Apple Safari zero-day exploit revealed

 

 

Apple’s Safari browser contains a critical, unpatched bug that attackers can use to infect Windows PCs with malicious code, researchers at US-CERT and other security firms said today.

 

Hackers could compromise PCs with simple “drive-by” attack tactics, researchers added.

 

The vulnerability, first reported by Danish vulnerability tracker Secunia and confirmed by the United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT), was disclosed by Polish researcher Krystian Kloskowski on Friday. The bug is caused by an error in the handling of the browser’s parent windows.

 

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“This can be exploited to execute arbitrary code when a user visits a specially-crafted web page and closes opened pop-up windows,” said Secunia’s alert.

 

The vulnerability can also be exploited by attackers who dupe users into opening rigged HTML-based e-mail within Safari, added US-CERT in its advisory. That scenario likely would involve tricking users into opening malicious messages in a Web mail service, such as Gmail or Windows Live Hotmail.

 

Both Secunia and US-CERT confirmed today that the proof-of-concept attack code published by Kloskowski successfully compromises the Windows version of Safari 4.0.5, the most up-to-date edition. Secunia rated the vulnerability as “highly critical,” the second-most-dangerous ranking in its five-step threat scoring system.

 

It’s not known whether the vulnerability also exists in the much more widely used Mac OS X version of Apple’s software. “Other versions may also be affected,” cautioned US-CERT.

 

Charlie Miller, the noted vulnerability researcher who won $10,000 by hacking a Mac in March at the Pwn2Own contest, was out of his office and not able to verify that the bug also exists in Safari on Mac OS X.

 

US-CERT urged users of the Windows version of Safari to disable JavaScript as a temporary defense.

 

Apple last patched Safari in mid-March when it fixed 16 flaws, including six that applied only to the Windows version of the browser. It’s not unusual for Apple to patch Windows-only vulnerabilities when it updates Safari.

 

Apple patched Miller’s $10,000 vulnerability in mid-April by plugging a hole in ATS (Apple Type Services), a font renderer included with Mac OS X. Miller accessed the ATS bug via Safari during Pwn2Own.

 

 

By Gregg Keizer, techworld.com

Microsoft to release emergency Internet Explorer patch on Tuesday

Microsoft has announced that it will be issuing an emergency out-of-band patch for a critical security hole in some versions of Internet Explorer on Tuesday 30 March.

 

According to a Microsoft advisory, the emergency fix is designed to protect users of Internet Explorer 6 and Internet Explorer 7.

 

Microsoft normally bundles its security updates into a monthly package, known in the industry as “Patch Tuesday” (the second Tuesday of each month), and it is relatively unusual for the company to issue a fix for a security vulnerability outside of this cycle. Clearly Microsoft considers the bug particularly important to patch as soon as possible.

 

And in my opinion they’re right not to leave this vulnerability unpatched until April 13th. Earlier this month I described how hackers are actively exploiting the vulnerability, in their attempt to infect computers.

 

The researchers in SophosLabs reported some of the malicious spam messages we have seen being distributed which attempt to trick users into visiting websites that will exploit the zero day vulnerability and infect Windows PCs.

 

More information about the security flaw can be found in Sophos’s analysis of the problem.

 

So, if you are still using Internet Explorer versions 6 or 7, please be sure to update your systems as soon as Microsoft releases the fix. But, in all honesty, what are you doing running such old versions of IE anyway? Shouldn’t you have upgraded to Internet Explorer 8 by now?

 

By Graham Cluley, Sophos

 

 

Related Blogs

German Government: Don’t use Firefox

The German government has advised computer users not to run Firefox and run an alternative browser instead, because of a critical security flaw.

 

The advice, which comes from BürgerCERT, part of the German Federal Office for Security in Information Technology (known as the Bundesamt für Sicherheit in der Informationstechnik or BSI), recommends that computer users stop using Firefox until Mozilla releases a fix.

 

The reason why Germany is suggesting such seemingly drastic action is that there is a critical vulnerability in currently available versions of Firefox that could be exploited by hackers to launch malicious code on users’ computers.

For its part, Mozilla has acknowledged the security vulnerability, and advises that a patched version 3.6.2 of Firefox is scheduled to be available on March 30th.

