Advisory #237 - Opera, Cisco, OS X, Multiple News

Sûnnet Beskerming Alert List Advisory #237

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Contents
--------------------------------------------------------------------
1. SECURITY
--------------------------------------------------------------------
1.1 Opera
        - Remote Hacker Manual Control
        - Time Since Discovery - 5 Days
1.2 Cisco
        - Remote Hacker Automatic Denial of Service
        - Time Since Discovery - 4 Days
1.3 OS X (Multiple)
        - Remote Hacker Automatic Control
        - Time Since Discovery - 2 Days
=======================================
/*
        - Remote or Local - Can it be achieved through a network or does it  
require physical access?
        - Hacker - The bad guy
        - Manual or Automatic  - Does the vulnerability need to be manually  
performed, or can it be automated?
        - Control, Denial of Service or Data Theft - Will the hacker get  
control of your system / website, will they prevent you from using  
it, or will they steal data.
*/
--------------------------------------------------------------------
2.    NEWS
--------------------------------------------------------------------
2.1 Gathering Information on Web Users
2.2 Free Flight Deal Exposes Customer Data
2.3 Your Mobile May Kill Your Car Key
2.4 Full-court Press on WordPress
2.5 When Hackers Attack WebHosts
2.6 Breaking Big Numbers
2.7 MOICE is Nice
=====================================

1. SECURITY

1.1 Opera - Remote Hacker Manual Control

        -- Products Affected --
        Opera 9.20 and earlier

        -- Technical Description --
        Various versions of the Opera web browser are vulnerable to an issue  
which can allow a remote attacker to gain control over a vulnerable  
system if a victim is convinced to right-click on a malicious torrent  
file in the transfer manager. The underlying cause is poor handling  
of boundary conditions.

        -- Description --
        Various versions of the Opera web browser are vulnerable to an issue  
which can allow a remote attacker to gain control over a vulnerable  
system if a victim is convinced to right-click on a malicious torrent  
file in the transfer manager.

        -- Recommended Action --
        Update to Opera 9.21 and avoid right clicking of torrent files in  
the transfer manager.

        -- Source --
        (Paid subscription required to access)

        -- Updates Available --
        (Paid subscription required to access)

        -- External Tracking Data --
        (Paid subscription required to access)

        -- Threat Matrix --
                        U O
        Home User 8 8  (Very High)
        Corporate 8 8  (Very High)


1.2 Cisco - Remote Hacker Automatic Denial of Service

        -- Products Affected --
        Cisco Crypt library as implemented in:
        Cisco IOS
        Cisco IOS XR
        Cisco PIX and ASA Security Appliances (only 7.x releases are affected)
        Cisco Firewall Service Module (FWSM), all releases prior 2.3(5) and  
3.1(6) are affected
        Cisco Unified CallManager

        -- Technical Description --
        Cisco's crypt library is vulnerable to a remote Denial of Service  
condition, which could result in the loss of use of those protocols  
on a vulnerable network device.  This vulnerability can be triggered  
by malicious ASN network traffic.

        -- Description --
        Numerous cryptographic protocols supported by the Cisco crypt  
library can be targeted to result in a loss of use of those protocols  
by legitimate users.  These protocols include those used for secure  
online transactions (SSL), secure remote access (SSH), secure VoIP  
(SIP-TLS), and others.

        -- Recommended Action --
        If patches can not be applied, the only recommended mitigation is to  
prevent unauthorised users from connecting to affected devices.

        -- Source --
        (Paid subscription required to access)

        -- Updates Available --
        (Paid subscription required to access)

        -- External Tracking Data --
        (Paid subscription required to access)

        -- Threat Matrix --
                        U O
        Home User - 8  (Very High)
        Corporate - 8  (Very High)


1.3 OS X (Multiple) - Remote Hacker Automatic Control

        -- Products Affected --
        OS X 10.3.9 (including Server version)
        OS X 10.4.9 (including Server version)

        -- Technical Description --
        Alias Manager - User misdirection based on duplicated filenames on  
duplicated filesystem mounts.
        BIND - Update to BIND 9.3.4, addressing numerous vulnerabilities,  
the most critical of which is remote Denial of Service.
        CoreGraphics - Integer overflow vulnerability leading to arbitrary  
code execution and Denial of Service when malicious PDF files are  
opened.
        crontabs - Denial of Service when the /tmp cleanup script deletes  
any filesystems mounted in /tmp.
        fetchmail - Update to fetchmail 6.3.8 to address password disclosure  
due to cryptographic weakness.
        file - Heap buffer overflow leading to arbitrary code execution or  
denial of service as the result of errors in the file command line tool.
        iChat - Buffer overflow in the UPnP IGD code when used behind a  
NAT.  This can allow another networked system behind the NAT to  
execute arbitrary code on the vulnerable system.
        mDNSResponder - Same issue as affecting iChat.
        PPP - Privilege escalation through loading of malicious plugins.
        ruby - Denial of Service in cgi.rb, which could be triggered by  
sending malicious network traffic to a web application that  
references it.
        screen - Multiple Denial of Service vulnerabilities.
        texinfo - Poor file integrity handling could allow two concurrent  
users of texinfo to overwrite arbitrary files.
        VPN - Privilege escalation through poor handling of arguments.

