Grammarly Ai Writing Assi

What This Extension Does

Grammarly: AI Writing Assistant and Grammar Checker App is a Chrome extension designed to assist users with writing, grammar, and tone. It injects content scripts into various websites to provide its services.

Permissions Explained

• scripting: Allows the extension to run JavaScript code on web pages.

- Standard for extensions that need to interact with web pages.

• sidePanel: Enables the extension to display a panel in the browser's sidebar.

- Unusual; most extensions do not require this permission.

• tabs: Grants access to information about open tabs and allows the extension to manipulate them.

- Standard for extensions that need to interact with multiple web pages.

• notifications: Allows the extension to display notifications to the user.

- Standard for many types of extensions, including those that provide services like Grammarly.

• cookies: Enables the extension to read and modify cookies on behalf of the user.

- Unusual; most extensions do not need this level of access.

• identity: Grants access to the user's identity information.

- Unusual; most extensions do not require this permission.

• storage: Allows the extension to store data locally or in the cloud.

- Standard for many types of extensions, including those that provide services like Grammarly.

• nativeMessaging: Enables the extension to communicate with native applications on the user's system.

- Unusual; most extensions do not require this permission.

• clipboardRead: Allows the extension to read data from the clipboard.

- Unusual; most extensions do not need this level of access.

• http://*/*, https://*/*: These permissions allow the extension to make HTTP requests to any website.

- Unusual for an extension that primarily provides a UI service like Grammarly.

What We Found in the Code

• innerHTML assignment — potential XSS vector: This flag is likely due to normal coding practices. Extensions often use innerHTML for rendering dynamic content, and without more context, it's hard to say if this poses a genuine risk.
• Makes HTTP requests: This is expected behavior for an extension that needs to communicate with its servers or fetch data from the web.
• Opens WebSocket connections: Similar to making HTTP requests, opening WebSockets is a common practice for real-time communication between clients and servers. It's likely used here for features like live feedback on writing.
• Listens to keyboard events: This could be for shortcuts within the extension's UI or for capturing user input in specific contexts (e.g., auto-correcting grammar). Without more context, it's hard to say if this is unusual.
• Potential data exfiltration pattern: This flag suggests that the extension might be sending data out of the browser. Given its purpose and permissions, it's likely that this is for legitimate reasons such as syncing user preferences or sending writing samples for analysis.

External Connections

The extension communicates with various domains, including:

• Grammarly's own servers (grammarly.com, auth.grammarly.com)
• Coda (coda.io), which might be related to its collaboration features
• GitHub (github.com) and other platforms it supports
• femetrics.qagr.io, which seems unrelated to the extension's primary function

Things to Consider

Given Grammarly's purpose as a writing assistant, its permissions are broad. While some permissions like scripting and storage are standard for extensions that need to interact with web pages and store data, others like nativeMessaging and clipboardRead seem unusual for an extension primarily focused on UI services.

Users should consider whether the breadth of permissions aligns with their expectations of what Grammarly does. If users are concerned about privacy or security, they might want to review the extension's code more closely or explore alternative writing assistants that offer more limited access to their data and system resources.