April 2016 - wlug - list.wlug.org.nz

Yes, Badlock bug was shamelessly hyped, but the threat is real
by Peter Reutemann 13 Apr '16

13 Apr '16

"In a nutshell, Badlock refers to a defect in a security component contained in just about every version of the Windows and Linux operating systems. Known as the Distributed Computing Environment/Remote Procedure Call (DCE/RPC), it's used by administrators around the world to access the most valuable asset on any Windows network—the Active Directory, which acts as a network's digital security guard, allowing, for instance, an organization's CFO to log in to an accounting server, while locking out the janitor or the groundskeeper. Because Active Directories enforce security policies and contain password data and other crucial credentials, they are almost always the first asset hackers access once they gain a limited foothold into a targeted network." "An Active Directory infrastructure with a Samba server as a domain member is vulnerable to this flaw," an advisory published Tuesday by Linux distributor Red Hat warned. "A man-in-the-middle attacker could intercept DCE/RPC traffic between the domain member and the domain controller to impersonate the client and get the same privileges as the authenticated user account. The attacker could view or modify secrets within an AD database, including user password hashes, or shutdown critical services." -- source: http://arstechnica.com/security/2016/04/yes-badlock-bug-was-shamelessly-hyp… Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

1 0

Linux-On-Windows Performance
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 11 Apr '16

11 Apr '16

Some initial benchmarks on the Linux layer that Microsoft has added to Windows 10: <http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=windows-10-lxcore&num=1>. Summary: CPU performance seems quite good, while I/O is terrible.

1 0

Popular Firefox Add-Ons Open Millions To New Attack
by Peter Reutemann 09 Apr '16

09 Apr '16

'Security researchers claim that NoScript and other popular Firefox add-on extensions are exposing millions of end users to a new type of vulnerability which, if exploited, can allow an attacker to execute malicious code and steal sensitive data. The vulnerability resides in the way Firefox extensions interact with each other. From a report on SlashGear, "The problem is that these extensions do not run sandboxed and are able to actually access data or functions from other extensions that are also enabled. This could mean, for example, that a malware masquerading as an add-on can access the functionality of one add-on to get access to system files or the ability of another add-on to redirect users to a certain web page, usually a phishing scam page. In the eyes of Mozilla's automated security checks, the devious add-on is blameless as it does nothing out of the ordinary."' 'Firefox's VP of Product acknowledged the existence of the aforementioned vulnerability. "Because risks such as this one exist, we are evolving both our core product and our extensions platform to build in greater security. The new set of browser extension APIs that make up WebExtensions, which are available in Firefox today, are inherently more secure than traditional add-ons, and are not vulnerable to the particular attack outlined in the presentation at Black Hat Asia. As part of our electrolysis initiative -- our project to introduce multi-process architecture to Firefox later this year -- we will start to sandbox Firefox extensions so that they cannot share code."' -- source: https://it.slashdot.org/story/16/04/09/1758255 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

1 0

Researchers Help Shut Down Spam Botnet That Enslaved 4, 000 Linux Machines
by Peter Reutemann 09 Apr '16

09 Apr '16

'A botnet that enslaved about 4,000 Linux computers and caused them to blast the Internet with spam for more than a year has finally been shut down. Sophisticated Mumblehard spamming malware flew under the radar for five years. Known as Mumblehard, the botnet was the product of highly skilled developers. It used a custom "packer" to conceal the Perl-based source code that made it run, a backdoor that gave attackers persistent access, and a mail daemon that was able to send large volumes of spam. Command servers that coordinated the compromised machines' operations could also send messages to Spamhaus requesting the delisting of any Mumblehard-based IP addresses that sneaked into the real-time composite blocking list, or CBL, maintained by the anti-spam service. "There was a script automatically monitoring the CBL for the IP addresses of all the spam-bots," researchers from security firm Eset wrote in a blog post published Thursday. "If one was found to be blacklisted, this script requested the delisting of the IP address. Such requests are protected with a CAPTCHA to avoid automation, but OCR (or an external service if OCR didn't work) was used to break the protection."' -- source: https://linux.slashdot.org/story/16/04/09/1827238 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

1 0

Developer Warns Of "Uncorrectable Freedom & Security Issues" For x86
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 05 Apr '16

05 Apr '16

Modern Intel and AMD x86 chips cannot even boot up without various pieces of locked-down proprietary binary firmware. Effectively this is an OS-within-an-OS, that retains ultimate control of the processor, regardless of what the owner of the machine might want. <http://phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=x86-Uncorrectable-Freedom>

1 0