WebAuthn getPublicKey[Algorithm]() and getAuthenticatorData()

Category: Security
Type: New or changed feature
Status: Enabled by default (Chrome 85)
Intent stage: Shipped

Summary

Adds two accessors from the Web Authentication Level 2 spec that save sites from parsing Concise Binary Object Representation (CBOR) and CBOR Object Signing and Encryption (COSE) in order to use security keys.

Motivation

CBOR and COSE are somewhat obscure at this time and there's no need for most sites to have to worry about them as the browser is capable of translating them into more standard formats.

Standards & signals

Specification: https://w3c.github.io/webauthn/#sctn-public-key-easy
Firefox: Positive — (J.C. reviewed spec PR.)
Safari: No signal
Web developers: No signals
Tracking bug: https://bugs.chromium.org/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=1083301

Docs: https://w3c.github.io/webauthn/#sctn-public-key-easy

Explainers: https://w3c.github.io/webauthn/#sctn-public-key-easy

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