Pwn2Own 2013 Result: Chrome, Firefox, IE, Adobe Reader, Flash & Java Owned

Pwn2Own 2013 Result: Chrome, Firefox, IE, Adobe Reader, Flash & Java Owned Only Safari Survived 

Couple of months ago we have talked about 'Pwn2Own 2013' hacking contest sponsored by HP TippingPoint, ZDI and Google where the most famous and widely used browsers have to face challenges. Now the result of this long awaited security competition has came which is showing that the entire browser security landscape can change in a single day, as browsers thought to be secure are proven to be otherwise. Of the Big Four browsers, only Apple's Safari has so far survived the onslaught of the browser-breakers where Chrome, Internet Explorer 10 and Firefox all fell to the mercy of the hackers. Not only browsers but also three other popular applications that is Adobe Reader, Flash Player and yet again Java fallen victim to hackers at 'Pwn2Own'. And for Java it was a true disaster as Java fell three times, though under the contest rules, only the first attacker was due to win the $20,000 prize. Vupen, a renowned security research firm based in France, cracked both Firefox and Internet Explorer. It roughly explained the attack in a tweet, “We’ve pwned Firefox using a use-after-free and a brand new technique to bypass ASLR/DEP on Win7 without the need of any ROP.” This bug hint leads them winning $100,000 for finding a huge hole. Again in a tweet, Security firm Vupen explained “We’ve pwned MS Surface Pro with two IE10 zero-days to achieve a full Windows 8 compromise with sandbox bypass.” Lastly, U.K.-based security firm MWR Labs cracked Chrome and also gained full control of the operating system, this time Windows 7. It also “demonstrated a full sandbox bypass exploit.” The company explained in a blog post that it found a zero-day in Chrome “running on a modern Windows-based laptop.” It was able to exploit the vulnerability by performing a very similar attack to what took down Facebook, Microsoft, and a number of other well-known companies: It had the laptop visit a malicious website. 

Now lets take look at the final score board of Pwn2Own 2013:

Wednesday:
1:30 - Java (James Forshaw) PWNED
2:30 - Java (Joshua Drake) PWNED
3:30 - IE 10 (VUPEN Security) PWNED
4:30 - Chrome (Nils & Jon) PWNED
5:30 - Firefox (VUPEN Security) PWNED
5:31 - Java (VUPEN Security) PWNED

Thursday:
12pm - Flash (VUPEN Security) PWNED
1pm - Adobe Reader (George Hotz) PWNED
2pm - Java (Ben Murphy via proxy) PWNED

The total damage to the prize fund comes out at a whopping $480k. With HP's announcement that everyone will get paid for each attack, the prize monies will be divvied up as follows:-

1. James Forshaw: Java = $20K
2. Joshua Drake: Java = $20k
3. VUPEN Security: IE10 + Firefox + Java + Flash = $250k
4. Nils & Jon: Chrome = $100k
5. George Hotz: Adobe Reader = $70k
6. Ben Murphy: Java = $20k

As you all know that the main motive of these contest is to make applications, software more safe and secure while figuring out hidden vulnerabilities  Here also for Pwn2Own the security holes figured out by the above experts have already been submitted and taken carefully by those organization  along with that, the expected patch for the browsers have already been released. Those who are still using the older version of those above applications are requested to update their system. So, stay tuned with VOGH and be safe on the Internet. 

-Source (HP, Naked Security) 

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Pwn2Own 2013 -Hack Major Browser, Adobe Reader, Flash or Java & Earn in Million Dollars

Pwn2Own 2013 -Hack Major Web-browser, Adobe Reader, Flash or Java & Earn in Million Dollars 

Since the last two years the Pwn2Own hacker contest has become an important fixture in the world of testing the security of software applications, operating systems and hardware devices. In last two years we have seen several hackers, security professionals have expressed their enthusiasm and joined Pwn2Own where four major and widely browser's security get compromised, in order to make applications, software more safe and secure. Last year we have reported how different hackers across the globe taken part in Pwn2Own and successfully hacked Google Chrome, IE & Firefox, and earned millions of dollars. But the contest of this year has some more twist than before as, HP TippingPoint and Google, sponsor of Pwn2Own, has made clear that it is expanding the focus of the competition beyond browsers. Also, Pwn2own 2013 will include $560,000 in prize money for demonstrations of exploits in the major web browsers, Adobe Reader, Adobe Flash or Oracle Java. 

