“This week at the Black Hat Security Conference two security researchers will discuss their findings which could completely bring Windows Vista to its knees,” Jason Kelley reports for Newwin.net.
“Mark Dowd of IBM Internet Security Systems (ISS) and Alexander Sotirov, of VMware Inc. have discovered a technique that can be used to bypass all memory protection safeguards that Microsoft built into Windows Vista. These new methods have been used to get around Vista’s Address Space Layout Randomization (ASLR), Data Execution Prevention (DEP) and other protections by loading malicious content through an active web browser. The researchers were able to load whatever content they wanted into any location they wished on a user’s machine using a variety of scripting languages, such as Java, ActiveX and even .NET objects. This feat was achieved by taking advantage of the way that Internet Explorer (and other browsers) handle active scripting in the Operating System,” Kelley reports.
MacDailyNews Take: Microsoft Windows is insecure? Who would’ve guessed?
Kelley continues, “While this may seem like any standard security hole, other researchers say that the work is a major breakthrough and there is very little that Microsoft can do to fix the problems. These attacks work differently than other security exploits, as they aren’t based on any new Windows vulnerabilities, but instead take advantage of the way Microsoft chose to guard Vista’s fundamental architecture. According to Dino Dai Zovi, a popular security researcher, ‘the genius of this is that it’s completely reusable. They have attacks that let them load chosen content to a chosen location with chosen permissions. That’s completely game over.'”
Kelly reports, “‘This stuff just takes a knife to a large part of the security mesh Microsoft built into Vista,’ said Dai Zovi to SearchSecurity.com. ‘If you think about the fact that .NET loads DLLs into the browser itself and then Microsoft assumes they’re safe because they’re .NET objects, you see that Microsoft didn’t think about the idea that these could be used as stepping stones for other attacks. This is a real tour de force.'”
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Wingsy” for the heads up.]
Boom! Yet another reason, as if you needed one, to Get a Mac.
Sounds heavy doc….
Well, given the difference in OS architectures, say, between Windows and OS X, I highly doubt something that brings down Vista will have the same effect on a Mac.
At best, exploits on the Mac are very localized (affecting only Safari/QuickTime etc), since accessing the root is essentially not an option, and the fact that registry modifications need user input beforehand.
The Mac can only be fubared by the user themselves, at the end of the day.
I was concerned about the statement at the end of the article…
“These techniques are being seen as an advance that many in the security community say will have far-reaching implications not only for Microsoft, but also on how the entire technology industry thinks about attacks. Expect to be hearing more about this in the near future and possibly being faced with the prospect of your “secure” server being stripped completely naked of all its protection.”
Are we sure we are immune from this?
Thanks Andy, It’s like you read my post before I posted it!
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pc people call us fanboys.
just watch as they circle the wagons and say this is no big deal.
if any one lives is a reality distortion field, its pc defenders.
Oh, but I did hear that Mojave fixes this vulnerability!
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LOL. I just sent this article to MDN a few minutes ago.
What’s troubling is that it can bypass DEP, which any Intel-based system uses, therefore any platform could potentially be at risk.
Then again, there’s not much detail on what was required to make the exploit happen.
If they knew in the early 1990s what we know now about what Windows has become, would business still have chosen Windows?
Some companies don’t allow iPods, memory sticks, floppy drives; they lock the airwaves with encrypted wireless, restrict access through VPN, change passwords monthly, run 5 apps for virus, firewall, spam filtering, anti-phishing, etc yet still allow Windows. I just don’t get it…
@Wings2sky
I’m sure Apple are more than aware of any threats as you mention. However, the most important word in the article piece you highlighted is ‘possibly’.
Fear is a very powerful tool.
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And remember, UNIX has a much better security advantage over Windows ever will.
I think the key phrase is that Microsoft trusts the download cause it is from .net.
“‘If you think about the fact that .NET loads DLLs into the browser itself and then Microsoft assumes they’re safe because they’re .NET objects, you see that Microsoft didn’t think about the idea that these could be used as stepping stones for other attacks.”
