February 9th, 2010

Patch Tuesday: Microsoft plugs critical Windows worm holes

Posted by Ryan Naraine @ 11:29 am

Categories: Arbitrary Code Execution, Botnets, Browsers, Complex Attacks, Data theft, Exploit code, Microsoft, Passwords, Patch Watch, Viruses and Worms, Vulnerability research, Web 2.0

Tags: Denial Of Service, Attacker, Vulnerability, Victim, Exploit Code, Microsoft PowerPoint, Microsoft Corp., Small And Medium Business, Attack, CVE-2010-0242

Microsoft today released 13 security bulletins with fixes for 26 vulnerabilities affecting Windows and Office users and warned customers to pay special attention to a slew of flaws that can be trivially exploited by malware miscreants.

The company urged customers to prioritize and deploy four updates because of the “critical” severity rating and the fact that “consistent exploit code” is likely within the next 30 days.

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February 5th, 2010

Oracle rushes out patch for gaping server hole

Posted by Ryan Naraine @ 1:17 pm

Categories: Arbitrary Code Execution, Complex Attacks, Data theft, Denial of Service (DoS), Exploit code, Locally Running Web Servers, Open source, Oracle, Responsible disclosure, Vulnerability research

Tags: Oracle Corp., Vulnerability, Patches, Security, Firewalls, Networking, Ryan Naraine

Oracle has released an out-of-band patch to fix a gaping security hole in the Oracle WebLogic Node Manager and warned that an attacker could launch remote attacks over a network without the need for a username and password.

The patch follows the public release of exploit code as part of the recent Week of Web Server Bugs.

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February 4th, 2010

MS Patch Tuesday heads-up: 13 bulletins, 26 vulnerabilities

Posted by Ryan Naraine @ 10:48 am

Categories: Arbitrary Code Execution, Browsers, Complex Attacks, Data theft, Denial of Service (DoS), Exploit code, Microsoft, Patch Watch, Responsible disclosure, Vulnerability research, Windows Vista, Zero-day attacks

Tags: Vulnerability, Microsoft Corp., Microsoft Windows, Security, Microsoft Windows 7, Operating Systems, Software, Ryan Naraine

Microsoft’s February batch of security patches will be a biggie — 13 bulletins with fixes for a whopping 26 vulnerabilities.

According to an advance notice from the Redmond, Wash. software vendor, five of the 13 bulletins will be rated “critical” because of the risk of remote code execution attacks.

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January 21st, 2010

Microsoft confirms 17-year-old Windows vulnerability

Posted by Ryan Naraine @ 8:05 am

Categories: Arbitrary Code Execution, Complex Attacks, Denial of Service (DoS), Google, Microsoft, Patch Watch, Pen testing, Responsible disclosure, Vulnerability research, Windows Vista

Tags: Advisory, Flaw, Microsoft Corp., Attack, Ormandy, Microsoft Windows, Security, Microsoft Windows NT, Operating Systems, Software

One day after a Google security researcher released code to expose a flaw that affects every release of the Windows NT kernel — from Windows NT 3.1 (1993) up to and including Windows 7 (2009) — Microsoft dropped a security advisory to acknowledge the issue and warn of the risk of privilege escalation attacks.

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January 19th, 2010

Google-China cyber espionage saga - FAQ

Posted by Dancho Danchev @ 8:30 am

Categories: Adobe, Anti Virus, Arbitrary Code Execution, Botnets, Browsers, Complex Attacks, Data theft, Exploit code, Google, Governments, Hackers, Malware, Microsoft, Passwords, People's Republic of China, Phishing, Viruses and Worms, Zero-day attacks

Tags: China, Google Inc., Malware, Cyberattack, Spyware, Adware & Malware, Cyberthreats, Security, Dancho Danchev

With more details emerging on the inner workings of the targeted malware attack that hit Google and over 30 other companies (ZDNet News Special Coverage - Special Report: Google, China showdown), it’s time to summarize all the events that took place during the past week, and answer some of the most frequently asked questions such as - How did the attack take place? Did Google strike back at the attackers? Was the Chinese government behind the attacks, and if not who orchestrated them and for what reason?