Contest Dates:-

The contest will take place the 6th, 7th, and 8th of March in Vancouver, British Columbia during the CanSecWest 2013 conference. DVLabs blog post will be updated as the contest plays out and get real-time updates by following either @thezdi or @Pwn2Own_Contest on Twitter or search for the hash tag #pwn2own.

Rules & Prizes:-

HP ZDI is offering more than half a million dollars (USD) in cash and prizes during the competition for vulnerabilities and exploitation techniques in the below categories. The first contestant to successfully compromise a selected target will win the prizes for the category.

• Web Browser
• Google Chrome on Windows 7 ($100,000)
• Microsoft Internet Explorer, either
• IE 10 on Windows 8 ($100,000), or
• IE 9 on Windows 7 ($75,000)
• Mozilla Firefox on Windows 7 ($60,000)
• Apple Safari on OS X Mountain Lion ($65,000)
• Web Browser Plug-ins using Internet Explorer 9 on Windows 7
• Adobe Reader XI ($70,000)
• Adobe Flash ($70,000)
• Oracle Java ($20,000)

The targets will be running on the latest, fully patched version of the Windows 7, 8, and OS X Mountain Lion. All targets will be installed in their default configurations, as this is how a majority of users will have them configured. As always, the vulnerabilities utilized in the attack must be unknown and not previously reported to the vendor. If a sandbox is present, a full sandbox escape is required to win. A given vulnerability may only be used once across all categories.

Upon successful demonstration of the exploit, the contestant will provide HP ZDI a fully functioning exploit and all the details of the vulnerability used in the attack. In the case that multiple vulnerabilities were exploited to gain code execution, details about all the vulnerabilities (memory corruption, infoleaks, escalations, etc.) leveraged and the sequence in which they are used must be provided to receive the prize money. The initial vulnerability utilized in the attack must be in the registered category.

Along with prize money, the contestant will receive the compromised laptop and 20,000 ZDI reward points* which immediately qualifies them for Silver standing. 

Full contest rules can be found at http://dvlabs.tippingpoint.com/Pwn2OwnContestRules.html, and may be changed at any time without notice.

Registration:-

Contestants are asked to pre-register by contacting ZDI via e-mail at zdi@hp.com. This will allow the organizer to ensure that they have the necessary resources in place to facilitate the attack. If more than one contestant registers for a given category, the order of the contestants will be drawn at random.

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Pwnium 2: Teenage Hacker Pinkie Pie Exploited Google Chrome & Earned $60,000

Pwnium 2: Teenage Hacker Pinkie Pie Exploited Google Chrome & Earned $60,000

One of world's most popular web-browser Google Chrome has fallen victim at Pwnium 2 security contest which took place earlier on 10th October, at the Hack In The Box conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. A teenage hacker who goes by the pseudonym "Pinkie Pie" was successfully able to "fully exploit" Chrome, escaping the sandbox using only bugs within Chrome. The hack was done on a fully patched 64-bit Windows 7 system running the latest stable branch of Chrome. For his work, Pinkie Pie will receive the top prize of $60,000 from Google. 

This isn't the first time that "Pinkie Pie", also the name of a "My Little Pony - Friendship is Magic" character, has won money for exploiting Chrome. In March of this year, he was rewarded for vulnerabilities he used at Google's Pwnium contest, which took place during the Pwn2Own competition at CanSecWest, to break out of the browser's sandbox and execute code. In order to get his code to execute on the test system at the time, he had to combine a total of six vulnerabilities; the holes were later closed with the release of Chrome 18. Along with security specialist Sergey Glazunov, Pinkie Pie also won this year's Pwnie Award for the Best Client-Side Bug. What ever the full results of the Pwnium 2 competition will be announced during a talk by Google Software Engineer Chris Evans today that means, 11th October.

We also like to give you reminder that earlier in this year Google had increased vulnerability bounties in Anniversary of Vulnerability Reward Programbe. Also PayPal, Facebook & many other has already started this paid bug bounty program. These bug bounty programs & such security contest indeed enhancing the security. 