Another rush effort by Microsoft that always assumes that Microsoft will never error so they can trust themselves.
Just a thought.
en
This will be a non issue. Hackers, Virus writers and Botnet attackers aren’t looking for a total end-around to exploit. Oh sure that might have been fine in the 90s but this era is different.
These days malware writers are looking for more subtle and refined exploits. They want something that offers a delicate balance of subtlety and intrigue. So while this exploit could “theoretically” earn hackers millions of dollars in credit card numbers, email spam lists, and identity theft I am confident they will ignore this for a more cerebral exploit that is worth their while.
Disruption of services will definitely impact even the most casual of observers but imagine for a minute if the corporate world had embraced Vista with the same zealousness with which Ballmer has been extolling its virtues and we have a melt down of the economy by several orders of magnitude.
Felonious Bill made a quick and timely exit.
“therefore any platform could potentially be at risk”
In other news, anyone can say anything without proof, examples or any detail whatsoever to sound important.
@HMCIV
I figure that bringing an entire system down would make a hacker’s life much more difficult, since it’s a surefire way to piss people off (and get the gov after you, if you attack federal servers).
As you say, it’s more likely hackers will be more subtle (and much more malicious) by extracting info from a comp piecemeal, being hidden in network traffic and all that.
And thankfully, Apple have already thought of that.
Oh SNAP.
Eh, I hate to break this to everyone, UNIX is the most open faced OS ever, its also been around for ever, so its both a blessing and a curse.
Everybody knows the vulnerabilities, and possible fixes, everybody.
Super-scary article completely devoid of hard facts and evidence. Nothing to see here at least until the sky starts falling.
Oh and Kudos to the French Reporters who thought it would be a good idea to hack the Network at the Black Hat Awards.
<a href=”http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5i_kwz9PQAu5EHgJfbaCx-a5i6jmgD92E4IMGA”>
I’ll do a Google search for your names and passport numbers in a couple days to see how many hits we get.
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“If they knew in the early 1990s what we know now about what Windows has become, would business still have chosen Windows?”
This is a phrase similar to what we hear these days about WMD in Iraq (If they new they were lied to, would they have voted for the war?). And the answer is probably just as clear and unambiguous…
be interesting to see how this shakes out…..
i won’t be shocked if it turns out vista in beyond repair, but i won’t be shocked to find out this is just grand standing by the researchers either.
“may you live in interesting times.”
@Joe
And that’s why Apple took the bsd linux derivative Darwin. Apple applied its own stamp to this form of UNIX and made it as secure and rock solid as they could.
OS X isn’t exactly open-source, and hasn’t been for a while now.
“If they new they were lied to, would they have voted for the war?”
A retarded, coke head good ol’ boy with the lowest approval rating in U.S. history who gets his instructions from God would never lie.
“I’m honored to shake the hand of a brave Iraqi citizen who had his hand cut off by Saddam Hussein.”
– Dumbya
Well, now. IBM Internet Security Systems and VMware found this little problem in Vista — that’s right, the OS where MS chose to annoy users with security dialogs because it was the users’ behaviour that needed changing. Uh huh. Those darn users just need to stay out of the internet’s tubes…
Hasta la vista, Vista!
A retarded, coke head good ol’ boy with the lowest approval rating in U.S. history who gets his instructions from God would never lie.
lowest approval ratings? You mean congress? They are in single digits.
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Time to stop the presses and time wasted on the M$ FUD campaign that Vista is awesome and ignore OS X, ramp up Windows 7! Oh wait W7 is based on Vista! WFT?!
@Andy: Registry modifications need user input?
Since when did OS X get a registry?
Hard to modify something when it does not exist.
M$ is doomed… it REALLy is! Common, Balmer: stop everything and give back the monney to the shareholders! And don’0t go believing that this sentence will bring you any good luck… it won’t! This is not a question of luck: Apple has never sold bul..t. This makes all the difference!