 

Here is a rough translation (courtesy of Google Translate):

Recommendation
Because of the Mozilla Foundation, a privately disclosed vulnerability Bürger-CERT recommends the use of alternative browser until Mozilla has released Firefox version 3.6.2. The current release of Firefox 3.6.2 Plan provides for delivery on Tuesday 30 Before March 2010.

 

Description
There is an as yet unspecified vulnerability in Mozilla Firefox version 3.6. A remote attacker to execute using rigged websites the opportunity to inject malicious code in the context of the logged on user.

 

Security researcher Evgeny Legerov discovered the vulnerability last month, controversially making code which exploited it available to those who were prepared to pay. That’s not an approach which is likely to have won him many friends at Mozilla, who would much prefer that vulnerability researchers worked with them on responsible disclosure.

 

It must be an uncomfortable time for German web users too. After all, in January they were advised not to use Internet Explorer, and now they’re being told to keep a wide berth from Firefox until it’s fixed.

 

It’s certainly a lot easier for computer-savvy home users to leapfrog from browser to browser than companies.

 

Switching your web browser willy-nilly as each new unpatched security hole is revealed could cause more problems than it’s worth. For instance, imagine how much training some users will require to switch from one browser to another.

 

And it’s worth bearing in mind – what are you going to do when your replacement browser itself turns out to contain a vulnerability? Are you going to switch yet again?

 

My advice is to only switch from Firefox if you really know what you are doing with the browser you’re swapping to. If you stick with Firefox, apply the security update as soon as its available.

 

If you can’t wait – Mozilla says it has produced a release candidate build of Firefox 3.6.2 which already contains the fix (obviously it hasn’t been through their complete quality assurance process yet). You can download it from their website at https:/ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/firefox/nightly/3.6.2-candidates/build3/

 

By Graham Cluley, Sophos

 

 

Windows and Mac users urged to update Safari

Apple has released version 4.0.5 of its Safari browser, fixing a number of issues with its browser for Windows and Mac OS X including – most importantly – a grand total of 16 security vulnerabilities.

 

If you dilly-dally over updating your computer, it’s possible that hackers could exploit the security bugs – including some that could mean that simply visiting a webpage with a maliciously crafted image could lead to malicious code being automatically run on your computer.

 

Interestingly, one of the bugs (CVE-2009-2285) fixed in Safari 4.0.5 was announced and patched in Mac OS X 10.6.2 back in December 2009, and in Mac OS X 10.5 since January, meaning that Windows users of Safari have been vulnerable for over two months to the way their browser handles booby-trapped TIFF images.

 

But it doesn’t matter whether you own a Mac or PC, if you run Safari the message is clear: It’s time to update your browser and ensure that you are protected against hackers exploiting the security holes detailed in the security advisory on Apple’s website.

 

Safari users should practise safe computing, and update their systems as soon as possible.

 

By Graham Cluley, Sophos

 

 

Operation Aurora: Microsoft knew about Internet Explorer flaw for four months

On Thursday there were sighs of relief from all corners as Microsoft released a security patch for a vulnerability that had been exploited by hackers.

 

The patch fixed a critical zero-day vulnerability in versions of Internet Explorer that would have meant visiting a boobytrapped webpage could have infected your computer, opening a backdoor for remote hackers.

 

Nasty stuff, especially as it was being alleged that the security hole had been exploited by Chinese hackers who broke into the likes of Google and Adobe in an attack dubbed “Operation Aurora”.

 

Interestingly, details are now emerging that Microsoft was first told about the security hole early last September – a full four months before it hit the world’s headlines.

 

According to reports, Microsoft was informed about the security problem with its software (and the potential for hackers to take advantage of it) by security researcher Meron Sellen, and the company planned to roll-out a fix in a cumulative update for Internet Explorer scheduled for next month.

 

Now, if you were one of the high-tech, financial or miltary targets that are said to have been struck by the Chinese hackers you might be feeling a little bit miffed that Microsoft didn’t roll out its patch for this critical vulnerability sooner.

 

For their part, Microsoft may well feel that as the flaw primarily affected Internet Explorer 6 that such organisations should already have updated to a more secure version of their browser (such as version 8.0).

 

Is four months too long a time to fix a security hole of this severity? I’m not sure. One thing we have to bear in mind is that it can be very complicated developing and then testing a security patch to ensure that it works in all environments with multiple different versions of the software being patched.

 

I would rather a patch worked than was rushed out and caused more problems than the bug it was trying to solve.

