Security risk for opening new tabs or windows

Background

Today eslint reports an error when I introduce eslint-plugin-react

error  Using target="_blank" without rel="noopener noreferrer" is a security risk: see https://mathiasbynens.github.io/rel-noopener  react/jsx-no-target-blank

Why

Opening a new tab/window, either by hyperlinks (i.e tag with target attribute set to _blank) or programmatically calling window.open, will grant the newly-opened tab/window access back to the originating tab/window via window.opener. Therefore, the newly opened tab/window can then change the window.opener.location to redirect to the phishing page in the background, or execute some JavaScript on the opener-page on your behalf.

How to fix

• htyperlink types

Add rel="noopenner" to outgoing links. E.g.

• Specify noopener in window features

window.open('https://abc.com', 'security', 'noopener');

• Reset opener property

Note: this technique is subject to Same Origin Policy

let nw = window.open('https://abc.com', 'security');
nw.opener = null;

Reference

• About rel=noopener
• Target="_blank" - the most underestimated vulnerability ever

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