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“… According to Dino Dai Zovi, a popular security researcher, ‘the genius of this is that it’s completely reusable. …”
Good thing Dino is popular, otherwise he probably never would have been quoted, except by other members of the chess club.
@ HMCIV,
Was laughing my @$$ off at your first post above!
Thanks for the Friday humor.
Despite the fact that this *alleged* threat is currently only directly associated with Vista, no one should take any satisfaction in Microsoft’s situation. From a purely selfish standpoint, consider the potential disruption to your life if this threat materializes and is exploited. It won’t matter that you might use a Mac at home and at work. Your personal and financial life is distributed across Windows-based computers all over the place. This is not a good thing, even if it boosts Apple and hurts M$.
The gift, i.e. turd that just keeps on giving!
Release Mojave now! That will fix the problem!
Apple already has their iPhone production ramped up to capacity at 800,000 units a week. I think they need to ramp up Mac production, too. There’s a surge a’comin’!
Peace.
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Olmecmystic
Now we just need major news outlets to get ahold of this story.
This problem is easily fixable. The solution is to keep all computers running Windows off the internet. Problem solved.
Dino Dai Zovi, a popular security researcher
Does he have trading cards out?
“lowest approval ratings? You mean congress? They are in single digits.”
Good point. It’s comforting to know they are on vacation and W. is at the Olympics. It’s not like the U.S. needs leadership. Maybe W. can throw up on them like his dad did to the Japanese Prime Minister.
Ah yes, a Congress with Nancy Pelosi who apparently is so intent on saving the world that even if gas reached $10 a gallon, they would not lift the oil drilling moratorium, because what’s the point of being at the top of the food chain if we’re going to actually use our position at the time to help ourselves a bit. Nope, all animals and plants and their needs are ipso facto more important than ours. Look, I don’t mind recycling and green energy if possible, but until that stuff appears, we have to use what we’ve got developed and at the moment that happens to be internal combustion engines. Do I wish that oil companies hadn’t squashed attempts to make cars more efficient? Definitely. Do I enjoy the fact that they’re making record profits while ordinary Americans are bent over their cars and wallet-raped with a fuel nozzle every time they fill up? Certainly not. I don’t believe in change for change’s sake, nor do I believe in obstructing change because one has the power to do so. I say this both for politics and because Microsoft has also done so in both the past and the present.
Am an independent with Republican leanings but did not vote for Bush in 2004 (was the first year I was eligible to vote).
On topic, it will be interesting to see how this vulnerability plays out. But I reckon those who swear by Microsoft and its products, as compared to those of us who swear at them, probably have their heads so far up Ballmer’s ass that they can examine the contents of his stomach will have their opinions left unaffected by this new mess.
All I can say is…. HOLY SHIT! If this truly is as unfixable as they say, then Microsoft needs to recall that OS and issue a refund to each and every customer who bought it. Of course, they won’t. I see a class action lawsuit brewing BIG TIME!
To the best of my knowledge, OS X 10.5 does not implement DEC or ASLR.
This should not be an issue for Mac users except via having their information compromised by Windows-based systems.
“A retarded, coke head good ol’ boy with the lowest approval rating in U.S. history who gets his instructions from God would never lie. “
that is an incredible post.
in one line you insulted retards, coke heads, good ol’ boys, every president to have an approval rating, and god.
please don’t compare bush to people that are above him. not ever again.
“Do I enjoy the fact that they’re making record profits while ordinary Americans are bent over their cars and wallet-raped with a fuel nozzle every time they fill up?”
Be careful what you wish for:
Throughout the oil and natural gas industries only about 1.5% of the stock is owned by company executives.
The data show that ownership of industry shares is broadly middle class, with the majority of industry shares held by institutional investors, often on behalf of millions of Americans through mutual funds, pension funds and individual retirement accounts.
Almost 43 percent of oil and natural gas company shares are owned by mutual funds and asset management companies that have mutual funds. Mutual funds manage accounts for 55 million U.S. households with a median income of $68,700.