-Source (The-H & SC Magazine)

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iPhone 4S Hacked By Dutch Researchers During Pwn2Own Contest

iPhone 4S Hacked By Dutch Researchers During Pwn2Own Contest & Won $30,000 Prize

 

So called fully patched and secured iPhone 4S have fall into victim in-front of hackers. Two Dutch clever minds during a Pwn2Own contest were able to hack a fully patched iPhone 4S to gain a slew of information from the device. The hackers, Joost Pol and Daan Keuper, were able to find vulnerability in WebKit that allowed them to hi-jack photos, videos, address book contacts, and browsing history right from the phone. The two earned a $30,000 cash-prize for performing what they call “a clean hack.” 

That was the intellectual challenge that drove a pair of Dutch researchers to start looking for an exploitable software vulnerability that would allow them to hijack the address book, photos, videos and browsing history from a fully patched iPhone 4S. 

"It took about three weeks, starting from scratch, and we were only working on our private time," says Joost Pol (photo left), CEO of Certified Secure, a nine-person research outfit based in The Hague. Pol and his colleague Daan Keuper used code auditing techniques to ferret out the WebKit bug and then spent most of the three weeks chaining multiple clever techniques to get a "clean, working exploit." "We really wanted to see how much time it would take a motivated attacker to do a clean attack against your iPhone. For me, that was the motivation. The easy part was finding the WebKit zero-day," Pol said in an interview.  Once the vulnerability in WebKit was found, the hackers said they put many things together in about three weeks to write an exploit to hack the iPhone 4S. The two found that the exploit developed also worked for iOS 6 (released today) and all previous versions of iOS devices.

Although the successful attack exposed the entire address book, photo/video database and browsing history, Pol and Keuper said they did not have access to the SMS or e-mail database. "Those are not accessible and they're also encrypted," Keuper explained.

While Pol and Keuper could use the hack for harm, the two said the exploit has already been destroyed. Pol told : ”We shredded it from our machine. The story ends here, we’re not going to use this again. It’s time to look for a new challenge.” They further added that iOS is definitely the most secure mobile platform around thanks to Apple’s strict guidelines. 

-Source (ZDNet)

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Twitter Hires Renowned Apple Hacker Charlie Miller For Twitter Security Team

Twitter Hires Renowned Apple Hacker Charlie Miller For Twitter Security Team

It is almost impossible task for social networks to keep everything safe against hacks and other vulnerabilities. Hackers will constantly find their way around anything that you put in place. So they often deals with hackers & turn themselves to beef up the security level. Social networking giant Twitter exactly did the same thing. The micro-blogging network has hired the famous/infamous Apple hacker, Charlie Miller, to be a part of its security team. Charlie Miller, a popular figure among hackers, broke the news via his Twitter account, saying, “Monday I start on the security team at Twitter. Looking forward to working with a great team there!” Twitter issued a short statement noting that Miller’s title will be that of Software Engineer, but declined to discuss any further details.

Charlie Miller has a background as a Global Exploitation Analyst in the National Security Agency, and has hacked devices running on iOS, OSX, and Android. He is considered to be a white-hat hacker, which means that he hacks to expose vulnerabilities in a system in order to have those weaknesses fixed. Five year ago, Miller was said to be the first to hack the iPhone using the device’s browser, exposing the handset’s vulnerability to security attacks. Several months after this, he was likewise able to hack a MacBook Air in just two minutes. This feat allowed Miller to win the Pwn2Own hacking competition. Miller also showed a way to hijack iPhones through SMS in 2009. In 2011, he used the MacBook power adapter to implant malware on the laptop. In the same year, his license as an Apple developer got revoked because Apple found that he breached the development agreement. 

In more recent times, Miller had been working on Android devices. In June, he was able to overcome Bouncer, Google’s security program. He has furthermore experience in using Near Field Communications to control Samsung and Nokia handsets with a simple wave of another phone that is within the vicinity. 

While talking about Charlie Miller, we must have to take another name and that is Nicholas Allegra, the world-famous hacker known as "Comex", creater of JailbreakMe.com; who later has been hired by Apple itself . In case of Twitter we must have to say, apart from Miller, Twitter also hired Moxie Marlinspike, a hacker who specializes in SSL and VPN encryption.

