Chrome Security Reviews

How to request Chrome Browser security reviews

All launches and major changes to Chrome undergo a security review.

This page aims to provide guidance for those seeking a review.

Am I in the right place?

Depending on the nature of your change, you might need to go through up to three(*) security review processes, run by different teams.

These reviews consider different things so don't usually overlap. But nevertheless, for maximal review speed, please cross-link the reviews so each reviewer can consult with each other (which will also ensure you get consistent and cohesive answers.)

For changes to web APIs, you'll likely want the Blink intents process (Note, as of August 2024, there are plans to better synchronize this with the Chrome Browser review in the coming months!)
For changes to Chrome application features, or any other non-trivial (Google-internal, sorry) changes to Chrome, you're in the right place! Read on for more info.
For changes to backend Google services, you'll likely want Google's internal security review process. But this process will be kicked off from the same process as above! (*)

How does the Chrome security review process work?

The whole process is detailed here: go/chrome-security-reviews-process (Google-internal, sorry).

Informal pre-review consultation (optional):

If your project is especially tricky or large, please reach out to security@chromium.org (for public stuff; preferable) or chrome-security@google.com (for Google internal stuff) well ahead of time for an early design review or feedback on your design doc.

This doesn't mean you will be assigned a reviewer/POC but reviewers will drive by with feedback. If we provide no feedback via this channel (likely by unfortunate email physics), please reach out and we will give the doc the attention it deserves!

There are plans to track this better to synchronize it with the formal launch review!

Informal PRD review (optional):

PRDs that get sent to the Chrome PRD queue will often get attention from a Chrome Security reviewer, though this is not formally tracked at the moment.

There are plans to track this better to synchronize it with the formal launch review!

Formal review:

The full story is here: go/chrome-security-review-plan (Google-internal, sorry).

TL;DR: File a launch entry with a design document in the launch entry and provide comment access. Fill out the questionnaire to request a review. A IssueTracker bug will be created for you with a security reviewer automatically assigned.

FAQ

Q: Why does Chrome do security reviews?

Great question, and thanks for asking it! Security reviews serve three main purposes:

Provides an opportunity to educate and advise on potential security issues.
Chrome is one of the hardest pieces of software in the world to secure:
millions of lines of security-critical code, rendering untrusted content
from all corners of the web, sitting on over 1 billion devices... that makes
it an attractive target for the bad guys! Everyone in Chrome is responsible
for security, and we're here to help point out and avoid security pitfalls.

It’s a second pair of (expert) eyes looking for security holes. An attacker
needs to only find one security bug in your project to exploit, while you
have the job of defending your entire codebase. Not fair, right? We want an
engineer on Chrome to look over your project with an eye on security, before
someone with different motives takes a look when the project lands.

Gives the security team an overview of what is happening in Chrome. Good
security advice is tailored to a team, but great security advice also
considers the strategic direction of the entire product area. When we can
keep tabs on developments and product trajectories across teams, it
(hopefully) allows us to provide meaningful advice and recommendations,
sometimes even before you approach us and ask for it!

Q: Is there anything Chrome security reviews are NOT?

Unfortunately, security reviews don’t mean that you can stop caring about security. Your team is still accountable and responsible for ensuring that your code is free of security bugs. Security reviews won’t catch all bugs, but they certainly do help to make sure your security practices are sound.

The Chromium Projects