Twenty seven percent of shares are owned by other institutional investors like pension funds. In 2004, more than 2,600 pension funds run by federal, state and local governments held almost $64 billion in shares of U.S. oil and natural gas companies. These funds represent the major retirement security for the nation’s current and retired soldiers, teachers, and police and fire personnel at every level of government.
Fourteen percent of shares are held in IRA and other personal retirement accounts. Forty five million U.S. households have IRA and other personal retirement accounts, with an average account value of just over $22,000.
“Ah yes, a Congress with Nancy Pelosi who apparently is so intent on saving the world that even if gas reached $10 a gallon, they would not lift the oil drilling moratorium…..”
blah blah blah snipped.
7 different bills were submitted to congress which all would have made more difference to the gas price, and all in less than a year rather than 20 years like drilling.
including:
tapping the reserves, rules against price gouging, cracking down on speculators (most economists see them as the primary cause of current prices) stopping tax breaks for oil companies (cause yes, the repubs give tax breaks to companies that have record profits) and a tax break for people paid for by the oil companies tax break being removed.
all of them were blocked by republicans.
all of them. republicans.
so how does the republican BS stack up to reality?
so ’04 was your first chance to vote? do us all a favor and better educate yourself before this vote, huh? kthxbai!
“please don’t compare bush to people that are above him. not ever again.”
“The economy is growing, productivity is high, trade is up, people are working. It’s not as good as we’d like, but — and to the extent that we find weakness, we’ll move.” –George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., July 15, 2008
shen,
“in one line you insulted retards, coke heads, good ol’ boys, every president to have an approval rating, and god.”
Good one.
Oh, and I get a kick out of the Republicans staging that little protest over Pelosi’s move. Even if this off shore drilling is approved, it will be years before any effects are realized, if at all. But I’m sure McCain enjoyed it.
I must admit though, I think Nancy Pelosi is one of the most incompetent dimwits in Congress. That fool wouldn’t know reality if it bit her in the ass. She gives liberals a bad name.
Hey, not to worry. Windows 7, Midori, and Monkey Boy doing a fast Tap Dance is coming soon and will take care of everything.
In the meantime, let’s just hold off on any purchases of VISTA (as if, that was on your To Do List).
It’s comforting to know they are on vacation and W. is at the Olympics. It’s not like the U.S. needs leadership.
Don’t worry, Cheney’s in charge now….!
Is that you writing all the diatribes, Big Al? I mighta figured you’d be lurking in the Apple blog sites…
“I must admit though, I think Nancy Pelosi is one of the most incompetent dimwits in Congress. That fool wouldn’t know reality if it bit her in the ass. She gives liberals a bad name.”
and yet, she is better than 90% of the repubs you can name. sad, isn’t it?
Its not hard to control a computer that runs vista.
Have you ever put a dvd with a broken toc into a vista machine and try to open it. The entire system becomes unresponsive (even the power button) the cpu goes to a 100% usage, (depending on the motherboard the fans might not speed up causing alot of issues). Then if you unplug the computer and replug it in it will not boot and in effect you either get a b0ot error or the black screen of death. The system only comes back alive when the cd is removed manually (You take the faceplate off the optical drive and with a paperclip you trigor the emergency open).
“tapping the reserves, rules against price gouging, cracking down on speculators (most economists see them as the primary cause of current prices) stopping tax breaks for oil companies (cause yes, the repubs give tax breaks to companies that have record profits) and a tax break for people paid for by the oil companies tax break being removed.”
None of these bills would have lowered gas prices.
Tapping the reserves would probably be a good option, but it would not have a significant impact on gas prices since it’s not a long term solution.
There are already laws against price gouging. To convict for price gouging you have to *prove* collusion to artificially keep prices high. Don’t think that will happen because there isn’t any evidence of this happening.
“Cracking down” on speculators (whatever that means) would be extremely detrimental since speculators are an integral part of the commodities market. The speculation of high prices right now comes from the inevitable war with Iran. Go research the commodities market and the importance of speculators and get back to me.
