Brave Software—Brave Tor mode leaked .onion DNS queries outside the Tor network
In February 2021, security researchers discovered that Brave's private browsing with Tor mode was leaking DNS queries for .onion addresses to the user's regular DNS resolver rather than routing them through Tor. This exposed users' attempts to visit hidden services to their ISP or DNS provider, undermining the core privacy guarantees of Tor browsing. Brave acknowledged the bug and issued a patch.
Scoring Impact
| Topic | Direction | Relevance | Contribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| User Privacy | -against | primary | -1.00 |
| Overall incident score = | -0.429 | ||
Score = avg(topic contributions) × significance (high ×1.5) × confidence (0.57)× agency (negligent ×0.5)
Evidence (1 signal)
Security researchers reported Brave Tor mode DNS leak to regular resolver
In February 2021, security researchers discovered that Brave's Tor mode was sending DNS queries for .onion domains to the user's normal DNS resolver instead of routing them through the Tor network. This exposed hidden service visits to ISPs. Brave acknowledged and patched the issue.