Thunderbird send to VM, why not Firefox send to VM?

[esheltone]

I have wished for a similar feature for some time too. However, as spoofed requests might be issued by a compromised VM, I assume there would have to be an intermediate component, running on a third VM, that would do some kind of sanity check on the target URL, and impose limits on which VMs the URL could be opened in. It likely would even need to pop up a GUI that asks the user to confirm the action.

The question is, is all of this going to end up being an improvement over cut and paste of the URL between VMs? However, it likely is a net win.

[esheltone]

I have wished for a similar feature for some time too. However, as spoofed requests might be issued by a compromised VM, I assume there would have to be an intermediate component, running on a third VM, that would do some kind of sanity check on the target URL, and impose limits on which VMs the URL could be opened in. It likely would even need to pop up a GUI that asks the user to confirm the action.

The question is, is all of this going to end up being an improvement over cut and paste of the URL between VMs? However, it likely is a net win.

[Rudd-O]

Launch URL in another VM is much more user friendly than Start browser, Copy, Supercopy, wait for VM to come up, wait for browser to come up, Superpaste, Ctrl+L, Paste.

Of course there would need to be a component that shows the URL which is about to be executed, in addition to the "allow VM to do X RPC on VM2?". But that is still strictly more usable than the steps above.

[Rudd-O]

Launch URL in another VM is much more user friendly than Start browser, Copy, Supercopy, wait for VM to come up, wait for browser to come up, Superpaste, Ctrl+L, Paste.

Of course there would need to be a component that shows the URL which is about to be executed, in addition to the "allow VM to do X RPC on VM2?". But that is still strictly more usable than the steps above.

[ag4ve]

If this could be done securely, I would like this.

[ag4ve]

If this could be done securely, I would like this.

[jonathanKingston]

Well Firefox nightly will now support containers web extensions which would come handy in isolation within the same VM however it doesn't really help this usecase.

It appears the way the thunderbird extension works id calling a native command at certain points in the extension. Unfortunately this has all been removed with the latest extensions but it has been replaced with similar functionality: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/Add-ons/WebExtensions/API/runtime/connectNative

I'm not really sure if what the Thunderbird extension is doing is a good idea however this would replicate that functionality here.

[jonathanKingston]

Well Firefox nightly will now support containers web extensions which would come handy in isolation within the same VM however it doesn't really help this usecase.

It appears the way the thunderbird extension works id calling a native command at certain points in the extension. Unfortunately this has all been removed with the latest extensions but it has been replaced with similar functionality: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/Add-ons/WebExtensions/API/runtime/connectNative

I'm not really sure if what the Thunderbird extension is doing is a good idea however this would replicate that functionality here.