Mull Connecting to *.routit.net

[n4b7l]

Why Mull connecting to *.routit.net subdomains? Seems like this domain is owned by routit.nl

[SkewedZeppelin]

Please present the evidence.

This is likely it just loading favicons for a site you bookmarked.

[n4b7l]

I have some screenshot. I don't want mull connects to random URL in the background. I use DNS adblocker so no need to fetch a blocklist

[SkewedZeppelin]

When do these requests happen?

Again they appear no where in the code or in the binary or show up in my testing.

So they are the result of something you did.

[SkewedZeppelin]

Routit appears to be used by startpage search, do you use that?

[n4b7l]

after a fresh install as soon as I open mull it tries to connect to google and wikimedia. might be a push service?

[SkewedZeppelin]

No. It is loading the favicons.

Please confirm if you were using startpage.

[n4b7l]

I think I visited startpage once. Now cleared all storage and cache and routit is no longer there.

1. Is it possible to stop loading favicons automatically unless I visit a certain website.
2. Is it possible to remove all mozilla services including sync?

[SkewedZeppelin]

1. It only loads favicons for websites you visit & bookmark.
2. Sync doesn't do anything until you set it up. Removing/blocking other Mozilla connections will result in reduced security and breakage of the browser.

[n4b7l]

Apart from sync what connections are made to mozilla? Isn't it possible to build a standalone browser without making background connections? sorry noobs question

[SkewedZeppelin]

Please read this: https://divestos.org/pages/network_connections#mull
Many databases are downloaded as noted here: https://mozilla-services.github.io/remote-settings-permissions/

• Keeps website connections secure:
  • Certificate Revocation List
  • Certificates Preload
  • OneCRL certificates revocations list
  • New source of truth for blocklists/certificates
  • Certificate transparency log metadata
• Blocks malware addons: Addons blocklist using bloomfilters (v3)
• Removes trackers from links: The list of the query parameters for the query string stripping feature.
• Prevents breakage from cookie isolation: First / Third party origin cookie control
• Enables hardware accelerated graphics when possible: Blocklist of graphical drivers (replace .xml)
• Alerts you of compromised websites: Track HIBP breaches
• Makes password save feature more reliable:
  • Rules for identifying password forms on websites
  • Password Manager Recipes

etc.

[n4b7l]

how other browsers solved this problem? for example librewolf or vanadium?

[SkewedZeppelin]

Librewolf connects to all the same Mozilla servers

Vanadium connects to the Google servers, but indirectly as it just proxies them through GrapheneOS servers