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Microsoft Security Bulletin (June 2012) Closed Security Hole in RDP, IE,Certificate Tool & .NET

Microsoft Security Bulletin (June 2012) Closed Security Hole in RDP, IE,Certificate Tool & .NET

Microsoft released June 2012 Security bulletin to close a total of 27 security holes in its products, among them 13 in Internet Explorer. The rest of the patches affect all currently supported Windows versions, the .NET Framework, Remote Desktop, Lync, Windows Kernel and Dynamics AX. The company separately announced changes to its automatic updater to block untrusted security certificates. Microsoft updated the updater tool after researchers uncovered how the Flame malware had gamed the process. The most important updates are bundled in the cumulative Internet Explorer patch (MS12-037), which includes fixes for the holes that were targeted by Pwn2Own exploits. Another urgent update is MS12-036, which concerns denial of service and remote code execution vulnerabilities in the Remote Desktop features built into all supported versions of Windows. The third critical update affects the .NET Framework (MS12-038). The remaining 4 updates are rated "important" by Microsoft and close code execution bugs in Lync and privilege escalation holes in Dynamics AX and Windows.

Through this security bulletin Microsoft released an updated version of the Microsoft Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool on Windows Server Update Services (WSUS), Windows Update (WU), and the Download Center.

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Internet Explorer & Firefox Also Became Victim To Hackers At Pwn2Own

Internet Explorer (IE 9) & Firefox 10.0.2 Also Became Victim To Hackers At Pwn2Own

At Pwn2Own contest the web-browsers are getting hacked in a series. First it was the turn of Google Chrome where Sergey Glazunov, a Russian security researcher has earned $60,000 by demonstrating how he could waltz past the security sandbox in Google's Chrome browser to run unauthorized code on fully-patched Windows 7 computers. Then the time came for Microsoft's Internet Explorer. A team from a French security firm managed to hack IE 9 on a fully patched Windows 7 SP1 machine. The group from Paris-based Vupen Security brought down IE9 running on Windows 7 by exploiting a pair of previously-unknown "zero-day" bugs that bypassed the operating system's defensive technologies to execute attack code, allowing that code to escape from IE's "Protected Mode," the browser's limited-rights anti-exploit system. They managed to bypass the browser's DEP and ASLR protection with a 0-day heap overflow vulnerability, and then used a separate memory corruption bug to break out of its Protected Mode, which is effectively a sandbox. According to VUPEN founder Chaouki Bekrar, these particular flows have existed in previous incarnations of the browser - all the way back to IE 6 - and will very likely work on the upcoming IE 10.

Then the turn of Firefox came. Mozilla’s Firefox is the latest browser to fall victim to hackers at this year’s Pwn2Own hacker contest. Two researchers working together – Willem Pinckaers and Vincenzo Iozzo — exploited a single zero-day vulnerability in the latest Firefox 10.0.2 on a fully patched Windows 7 SP1 PC to cart off a $30,000 cash prize.

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Google Offers $1 Million For Hackers To Exploit Chrome (Pwnium: Rewards For Exploits)

Google Offers $1 Million For Hackers To Exploit Chrome (Pwnium: Rewards For Exploits)

The search giant Google is offering a huge amount (total $1 million) of reward for those who will successfully hack the Google Chrome browser at the Pwn2Own Hacker Contest taking place next week (7 March, 2012). Google will reward those successful contestants at Pwn2Own with prices of $60,000, $40,000 and $20,000 – depending on the severity of the exploits that are demonstrated on a Windows 7 machine running the browser. The Prizes will be awarded on a first-come-first-serve basis, until the entire $1 million has been claimed.

Chrome is currently the only web browser eligible for entry into Pwn2Own that has never been successfully hacked. Contestants often note the difficulty of bypassing Google’s security sandbox as a reason for this. “While we’re proud of Chrome’s leading track record in past competitions, the fact is that not receiving exploits means that it’s harder to learn and improve,” said Chris Evans and Justin Schuh, members of the Google Chrome security team. “To maximize our chances of receiving exploits this year, we’ve upped the ante. We will directly sponsor up to $1 million worth of rewards.”

Additional information can be found on the Chromium official blog.

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BlackBerry 6 WebKit Vulnerability Patched, RIM Publishes Full Security Advisory

This latest security advisory goes to show why RIM’s current model for carrier approved OS updates is not ideal. RIM put out what they call a security notice about a BlackBerry 6 WebKit browser vulnerability back in March of this year for an exploit found in the BlackBerry 6 Browser at Pwn2Own that month. RIM said back then that devices updated to OS 6.0.0.526+ were safe from the vulnerability. They then finally issued a security advisory this week for the same old vulnerability with quite a few more details about it. The reason RIM took so long to release the advisory was because RIM had to wait for carriers to approve the security software update. RIM provided the fix within two weeks of learning of the vulnerability. Now SIX MONTHS LATER RIM has found that “a sufficient number of wireless services providers” have made the update available to their customers.

