Cannot call u2f.register from another extension

[steamraven]

When calling u2f.register from another extension, the callback is never called, even with a timeout. No error, just vanishes.

To be clear, I am trying to write a new extension that uses the u2f-chrome-extension to handle talking to u2f token.

On the console for my extension, on first try, I get
Extension JS API Version: 1.1

So at least the version call back is working.

When debugging on the u2f-chrome-extension, I see the following error on the console:

webrequest.js:239 sendResponse failed: TypeError: Cannot read property 'id' of undefined
sendResponseOnce @ webrequest.js:239
sendErrorResponse @ enroller.js:28
handleU2fEnrollRequest @ enroller.js:51
handleWebPageRequest @ webrequest.js:124
messageHandler @ u2fbackground.js:165
(anonymous) @ u2fbackground.js:246
EventImpl.dispatchToListener @ extensions::event_bindings:388
publicClassPrototype.(anonymous function) @ extensions::utils:149
EventImpl.dispatch_ @ extensions::event_bindings:372
EventImpl.dispatch @ extensions::event_bindings:394
publicClassPrototype.(anonymous function) @ extensions::utils:149
dispatchOnMessage @ extensions::messaging:320

Digging further, this appears to be an error in sendResponseToActiveTabOnly @ u2fbackground.js

The function tries to determine if the tab that made the registration request is still active. To do so it accesses sender.tab.id, where sender is a MessageSender. However, I am calling from an extension, not a tab, and thus sender.tab is undefined.

This code path seems to only be for Register responses.

I don't see a good workaround for this. Unfortunately, I cannot absorb the u2f-chrome-extension into mine, because the u2f-chrome-extension requires some black magic to get permissions to the usb. I also can't seem to communicate directly with the built-in chrome from my extension.

[steamraven]

There are actually multiple issues with calling u2f-ref-code from another extension. There are a lot of assumptions throughout the code that the origin is http:// or https://, not chrome-extension://.

Enabling this will probably be a lot of work (more than I can probably do).

Some areas I already found, more probably lurking

• onConnectExternal @ u2fbackground.js
• onMessageExternal @ u2fbackground.js
• getOriginFromUrl @ webrequest.js

[tayler-king]

Has anybody found any way around this? Seems like Chrome actually blocks other extensions from accessing the U2F extension (ERR_BLOCKED_BY_CLIENT).