Lastly, if you think making oil companies pay more taxes will solve the problem, you’re again very wrong. The tax increases *will* trickle down to the consumer and in the end it will have no effect. These companies have armies of accountants that can make the numbers work any way they want to. Good luck with this one.
I’m not a republican or a NeoCon, but these ideas are not going to work, and they just make the problem worse. Drilling will not solve it either as we won’t see the new oil in the market place for years. The only thing we can do right now is conserve. Use less gas. That’s it. The newer technologies will take time to come to market, but this is a rough ride we are going to have to endure for quite a while. There are no quick fixes and to think so is foolish.
Where is that guy that stated just yesterday that his Windows Vista box is purring like a Porsche? More like a 1982 Chevette.
This is a great marketing plug for Microsoft to move Vista users to to Windows 7 if it ever ships.
This is funny!!!! 😀
“The entire system becomes unresponsive (even the power button) the cpu goes to a 100% usage . . .”
It’s not a bug. It’s a feature.
“At the Wall Street Journal’s All Things Digital Conference, Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer said that Vista is not a failure and not a mistake, then provided a tantalizing demo of the new features in Windows 7.” (macobserver.com – May 28th, 2008)
“There are no quick fixes and to think so is foolish.”
Perhaps W. can convince Congress that the U.S. needs to approve a preemptive strike on all OPEC member nations. Don’t laugh. He’s just stupid enough to do it. You won’t see him talk when Cheney is drinking a glass of water.
Thanks Cubert! I’m glad my sarcasm was appreciated.
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We seem to have a number of posters who think this is a political forum. Can we take the off-topic posts elsewhere, please? Thanks.
Back on topic, this does indeed sound like yet another black eye for Vista – possibly its biggest one yet, coming as it does after Microsoft spent tons of money trying to (rather condescendingly) convince people that Vista isn’t as bad as it really is.
“These attacks work differently than other security exploits, as they aren’t based on any new Windows vulnerabilities, but instead take advantage of the way Microsoft chose to guard Vista’s fundamental architecture.”
If this is indeed true, it sounds like this is a problem unique to Vista, embedded in the fundamental way MS tried to secure the system’s underpinnings.
That means no easy fixes – possibly even fixes which are not backwards-compatible. And they’re still planning to base Windows 7 on this mess? How long of a delay do you think this will cause in the Windows 7 release timeline? (Assuming they ever *do* ship Windows 7, of course.)
My sense is that MS are putting their weight and efforts behind maintaining their MS Office near-monopoly (witness the recent ISO vote rigging for MSOOXML), whereas forward progress with Windows seems to be less of a priority for them.
Maybe their backup plan is to roll back to the XP codebase, and just sell and maintain XP indefinitely? Sure seems like that’d be far less trouble than the mess they’ve created for themselves with Vista.
If the Republicans are the Empire, Pelosi and the Democrats are the Jawas of the political universe.
– from an adult hoping that he might see enlightened leadership in America before he dies.
As for the topic of the thread, this news can hardly be a surprise.
I just looked up exxon’s filings for the first half. They made 22 billion dollars. BILLION holy crap, and they only paid …. 62 billion in taxes. Freaking rich corporations!! The government should take them over!
Ralph M,
“- from an adult hoping that he might see enlightened leadership in America before he dies.”
Well Ralph, unless that ‘M’ stands for Methuselah, you may as well kiss your ass goodbye right now. It ain’t gonna happen. Sorry.
Perhaps the opposite of progress is not Congress but Microsoft. How many good ideas and how much forward momentum has been quashed by Microsoft’s underhanded means of lining their own pockets? Granted they have to deal with thousands of configurations of low-grade computer components made by almost every Tom, Dick and Sally but they cannot blame all of Vista’s or XP’s or any other Windows system’s problems on configurations alone. They have to take a look in the mirror, look and their codebase and actually trim out all the shit, patch the holes and make it work. Of course that’s about as likely as me winning the lottery. (Note to Billy and Stevie: if I do win the lottery, without buying a ticket, you guys better have also just done the aforementioned impossible task with your OS.)
