Warning: Gnome file manager (Nautilus) can make remote requests when previewing files
I just found this out recently. So this isn't actually Nautilus itself but it's the file previewer (Gnome Sushi) that comes with it. If you select a file and press the spacebar, it will automatically preview the file if it supported. If the file is an audio file, it will automatically fetch album art from the web, and if the file is an HTML file, it can make third-party requests. IMHO this is a huge privacy issue. For example if you were browsing the web using Tor Browser and saved a page to view offline, and then later accidentally opened it using the file previewer, any third-party requests will leak out the clearnet.
This is an open issue and I don't expect it to be fixed anytime soon, so the easiest solution is to simply uninstall Gnome Sushi (on Fedora, it is the sushi package). On atomic distros if Gnome Sushi is installed as a flatpak you might be able to revoke internet permissions for it using Flatseal, though I have not tested this.
Edit: I'm aware that KDE also has file previewers, but I'm not sure if they have the same issue. If anybody else knows please leave a comment letting us know
26 replies
While good for privacy, this sounds like an awful UX change for the average person. Some sort of nice toggle to disable it would be good, but removing it all together would probably annoy more people than it benefits.
It could be implemented the same as most email clients do. A simple message "load external content" with an option to always load.
Woah there! This is GNOME. You don't get choices.
Maybe we will get an extension
A setting that pulls information from the clear net should be up to the user and not a default setting, IMO.
Thunar is a much better alternative, in my opinion.
Agreed. I fucking hate Nautilus - especially the way it fucking tries to filter everything instead of jumping me to where I'm typing. It makes navigation so much slower
I hate, when programs like Firefox or anything else uses something like Nautilus to pick the file.
I can't even press ctrl+L to change the URL of my filesystem where I want to be. I need a lot of clicky GUI to get to the desination...
Pcmanfm? Nemo? However, if one does not need a GUI I would suggest ranger, nnn or alike.
When in doubt, avoid anything gnome.
Well its also a simple browser so it will preview the HTML page like any other browser would. But I don't know about audio files though.
IMO a "simple browser" of this sort should display literally only the content in the HTML file itself. It shouldn't even view CSS stored in a separate local CSS file, let alone reach out to the web to download more content.
Yes but an HTML file is very different from a website. At the very least I'd like an option to disable all remote requests, or disable previews for certain file formats.
Thanks for tipping the previewer's name. Not concerned with the (valid) sec aspect personally, but I've accidentally hit space a couple of times since meta+shift+space is Sway's default for floating / tiling a window and I don't use the preview anyway. Let's uninstall.
It probably downloads remote images in PDFs too, but I don’t know that for sure.
OpenSnitch, do your thing!
I went and checked out Thunar because of this post, and regardless of the original intention, I have found a file manager I much prefer as a result. Thank you.
People say Qt sucks. But there is literally no better alternative to the KDE environment. Either Dolphin or tons of other apps just have more features and settings compared to GTK ones.
Unsure if they have the same issue
Use the image viewer used by TAILS
Good to know, even though I'm not a Gnome user. I wonder if it will work with torsocks.
Does KDE's Dolphin suffer from this, too?
They know what's good for the user, be greatful.
I have the sneaking suspicion this was supposed to be sarcastic, but the Internet doesn't carry "tone"... Am I correct? 😂
Yep
As much as people whine about it as a trend, "/s" goes a long way. 😂
There's no winning... I get you, though. And you're right, they do think they know best... Which is why I won't use GNOME. I left Windows for the same reason. And I'll catch a lot of hate for it, but IMO GNOME is far too opinionated about how the end-user "should" interact with their PC for my tastes.
What's good to the user is what the user wants its device to do. Simple as.