Overview:-

This security advisory addresses three specific vulnerabilities affecting the implementation of open source WebKit technology in the BlackBerry Browser in BlackBerry 6. Successful exploitation of the vulnerabilities requires the BlackBerry smartphone user to browse to a website that the attacker has maliciously designed. A successful attack could result in remote code execution (RCE) on a smartphone running BlackBerry 6. An attacker exploiting these vulnerabilities could read or write to the built-in media storage section of a BlackBerry smartphone or to the media card but could not access user data that the email, calendar, and contact applications store in the application storage (the internal file system that stores application data and user data) of the BlackBerry smartphone.

The most severe of the three vulnerabilities has a CVSS score of 6.8. The least severe has a CVSS score of 5.0. At this time there is no evidence of the vulnerabilities being used in attacks against the BlackBerry platform, and RIM is not aware of any impact to BlackBerry customers as a result of these vulnerabilities. 

Note:- KB26132 was previously published as a Security Notice to responsibly advise customers about the existence of one of the three vulnerabilities, which had been publicly disclosed, and provide workaround options in lieu of a software update to address that issue for all affected customers. This Security Advisory replaces that Security Notice and provides full details of publicly available software updates that address that issue and two related issues, and urges affected customers to upgrade.

For more details click Here

-News Source (RIM & Berry Review) 

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Microsoft Plugs Internet Explorer Security Hole (Which was Exposed in A Contest)

Microsoft last week patched the last vulnerability in Internet Explorer (IE) used by a researcher in March to win $15,000 at the
The company had patched IE twice before to quash bugs exploited by Stephen Fewer of Harmony Security to bring down IE8 on Windows 7 at Pwn2Own. For his efforts, Fewer was awarded a cash prize of $15,000 and a Sony notebook.

Microsoft internet explorer Fewer chained three exploits , each for a different vulnerability, to bypass IE's sandbox, called "Protected Mode," and compromise IE8. Pwn2Own sponsor HP Tipping Point called the feat "impressive" at the time.
Microsoft patched the third IE bug in a multiple-flaw update to its browser, part of a 13-bulletin collection .
Although Microsoft credited Fewer in the MS11-057 bulletin for reporting the third vulnerability, it said the bug wasn't a security flaw. "Yes, this update addresses a Protected Mode bypass issue, publicly referenced as CVE-2011-1347," Microsoft said in response to an FAQ query, "Does this update contain any non-security related changes to functionality?"
At Pwn2Own, Fewer used the bypass bug to escape Protected Mode so he could circumvent the browser's sandbox, which allowed him to add a file to the machine, a task that mimicked a hacker's insertion of malware.

Fewer confirmed that last week's IE update fixed the final flaw he used at Pwn2Own.
"Yes MS11-057 patches the final bug, the protected mode bypass, that I used in my Pwn2Own exploit, the other two being a use-after-free which was patched in MS11-018 and an information leak patched in MS11-050," Fewer said today in an email reply to questions.

Earlier Flaws Addressed

MS11-018 and MS11-050 were the designations of the April and June bulletins, respectively, that patched the two other vulnerabilities he reported to Microsoft via Tipping Point's bug bounty program.
According to Aaron Portnoy, manager of TippingPoint security research team and the company's Pwn2Own organizer, Tuesday's IE update wraps up patching for the 2011 contest.
During Pwn2Own, Microsoft said that IE9, the browser that launched shortly after Fewer's hack, did not contain the bugs he exploited.
Including Tuesday's update, IE9 has been patched twice since its March launch. Of the August bugs Microsoft acknowledged as security issues, one was reported by Fewer.
"Yes, I have been doing some research into IE9 and actually my first IE9 vulnerability was also patched this Tuesday as part of MS11-057," Fewer said, referring to a separate bug he was credited with this week.
That flaw, dubbed "CVE-2011-1964," was reported via TippingPoint to Microsoft in May, and was ranked critical for IE9 when run on Vista or Windows 7.
Fewer wouldn't commit to taking on IE9 at next year's Pwn2Own, but he left the door open to a repeat performance. "I don't have any plans as of yet for next year's competition, but if I have a few new bugs handy closer to the time, who knows?"
August's security updates, including MS11-057 for IE, can be downloaded and installed via the Microsoft Update and Windows Update services, as well as through Windows Server Update Services.