        -- Description --
        Apple has released Security Update 2007-005, addressing numerous  
vulnerabilities in a range of software included with the OS X  
operating system.  These vulnerabilities include some that allow a  
remote attacker to prevent use of the system by a legitimate local  
user, and others allow local users to run software of their choice on  
the system, irrespective of their privilege levels.  The most serious  
vulnerabilities allow attackers on local network segments to run  
software of their choice on a vulnerable machine.

        -- Recommended Action --
        Apply Security Update 2007-005 at the earliest opportunity.

        -- Source --
        (Paid subscription required to access)

        -- Updates Available --
        (Paid subscription required to access)

        -- External Tracking Data --
        (Paid subscription required to access)

        -- Threat Matrix --
                        U O
        Home User 9 9  (Critical)
        Corporate 9 9  (Critical)

=======================================
/*
Threat Matrix:
        U - User
        O - Operator
        Harmless - 0 ----- 10 - Highly Critical
*/
=======================================

2. NEWS

2.1 Gathering Information on Web Users

Behavioural analysis helps various professionals in their daily jobs,  
be they criminal profilers, detectives, teachers, marketing gurus,  
conmen, or some other professional role.

It has also been useful to online advertising providers, where they  
have used browsing history and other information to create profiles  
of likely site visitors / users, and so attempt to improve the  
relevance of the advertising provided to users.

Even some banking authentication systems are based on behavioural  
patterns associated with password entry - specifically based on  
typing patterns.

Now there are reports that Microsoft has developed technology  
designed to extend the existing tracking and generic identification  
methods used across the Internet in order to create more detailed  
profiles on Internet users (at least for those who use Microsoft  
products or visit appropriate sites). Through the use of increased  
probabilistic analysis, greater fidelity in terms of user types and  
identity is claimed. Microsoft's spiritual successor to PassPort,  
CardSpace, is also expected to contribute to any such end system.

Despite this research coming from Microsoft's research lab in China,  
the timing is very interesting given Microsoft's recent purchase of a  
major online advertising provider.

Aside from the expected critics that have slammed Microsoft's moves  
as pure evil, there have been many to point out that this is merely  
an extension of existing behaviour for many companies, so should not  
be totally unexpected. Where the key difference lies is in the level  
of access to end user's systems that Microsoft has - far more than  
any other comparable company.

Potential abuse of this access should be considered a real threat, as  
well as being illegal in many countries.

Fortunately this technology is only at the research stage, so there  
should be a few years before it makes it to market - enough time to  
refine exactly how and what information the systems collect.


2.2 Free Flight Deal Exposes Customer Data

The Sydney Morning Herald has reported on the problems caused by a  
poorly secured free flight deal being offered by Australian budget  
airline Virgin Blue. The offer provided a free flight on Virgin Blue  
for anyone who bought a mobile phone on a connection plan from Virgin  
Mobile.

Customers who decided to take advantage of this offer were provided  
SMS notification of a code that they could enter on the Virgin Mobile  
website and then redeem for a free flight.

So far, so good. The problem is that the codes being issued to  
customers were sequential, which meant that by changing the last  
couple of digits of the received code any customer could view the  
details of other customers.

Following the reporting of the vulnerability, the authentication was  
changed to code + surname, and the company believes that only about  
50 customers were affected.


2.3 Your Mobile May Kill Your Car Key

Nissan have released a warning for car owners that placing a mobile  
telephone in close proximity to the electronic key that allows car  
owners to enter and start their car with the press of a button.

The device, known as an I-Key, can be left completely disabled,  
preventing owners from using them to access and operate their  
vehicles. At least two models from Nissan are affected, the 2007  
Nissan Altima, and the Infinity G35.

What is happening is that the mobile phones are erasing the codes on  
the I-Keys if they happen to be in contact when a call is being made  
or received on the mobile phone. As the keys are not reprogrammable,  
it leaves affected drivers without a lot of options.


2.4 Full-court Press on WordPress

WordPress has come under some increased scrutiny in recent weeks  
after some elementary research by a concerned user discovered that  
the majority of Wordpress-driven sites assessed were running  
vulnerable versions of the blogging and publishing platform.

Coming at the same time is a report from one of the leading web  
vulnerability researchers, who admits to taking a virtual axe to the  
WordPress codebase - trimming out the modules not required for his  
site, and (most critically) cutting out significant areas of  
vulnerable code.

