Are there security implications when enabling the "privateNetworkClientServer" capability for a UWP app

Question

My understanding of the "privateNetworkClientServer" capability is to allow a UWP app to access VPN or local network.

Since the documentation around this is a bit sparse I'm also wondering if there are any other security implications that we need to take into account when enabling this capability.

Answer 1

Hello,

Welcome to Microsoft Q&A!

As the document describes, this capability provides inbound and outbound access to home and work networks through the firewall. This capability is typically used for games that communicate across the local area network (LAN), and for apps that share data across a variety of local devices. If your app specifies musicLibrary, picturesLibrary, or videosLibrary, you don't need to use this capability to access the corresponding library in a Home Group. On Windows, this capability does not provide access to the Internet.

This is a general-use capability that applies to the most common app scenarios. There should be no security implications if you use the capability normally.

Thank you.

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Answer 2

Sorry for coming back to this @Roy Li - MSFT but do you still have some extra context around the security implications of enabling this capability?

Since you mentioned

There should be no security implications if you use the capability normally.

We are a bit confused about the "normally" part and still wondering what the extra risks are for end users when we would enable this capability?

This is not yet completely clear from your answer.
Hoping you can provide some more info.

Thanks!