-News Source (PC-World)

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critical Chrome bugs has been patched

Google on Tuesday patched several vulnerabilities in Chrome, including two a French security company said could be used to bypass the browser's anti-exploit technology.

But Chrome 11.0.696.71, which Google rolled out yesterday to users via its automatic update mechanism, does not patch the flaw that Vupen researchers said earlier this month could be exploited on Windows 7. Tuesday's security update was the second for the Chrome "stable" build -- the most polished version of the browser -- this month. Google fixed four vulnerabilities in the update, including two rated "critical," the category typically reserved for bugs that may let an attacker escape Chrome's "sandbox." Google has patched five critical bugs so far this year. One of the remaining pair of flaws was ranked "high" -- and got the researcher who reported it a $1,000 bug bounty -- while the other was labeled "low" on Google's four-step threat scoring system. The two critical vulnerabilities were credited to Google's own security engineers. Although Google declined to confirm that the two most serious bugs could be used by attackers to break out of the Chrome sandbox, and thus plant malicious code on the computer, French security firm Vupen said that that was likely. "The vulnerabilities fixed today and related to GPU and blob handling are a typical example of critical vulnerabilities that can affect Chrome and can be exploited to execute arbitrary code outside the sandbox," said Chaouki Bekar, Vupen's CEO and head of research, in an email reply to questions. Still unpatched, said Bekar, is the bug or bugs that Vupen said its researchers found, then figured out how to exploit, earlier this month. "The recent flaws we discovered in Chrome, including the sandbox bypass, remain unpatched and our exploit code works with version 11.0.696.71, too," said Bekar. Those vulnerabilities made news earlier this month when Vupen announced it had hacked Chrome by sidestepping not only the browser's built-in sandbox but also by evading Windows 7's integrated anti-exploit technologies. Within days, several Google engineers denied that the bugs Vupen exploited were in Chrome itself, claiming instead that the French firm leveraged a flaw in Adobe's Flash, which Google bundles with Chrome. Chrome has been resistant to attack, primarily because of its sandbox technology, which is designed to isolate the browser from the rest of the machine, making it very difficult for a hacker to execute code on the computer. For example, Chrome has escaped unscathed in each of the last three Pwn2Own hacking contests, an annual challenge hosted by the CanSecWest conference in Vancouver, British Columbia, and sponsored by HP TippingPoint's bug bounty program. No other browser included in Pwn2Own has matched Chrome's record at the contest. On Tuesday, Google spokesman Jay Nancarrow declined to comment further about the Vupen exploit claims, and referred to previous statements that Google was unable to investigate the bugs because Vupen would not share details of the flaws. Last year, Vupen announced a change in its vulnerability disclosure policies, saying it would no longer report bugs to vendors -- as do many researchers -- but would reveal its work only to paying customers. According to Web measurement company Net Applications, Chrome accounted for 11.9% of all browsers used last month, putting Google's program in third place behind Microsoft's Internet Explorer, with 55.1%, and Mozilla's Firefox, with 21.6%. Chrome 11 can be downloaded for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux from Google's Web site. Users already running the browser will be updated automatically.

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Google engineers deny Chrome hack exploited browser's code

Several Google security engineers have countered claims that a French security company found a vulnerability in Chrome that could let attackers hijack Windows PCs running the company's browser.

Several Google security engineers have countered claims that a French security company found a vulnerability in Chrome that could let attackers hijack Windows PCs running the company's browser.

Instead, those engineers said the bug Vupen exploited to hack Chrome was in Adobe's Flash, which Google has bundled with the browser for over a year.

Google's official position, however, has not changed since Monday, when Vupen announced it had successfully hacked Chrome by sidestepping not only the browser's built-in "sandbox" but also by evading Windows 7's integrated anti-exploit technologies.

"The investigation is ongoing because Vupen is not sharing any details with us," a Google spokesman said today via email.

But others who work for Google were certain that at least one of the flaws Vupen exploited was in Flash's code, not Chrome's.

"As usual, security journalists don't bother to fact check," said Tavis Ormandy, a Google security engineer, in atweet earlier today . "Vupen misunderstood how sandboxing worked in Chrome, and only had a Flash bug."