What i would enjoy seeing is if Apple did get OS X running on generic PC software (not to sell it) just to show up Microsoft. Do I think they will? Probably not because it could be very difficult to optimize for all the possible configurations but if anyone could do it, I believe it would be Apple. Microsoft’s promises are getting to be about as worn out as Pamela Anderson’s pussy and as believable as Snoop Dogg permanently quitting weed. So are their excuses.
frank,
Whatchutalkinabout?
amyhre,
Pamela Anderson’s pussy will never wear out. She had it surgically covered with Teflon coated Kevlar during her last boob job. American technology at its’ finest. Hoorah!
“Microsoft’s promises are getting to be about as worn out as Pamela Anderson’s pussy and as believable as Snoop Dogg permanently quitting weed.”
Poetry!
And all three have been damaged by thousands of viruses.
Nick Fury,
Holy crap! She has THREE of them! What a freakin’ mutant.
Essentially this is a very big nail in the coffin of the dream that the Internet would be a safe place to play.
– Remember when Java was ‘safe’ and could not do anything bad to your computer?
– Remember how Netscape designed LiveScript (renamed ‘JavaScript’ for moronic marketing reasons) to be ‘safe’?
– Remember how cookies were supposed to be ‘safe’?
– Remember when Microsoft hadn’t muddied the water with their fetid claws? Before MS perpetrated ‘JScript’, proprietary fake ‘HTML’, the monstrosity called ‘FrontPage’ for creating websites that ONLY ran in IE?
Meanwhile Windows users have even worse rubbish to worry about, the worst of which is ActiveX, a deliberately dangerous scripting system.
Mr. Gates has left the building, just in time for it to cave in on itself.
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Ha! Take that you MAC lemmings!! Let’s see your pathetic OS do that! You never know when a hacker is gonna come in handy. VISTA RULES!!!
Your problem. Our Whatever. tm
The Sky IS Falling The Sky IS Falling.
p.s you’ll be covering our conference now, won’t you?
But all in all, it’s been a fabulous year for Laura and me.
–George W. Bush
Washington, DC
12/20/2001
summing up his first year in office, three months after the 9/11 attacks
@George Bush
Good luck touring with the women’s volleyball team. It’s a job you might actually understand. But PLEASE, for the love of all that’s holy, no Speedo.
Just remember, a bird in the hand is worth two in you.
http://www.swamppolitics.com/news/politics/blog/2008/08/bushs_fun_and_games_in_beijing.html
I would imagine that there are some of our guys in Iraq that would enjoy playing beach volleyball with G.W.
But that probably wouldn’t be as much fun.
“Meanwhile Windows users have even worse rubbish to worry about, the worst of which is ActiveX, a deliberately dangerous scripting system.”
And Apple allowed any random program to run as root without an admin password using ARDAgent. It looks like Apple is taking over Microsofts crown of most insecure software vendor, after all it took all of 2 minutes to hack the Mac in CanSecWest.
OFT (Our Favorite Troll) anonymously sez:
“And Apple allowed any random program to run as root without an admin password using ARDAgent.”
Actually, the vulnerability was not specific to the ARD Agent. It was a flaw in the Open Scripting Architecture in Leopard. The vulnerability was repaired in Apple Security Update 2008-005.
“It looks like Apple is taking over Microsofts crown of most insecure software vendor, after all it took all of 2 minutes to hack the Mac in CanSecWest.”
Nice try OFT. But let’s get the facts straight.
As of this moment, there is only 1 (ONE) viable piece of malware for Mac OS X. It is the ‘Porno Trojan’, aka ‘OSX.RSPlug.A’. It takes advantage of DNS services on client Mac machines. (Mac OS X Server was patched to stop the problem). Let’s compare that to the 200,000 or so malware for Windows, several of which are discovered every single day. So is Apple remotely close to claiming Microsoft’s crown for INSECURITY? Duh. (Watch OFT attempt to pull the ‘security by obscurity’ myth out of his orifice! HaHaHa!)