Go through the FAQ and their answers.

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January 13th, 2010

Google (finally) enables default "https" access for GMail

Posted by Ryan Naraine @ 10:32 am

Categories: Arbitrary Code Execution, Browsers, Complex Attacks, Denial of Service (DoS), Exploit code, Google, Google Chrome, Locally Running Web Servers, Microsoft, People's Republic of China

Tags: Google Inc., Google Gmail, HTTP, E-mail Providers, Internet, Ryan Naraine

A day after confirming a major security breach by Chinese hackers looking for GMail account information, Google has turned on default “https:” access for its popular Web mail service.

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December 1st, 2009

Exploit published for FreeBSD local root vulnerability

Posted by Ryan Naraine @ 9:22 am

Categories: Arbitrary Code Execution, Complex Attacks, Data theft, Denial of Service (DoS), Exploit code, Kernel-level Exploits, Locally Running Web Servers, Open source, Passwords, Patch Watch, Pen testing

Tags: FreeBSD, Vulnerability, FreeBSD Security Team, Patches, UNIX, Operating Systems, Open Source, Security, Software, Ryan Naraine

The FreeBSD security team has rushed out a temporary patch to cover a local root vulnerability that exposes users to code execution attacks. The patch follows the public release of exploit code on the Full-Disclosure mailing list.

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November 30th, 2009

New ransomware attack blocks Internet access

Posted by Ryan Naraine @ 9:32 am

Categories: Anti Virus, Arbitrary Code Execution, Browsers, Complex Attacks, Exploit code, Microsoft, Passwords, Research, Viruses and Worms

Tags: Internet Access, License Agreement, Computer Associates International Inc., SMS, Attack, Text Messaging/SMS/MMS, Telephony, Cellular Phones, Security, Consumer Electronics

Security researchers have stumbled upon a new piece of ransomware that blocks an infected computer from accessing the Internet until a fee is paid via SMS (text message). Read the rest of this entry »

November 13th, 2009

Man-in-the-middle attacks demoed on 4 smartphones

Posted by Dancho Danchev @ 3:22 pm

Categories: Browsers, Complex Attacks, Hackers, Malware, Mobile (In)Security, Passwords, Privacy, Research, Wi-Fi security

Tags: Network, Wi-Fi Network, Smart Phone, SSL, Attack, Wireless LANs, Wi-Fi, Wireless And Mobility, Security, Dancho Danchev

Security researchers from SMobile Systems have released a paper detailing successful man-in-the-middle attacks against several smartphones.

The SSL enabled log in sessions on the tested, Nokia N95, HTC Tilt, Android G1 and iPhone 3GS devices was sniffed using the publicly available SSLstrip tool, with the attack taking place over insecure Wi-Fi network, now prevalent literally everywhere.

Here’s the scenario they used, and possible mitigation approaches:

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November 3rd, 2009

iHacked: jailbroken iPhones compromised, $5 ransom demanded

Posted by Dancho Danchev @ 6:09 am

Categories: Apple, Botnets, Browsers, Complex Attacks, Hackers, Malware, Passwords, iPhone

Tags: Apple iPhone, SSH, Smart Phones, Consumer Electronics, Personal Technology, Security, Dancho Danchev

Yesterday, a “Your iPhone’s been hacked because it’s really insecure! Please visit doiop.com/iHacked and secure your phone right now!” message popped up on the screens of a large number of automatically exploited Dutch iPhone users, demanding $4.95 for instructions on how to secure their iPhones and remove the message from appearing at startup.

Through a combination of port scanning and OS fingerprinting of T-Mobile’s 3G IP range, a Dutch teenager has for the first time automatically exploited a known security vulnerability introduced on jailbroken iPhones - the SSH daemon which unless modified remains running with default users root and mobile, using the same password on each and every device.

Here’s what he demanded, and how he changed his attitude following the suspension of his PayPal and the spamvertised URL:

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