Chromium browser tries to read sensitive files: –/.ssh –/.gnupg –/.dbus /boot

Package: chromium Version: 138.0.7204.49-1~deb12u1

I am experiencing very weird and suspicious issue on debian 12.

For context, I am using grsecurity + RBAC, which gives me the possibility to see what files each program wants to access. My issue is not caused by RBAC. but RBAC brought my attention to this issue.

SO, I have upgraded chromium browser to: 138.0.7204.49

and suddenly when chromium starts, in addition to trying to access the usual files in my home, such as ~/.config/chromium or ~/.cache , it now tries to access sensitive folders on my system:

~/.ssh/ ~/.gnupg/ ~/.dbus/ /boot/

(while ~/.dbus is not as immediately alarming as the others, Chromium accessing this when it didn't before is still a change in behavior that deserves scrutiny)

this never happened before. I am sure, because the RBAC rules that I am using would have alerted me.

this is highly suspicious and potentially a serious security issue !

this issue was originally reported on chromium 138, fixed in next version, and now it's back in version 140.0.7339.80