As for the CanSecWest 2008 story, there is a bit more to the story than OFT was willing to say:
The event in question was called “Hack a Mac”, aka “PWN2OWN”. The contest requires that the hackers involved use a ‘zero day’ attack, meaning that they use a hacking method heretofore unknown. You can read the results at:
http://www.engadget.com/2008/03/27/pwn-2-own-over-macbook-air-gets-seized-in-2-minutes-flat/
On the first day of the competition contestants are only allowed to hack the Mac via a direct network connection. No one even bothered to try this year as it is considered impossible.
On the second day of the event the contestants are allowed to play the role of luser, meaning they can use any software provided with the computer out of the box to try to get the machine hacked from the client side of the computer. This is called ‘user assisted hacking’ and is of course very little relationship to real life. This year the luser/hacker connected to a website he had set up. Something on the website was able to infiltrate the Mac. The contest ends when the hacker is able to open and read a text file the judges have planted on the Mac. The words from the file are then repeated to the judges.
The Day 2 contest took two minutes this year. The hack that was used has not been disclosed but is assumed to be related to Safari, potentially through a vulnerability in QuickTime (which has proven to be remarkably insecure this past year), Java or the mess named ‘JavaScript’. In the latter case, oddly enough, the vulnerability may be due to Microsoft’s own insecure contributions to ‘JavaScript’ known as ‘JScript’. Wouldn’t that be amusing! IOW, the vulnerability may be only partially related to Apple. We hopefully shall see.
BTW: The Vista PC was also PWND, reportedly using a JAVA vulnerability.
Only the Linux box at the contest remained un-PWND.
http://www.engadget.com/2008/03/29/linux-becomes-only-os-to-escape-pwn-2-own-unscathed/
Remember when JAVA was supposed to be the first ‘SECURE’ programming language?
Remember when Vista was supposed to be the first ‘SECURE’ version of Windows?
“The Day 2 contest took two minutes this year. The hack that was used has not been disclosed but is assumed to be related to Safari, potentially through a vulnerability in QuickTime (which has proven to be remarkably insecure this past year), Java or the mess named ‘JavaScript’. In the latter case, oddly enough, the vulnerability may be due to Microsoft’s own insecure contributions to ‘JavaScript’ known as ‘JScript’. Wouldn’t that be amusing! IOW, the vulnerability may be only partially related to Apple. We hopefully shall see.”
Actually derek the exploit was in WebKit not QuickTime. It was Apple’s own inability to patch known security flaws in a timely matter that make the Mac so easy to hack.
If you need another example take a look at this.
http://rixstep.com/1/20080801,00.shtml
It only took Apple 5 years to patch this hole.
How many actual Macs with OS X purchased for normal use by non-hacking consumers have been affected or compromised by malware?
How many actual PCs with Windows purchased for normal use by non-hacking consumers have been affected or compromised by malware?
Ballpark guess?
Just a rough guess.
With round numbers.
Even hearsay or anecdotal guesses are o.k. But try to make it believable. I realize that’s asking a lot for some of you.
Pamela Anderson coated her pussy with Kevlar and Teflon? Fascinating. So nothing sticks to it and it’s bulletproof. Should make all those creampie videos easier to make. The problem with Kevlar is this, even though it can stop bullets, it’s rather bad at stopping knives. Last I checked, sperm are smaller than knives and thus she can still be infected. Ah well, she already has hepatitis and who knows what else. How much more can she catch?
OFT (Our Fetid Troll) anonymously (what is he hiding?) sez:
“Actually derek the exploit was in WebKit not QuickTime.”
Documentation is always helpful, but you rarely provide it in order to avoid having your statements verified. How do I know your reference to WebKit isn’t total nonsense? I don’t. Nor will I. All you are doing is rumor mongering, as per usual. That makes you a failure in your assertions over and over again. Actual fact is beyond your comprehension.
