F-Secure Safe Browsing extension problem

Xpress

MacOS 15.0

Safari 18.0

When I open google.com, search something, right-click and choose "open in new tab", it only opens about:blank -page and reports page as harmful on F-secure log.
However, if I left-click link, it opens ok on same tab.

Tested this on search "f-secure safe browsing blocks google to open pages" and tried to open any page that leads to f-secure community page.

Solution seems to be that one goes to safari extensions and set google.com to deny on "protected browsing". Is there any other solution?

ArthurVal

Hello, @Xpress!

Thanks for the report. Yes, we are aware of the issue. We are now pending Apple's review to release an update for our Safari extension that fixes the issue. I will let you know as soon as Apple clears it for release.

This is a change in behavior in the latest Safari 18.0 release. We have been working closely with Apple since June on issues during summer and managed to convince Apple to fix the majority of reported faults. This was one that was requiring changes on our end. We have made appropriate changes and now waiting for Apple to finish reviewing the update their end.

For the time being, the updated/fixed version of the Safari extension is available in TestFlight.

May I ask you to try installing the Safari extension by using the link below and share if the issue is fixed for you?

https://testflight.apple.com/join/CaKK6tU7

The link above should have instructions on how to install the app form TestFlight in case you don't have TestFlight installed yet. In short, you need to download the TestFlight app from App Store and click "View in TestFlight" on the page above to open the app in TestFlight.

This should be needed only temporarily until the fixed version is published to Mac App Store.

Once that is done, you can remove the version of the app from TestFlight and reinstall the App Store version. I will get back to you on that.

Xpress

Hi @ArthurVal , did the test.

Only difference is that when I changed google.com in protected browsing from deny → allow, now it doesn't show about:blank, it shows F-Secure message "Harmful page blocked". In this particular case I tried to open following:
Search "f-secure TestFlight" → first link "FS Protection Beta Program" which should lead to https://www.f-secure.com/en/fs-protection

ArthurVal

Hi, @Xpress. Thanks!

Looks like the extension version from the App Store was trying to show the same message about blocking a website but now at least it's capable of displaying it properly.

Let's get to the bottom of this message then. I'll send you a private message soon with instructions. I would like to confirm a few things which might require collecting product diagnostics. It would be better to share those in private.

ArthurVal

Hello!

An update on the latest Safari extension availability in the App Store.

We have just received a positive response from Apple about allowing us to publish version 2.0.440 of the Safari extension. This version brings a change to improve the situation where the extension was showing a blank page when it was blocking an unsafe page.

If you downloaded the extension from TestFlight, we would advise to uninstall that extension and reinstall the extension from the App Store. You can do that by either following this link in Safari App Store Safari Extension link or clicking "Install" in the product settings after removing the TestFlight version.

TestFlight version of the extension is mainly used by our beta testers. There might be rare occurrences where we publish experimental changes to test new functionality before it reaches general availability in the App Store.