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Malicious Browser Extensions Could Use Claude Dispatch to Run Code on Users' Computers

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Malicious Browser Extensions Could Use Claude Dispatch to Run Code on Users' Computers

A browser extension that can run scripts on claude.ai could make Claude Desktop run code on a person's computer, researchers at Forever Security, an endpoint security company, showed in a test.

The attack needs Dispatch, a Claude feature that lets people send tasks from their phone to Claude Desktop. The flaw that makes this possible can still be exploited, the researchers said earlier this week.

Claude Desktop is an AI agent that can run commands on the computer where it is installed. The researchers found that Dispatch also accepted an ordinary signed-in session on claude.ai, the Claude website, even though the site showed no link to it. That let an extension running on the site send Claude Desktop instructions as if the user had sent them.

The researchers say Anthropic, the company that makes Claude, told them on October 13 that Dispatch would be retired, with the end of October as the target. The Dispatch help page, last updated late last week, does not mention a retirement.

It says Dispatch is closed to new users and that people who already use it on some Pro, Max, and Ultra plans "can keep using it for now."

The attack needs two things, according to a technical write-up by Forever Security researcher Gal Weizman: an extension that can run scripts on claude.ai, and a person signed in to both claude.ai and Claude Desktop with Dispatch turned on.

The extension could be malicious, a legitimate one that received a compromised update, or a legitimate one with a security flaw.


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