 

The thing we should all be grateful for is that there is now a patch for Internet Explorer, meaning there really is no excuse for any company to be breached via this particular security hole again.

 

But if Microsoft knew about this critical security vulnerability four months ago, I wonder how many other security holes there are that they secretly know about, but we don’t have a clue about yet.

 

Oh, and don’t forget, there’s nothing to suggest that the hackers only exploited this Internet Explorer flaw. Chances are that they took advantage of a whole bunch of different weaknesses in different products, as well as some social engineering tricks, to break into computers inside the affected companies.

 

By Graham Cluley, Sophos

 

Danger! Internet Explorer zero-day vulnerability – no patch yet

Microsoft has released a security advisory about a previously unknown vulnerability in versions of Internet Explorer. There is currently no patch for the vulnerability which is being blamed, in part, for the high-profile attacks against Google, Adobe and other companies.

 

Microsoft has published some mitigation advice and workarounds which can reportedly help block attack vectors, but at the time of writing there is no official patch available.

 

There has been much speculation in the computer security industry (including some from myself!) that an Adobe PDF vulnerability could have been the route through which hackers delivered malware into Google and Adobe’s systems. Certainly we have seen a significant rise in the last year of targeted attacks exploiting vulnerabilities in Adobe’s code.

 

But researchers close to the Google/Adobe hacking investigation say that they have found no evidence so far of the attack exploiting Adobe’s software in this way. Indeed, a statement posted yesterday on Adobe’s blog confirms this.

 

So, right now, Microsoft Internet Explorer is being looked at with suspicion. And as the world’s most popular internet browser it’s obviously a serious cause for concern that an unpatched vulnerability that allows remote code execution exists that is being actively exploited by cybercriminals.

 

System administrators and computer owners around the world will be holding their breath that an official patch from Microsoft arrives sooner rather than later. In the meantime, Microsoft is recommending that Internet Explorer users use Data Execution Prevention (DEP) – a technology that is enabled in Internet Explorer by default but needs to be turned on in earlier versions.

by Graham Cluley, Sophos

 

September Patch Tuesday Fixes 5 Vulnerabilities, Leaves One Open

Microsoft’s monthly patch cycle for September has come out, and it’s something of a mixed bag for users. While there were only 5 advisories, all of them were rated as Critical by Microsoft, because if exploited all five could be used to execute arbitrary code on user systems.

 

The patches fix vulnerabilities in the JScript Scripting Engine (MS09-045), the DHTML Editing Component ActiveX control (MS09-46), the Windows Media Format runtime (MS09-47), the TCP/IP stack (MS09-48), and the Wireless LAN AutoConfig service (MS09-49). The following Microsoft operating systems are covered by at least one of the said bulletins: Windows 2000, Windows XP, Server 2003, Server 2008, and Vista. The final versions of Windows 7 and Server 2008 R2 are not affected by any of these vulnerabilities.

 

The MS09-45 and -46 vulnerabilities could affect users that visit malicious/compromised Web sites; MS09-47 affects users who open specially crafted media files. Meanwhile, MS09-48 and -49 affects users who are directly sent malicious data. Microsoft has rated MS09-45 and -47 as 1 on their Exploitability Index, which indicates that they believe that exploit code can be consistently produced for these vulnerabilities by cybercriminals in the future.

 

However, Windows users are not out of the woods just yet. A separate vulnerability has been found in both Vista and Server 2008’s implementation of the Server Message Block (SMB) protocol, which is largely used to share files and printers. According to the official Microsoft bulletin, the vulnerability could be used to take complete control over affected systems, although to date the proof-of-concept code encountered can only crash and restart affected systems. Like the vulnerabilities patched during Patch Tuesday, final versions of both Windows 7 and Server 2008 R2 are not affected. (The Windows 7 Release Candidate is, however, affected.)

 

Microsoft has so far not issued a patch to cover this latest security flaw; it is not known either if such a patch will be issued out-of-cycle, or be held until next month’s regular update schedule.

 

Users should run Windows Update and see if their systems have been patched to protect against these vulnerabilities. For most systems, this should have taken place automatically, but it’s still an excellent idea to double-check.

 

Trend Micro OfficeScan users with the Intrusion Defense Firewall plugin installed should apply the recent filter update (IDF09-027). This version contains protection from attacks exploiting the five patched vulnerabilities, as well as other potential security risks.

 

by Jonathan Leopando from Trendmicro

 

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