The fact is that there is a nondisclosure agreement preventing anyone but the hackers, judges and Apple from knowing the zero day exploit that was used. Any reference to WebKit in articles about the contest are mere speculation.
Doing, as usual, some extra credit homework on the subject I did find this from April 16, 2008:
http://osvdb.org/show/osvdb/43980
To quote: “A buffer overflow exists in Safari. The WebKit component fails to validate JavaScript regular expressions resulting in a heap overflow. With a specially crafted web page, a context-dependent attacker can cause arbitrary code execution resulting in a loss of integrity.”
This may indeed be the exploit used at PWN2OWN, but again, no one involved with the contest is legally allowed to comment.
And BTW: WebKit is not an Apple project. It is an OpenSource project. It is updated almost daily for both Mac and Windows. You can get it here:
http://webkit.org/
OFT also sez:
“If you need another example take a look at this.
http://rixstep.com/1/20080801,00.shtml“
Nothing new here, sorry. I do note, however, that once again we have an author who is unable to discuss the Open Scripting Architecture used by Apple. All we see in his article is a quotation of CVE-2008-2830, which only a dope would not notice is dated “2008”. He then returns to the ignorant focus on “ARDAgent”, which again was NOT what had the flaw. Wikipedia is your friend:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_Scripting_Architecture
You are sooooooooooo lazy little troll.
Rixstep is lazy too:
“Some five years after the fact Apple finally tire of telling people ‘behaves correctly’ in regard to the ARDAgent hole.”
Where is this guy’s reference to the supposed first report of an “ARDAgent” hole? Does it exist? All he quotes is CVE-2008-2830, which as anyone but a dope knows is dated 2008.
Are you a dope, little troll?
“But the ARDAgent hole is not a programming blooper – it’s a design flaw.”
Yes, Apple pointed that out. But again, it was not ARD Agent that was the problem.
OFT: There is no one more critical of Apple than actual Apple users. All you have to do is visit Apple Discussions to figure that out:
http://discussions.apple.com/
But you don’t care. You’re determined to bore us all to death. Mission accomplished. zzzzzzzzz
Derek you’re a strange boy. You’ve had a long rant but what exactly is your point? Are you arguing that Apple doesn’t have a problem with patching their software in a timely manner?
I’m trying to keep the questions simple for you because at the moment you sound like a 10 year old with ADHD.
OFT (our fatuous troll) sez: burble burble burble
Derek sez: zzzzzz
Speaking of ADHD, “me” never answered my question.
Re-read it slowly if that helps.
How many actual Macs with OS X purchased for normal use by non-hacking consumers have been affected or compromised by malware?
How many actual PCs with Windows purchased for normal use by non-hacking consumers have been affected or compromised by malware?
Ballpark guess?
(Reply without burbling if possible. Thanks.)
This will be a day we will all remember as we watch history unfold. Microsoft has officially lost their business partners and all potential partners.
THIS IS BIG!!!
Hey boys!!
Kiss and make up!!!!
Your mother is watching!!!!!!!!!!
Hey boys!!
Kiss and make up!!!!
Your mother is watching!!!!!!!!!!
Oft: me like to masturbate.
derek: we know
“How many actual Macs with OS X purchased for normal use by non-hacking consumers have been affected or compromised by malware?”
I have no idea.
What I do know is that Apple software is responsible for 3.2 % of the security holes found in all software in 2008, taking the number one positions previously held by Microsoft. It may be true that OSX is less vulnerable at the moment but the cause for this isn’t Apples increasingly shonky software.
http://www-935.ibm.com/services/us/iss/xforce/midyearreport/
Derek who’s teaching you all these bad words? Is your father doing bad things to you?
“What I do know is that Apple software is responsible for 3.2 % of the security holes found in all software in 2008, taking the number one positions previously held by Microsoft.”
Way to miss the point, Chicken Little.
What’s the effect? Doesn’t that matter?