These sort of reports should not come as a surprise for most security-
conscious Internet users. Most software has known bugs and  
vulnerabilities, and with no means to ensure all software users are  
running the absolute latest versions of each product they use, there  
are going to be numerous places where vulnerable code is exposed to  
rest of the world (even code that has long been patched).

This is why many vulnerable versions of PHP, Apache, IIS, ASP,  
ASP.NET, and other products and technologies are scattered across the  
Internet, and why attackers continue to probe and search for these  
systems using attacks that are ancient (by online standards) - there  
are enough systems available to make it worthwhile.


2.5 When Hackers Attack WebHosts

It is being reported on a number of sources that Brinkster.com is  
requiring account holders to change their passwords as a result of a  
recent compromise of the web hosting provider.

While detailed information about the breach has not been made public,  
except to say that credit card details for the customers were not  
accessed, there are no such guarantees for the sensitive information  
stored on the sites and backend databases belonging to the affected  
customers.

Anybody who tracks and observes web defacement trends will note that  
major mass breaches occur with disturbing regularity. Mass breaches  
tend to indicate that a hosting provider has been compromised in some  
way, and a server with numerous virtual hosts, or multiple servers  
with individual hosts, has been taken over.

Even if website defacement is not part of a system breach, it can  
lead to widespread disruption to services, such as was encountered by  
PlusNet customers when the ISP had its webmail service thoroughly  
compromised. It can also lead to otherwise trustworthy sites  
attempting to infect legitimate users, such as was encountered by  
site visitors to the Miami Dolphins Stadium website earlier this year  
(prior to the SuperBowl).

It doesn't take much for a little hole or a little breach to lead to  
major effects on end users / customers.


2.6 Breaking Big Numbers

One of the mathematical pursuits that will have long-lasting effects  
on future computing and data management is the factoring of large  
numbers - discovering what the most basic components are that combine  
to produce the large number.

This is important because each and every non-prime number can be  
broken down into prime factors. For relatively small numbers, this  
process is straight forward - for example, 27 can be expressed as 3 x  
3 x 3, the product of three primes. For much larger numbers, the  
process is a lot more involved, especially when none of the factors  
are known ahead of time.

A number of encryption methods rely upon this increasing difficulty  
to create the lengthy keys used to encrypt and protect data. When the  
prime numbers used to create the larger number are also large, it  
becomes an extremely difficult process to crack.

That is changing.

It was recently disclosed that a 307 digit 'special' number (number  
conforming to a specific rule) has been factored, and the researchers  
believe that it is now only a few years until they can factor any  
given 1024-bit number. This is a problem because the most popular  
strong encryption is usually handled by 1024-bit RSA keys - which  
will be available for defeating once a general factoring solution has  
been developed.

Noted cryptographic experts are already suggesting that users  
consider moving to a stronger encryption setting, such as 2048-bit  
encryption, or change to symmetric encryption models, rather than  
asymmetric models (which are at greatest risk at the moment).

Of course, it doesn't matter how long it takes to defeat an  
encryption method. So long as the information it is protecting  
becomes worthless before the encryption can be cracked, it has  
achieved its goal.


2.7 MOICE is Nice

Microsoft have released MOICE, the Microsoft Office Isolated  
Conversion Environment, a tool designed to migrate existing Office  
2003 documents to the OpenXML format supported by recent versions of  
Microsoft Office. As the name suggests, this process takes place in  
an isolated environment, effectively neutralising any malware within  
the documents being converted.

This may not be as avhievable as the name of the tool suggests. If it  
is being used to convert a malicious document, then MOICE may:

     * Fail to convert the file
     * Create a safe version
     * Crash

If the isolation environment properly robust, then a malicious data  
file should not cause MOICE to crash.

Even more critical for end users, and what may prevent MOICE from  
reaching a critical mass, is that it strips macros and VBA scripts  
from Office files as they are converted. While this might make many  
people happy, a lot of companies rely upon their specially-scripted  
spreadsheets and documents to make them money. Killing this  
capability will not be supported by many people.

Available for free from Microsoft, the tool should be an essential  
part of any administrator's toolbox.

=======================================

Sincerely,

Sûnnet Beskerming Team
info@...
Sûnnet Beskerming Pty. Ltd.
Adelaide, Australia
http://www.beskerming.com
Tel: +61 (0) 410 707 444

** Sûnnet Beskerming Pty. Ltd. **

Established in mid 2004, Sûnnet Beskerming Pty. Ltd. is the sister  
company to Jongsma & Jongsma Pty. Ltd., and was formed to develop and  
commercialise the research coming out of Jongsma & Jongsma Pty. Ltd..  
Sûnnet Beskerming Pty. Ltd. is an Information Security specialist  
and, in conjunction with the tools developed by Jongsma & Jongsma  
Pty. Ltd., provides total security solutions and services, from the  
perimeter to internal data stores, including web application security  
and security testing and analysis.



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