"It's a legit pwn, but if it requires Flash, it's not a Chrome pwn," tweeted Chris Evans, a Google security engineer and Chrome team lead, using the security-speak term for compromising an application or computer.

Justin Schuh, whose LinkedIn account also identifies him as a Google security engineer, chimed in with , "No one is saying it's not a legit exploit. The point is that it's not the exploit [Vupen] claimed."

When asked to confirm the source of the vulnerabilities it exploited, Vupen was blunt in its refusal to share any information.

"We will not help Google in finding the vulnerabilities," said Chaouki Bekrar, Vupen's CEO and head of research, in an email reply to questions. "Nobody knows how we bypassed Google Chrome's sandbox except us and our customers, and any claim is a pure speculation."

Last year, Vupen changed its vulnerability disclosure policies when it announced it would no longer report bugs to vendors -- as do many researchers -- but instead would reveal its work only to paying customers.

Today's Twitter back-and-forth between Google's engineers and Bekrar grew heated at times.

"When it comes to critical vulnerabilities, all software vendors/devs (including Google) always try to downplay the findings," Bekrar said on Twitter .

"I was thinking something similar about researchers who inflate their accomplishments," Schuh replied , also on Twitter, to Bekrar.

The point made by Ormandy, Evans and Schuh was that Vupen didn't exploit a bug in Chrome's own code, but in Flash, which has been partially sandboxed in the stable version of the browser since early March 2011 .

While the Google engineers seemed to acknowledge that a bug in Flash was involved in Vupen's exploit, they also defended the sandbox technology -- meant to isolate Flash from the rest of the computer -- even as it apparently failed to prevent an attack.

"The Flash sandbox blog post went to pains to call it an initial step," said Evans. "It protects some stuff, more to come. Flash sandbox [does not equal] Chrome sandbox."

The blog Evans referred to was published in December 2010 , where Schuh and another Google developer, Carlos Pizano said, "While we've laid a tremendous amount of groundwork in this initial sandbox, there's still more work to be done."

Chrome's Flash sandbox is currently available only in the Windows version of the browser; Google has promised to implement it in the Mac and Linux editions, but has not yet done so.

While Bekrar later hinted that Vupen's exploit did leverage a Flash vulnerability, he said the attack code also took advantage of at least one other bug. "[Chrome's] built-in plug-ins such as Flash are launched inside the sandbox which was created by Google, so finding and exploiting a Flash or a WebKit vulnerability will fall inside the sandboxes and will not circumvent it," he wrote. "A sandbox bypass exploit is still required."

Chrome has a reputation as a secure browser, in large part because of its sandbox technology. Chrome is the only browser to have escaped unscathed at the last three Pwn2Own hacking contests, the annual challenge hosted by the CanSecWest conference in Vancouver, British Columbia, and sponsored by HP TippingPoint's bug bounty program.

In March 2011, no one took on Chrome at Pwn2Own, even though Google had offered a $20,000 prize to the first researcher who hacked the browser and its sandbox.

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Hackers Subvert Google Chrome Sandbox

On Monday, French vulnerability research firm Vupen said that it has discovered a way to circumvent the sandbox in the Google Chrome browser. The sandbox is designed to prevent attackers from exploiting arbitrary code via the browser.

According to Vupen, the exploit it created "bypasses all security features including ASLR/DEP/Sandbox (and without exploiting a Windows kernel vulnerability), it is silent (no crash after executing the payload), it relies on undisclosed (0 day) vulnerabilities discovered by Vupen, and it works on all Windows systems (32-bit and x64)." ASLR and DEP refer to two attack mitigation technologies: address space layout randomization (ASLR), for preventing attackers from easily locating local files to exploit, and data execution prevention (DEP) for preventing attackers from executing arbitrary code.

Vupen, however, didn't provide specific details of the attack. Rather, the company said that it's only releasing details of the proof-of-concept exploit to its government customers. "For security reasons, the exploit code and technical details of the underlying vulnerabilities will not be publicly disclosed. They are exclusively shared with our government customers as part of our vulnerability research services," it said.

For everyone else, Vupen uploaded a video demonstration of the attack to its website, which shows Chrome v11.0.696.65 being exploited when a user visits a Web page containing the exploit code. For the purposes of the demonstration, the exploit code downloads the Calculator application from a remote location, then launches it on the user's PC, outside the sandbox.

Asked for comment on the flaw itself, or the potential risk it poses to Chrome users, Google demurred. "We're unable to verify Vupen's claims at this time as we have not received any details from them," said a spokesperson for Google, via email. "Should any modifications become necessary, users will be automatically updated to the latest version of Chrome.

Google has a reputation for rapidly patching Chrome, helped in no small part--given the prevalence of Adobe Flash, Reader, and Acrobat bugs--by its having first dibs on Adobe patches.

Exploiting Chrome has evidently been on the Vupen researchers' minds. In March, they won a prize in thePwn2Own hacking contest by compromising Apple Safari in five seconds, which earned them $15,000. But they could have sweetened the pot by $5,000 if they had hacked Google Chrome, which hadn't been cracked during three years' worth of Pwn2Own contests.

At least part of that fact could be due to Google running its own bug bounty program, which now pays anywhere from $500 to $3,133.70 for information on particularly egregious vulnerabilities in or clever exploits of its products. Vupen not submitting the details of the bug it discovered leaves open the possibility that someone else might submit the information in return for the reward.

But Vupen's move also illustrates the market dynamics at work behind vulnerability research. Namely, a company such as Vupen builds its business by attracting subscribers to its software vulnerability information service, meaning that its revenue relates directly to the quality, timeliness, and--sometimes--exclusivity of its bug notices.

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Security firm exploits Chrome zero-day to hack browser, escape sandbox

 French security company Vupen said today that it's figured out how to hack Google's Chrome by sidestepping not only the browser's built-in "sandbox" but also by evading Windows 7's integrated anti-exploit technologies.

Google said it was unable to confirm Vupen's claims.

"The exploit ... is one of the most sophisticated codes we have seen and created so far, as it bypasses all security features including ASLR/DEP/Sandbox," said Vupen in a blog post Monday. "It is silent (no crash after executing the payload), it relies on undisclosed ('zero-day') vulnerabilities and it works on all Windows systems."

Vupen posted a video demonstration of its exploit on YouTube.

According to Vupen, its exploit can be served from a malicious Web site. If a Chrome user surfed to such a site, the exploit executes "various payloads to ultimately download the Calculator from a remote location and launch it outside the sandbox at Medium integrity level."

Vupen used the Windows Calculator only as an example: In an actual attack, the "calc.exe" file would be replaced by a hacker-made payload.

Historically, Chrome has been the most difficult browser to hack, primarily because of its sandbox technology, which is designed to isolate Chrome from the rest of the machine to make it very difficult for a hacker to execute attack code on the PC.

For example, Chrome has escaped unscathed in the last three Pwn2Own hacking contests, an annual challenge hosted by the CanSecWest conference in Vancouver, British Columbia, and sponsored by HP TippingPoint's bug bounty program.

Last March, a team from Vupen walked away with a $15,000 cash prize afterhacking Safari, the Apple browser that, like Chrome, is built on the open-source WebKit browser engine.

But no one took on Chrome at 2011's Pwn2Own, even though Google had offered a $20,000 prize to the first researcher who hacked the browser and its sandbox.

The Vupen attack code also bypassed Windows 7's ASLR (address space layout randomization) and DEP (data execution prevention), two other security technologies meant to make hackers' jobs tougher.

Vupen said it would not publicly release details of the exploit, or the unpatched bug(s) in Chrome. "This code and the technical details of the underlying vulnerabilities will not be publicly disclosed," said Vupen. "They are shared exclusively with our Government customers as part of our vulnerability research services."

Last year, Vupen changed its vulnerability disclosure policies when it announced it would no longer report bugs to vendors, but instead would reveal its research only to paying customers.

Other security experts reacted today to the news of one or more Chrome zero-days, and to Vupen's practice of providing details only to its clients.

"I suppose that means we have a known Chrome 0-day floating around. That's fun," said Jeremiah Grossman, CTO of WhiteHat Security, in a Twitter message today.

"That also means for that the [government] is outbidding Google for bug bounties," Grossman added in a follow-up tweet.

"For now, the [government] still has more money than Google," chimed in Charlie Miller, the only researcher who has won cash prizes at four straight Pwn2Own contests.

Google, like rival browser maker Mozilla, runs a bounty program that pays independent researchers for reporting flaws in Chrome. Last month, Google paid out a record $16,500 in bounties for bugs it patched in a single update. In the first four months of 2011, Google spent more than $77,000 on bug bounties.

Google cited Vupen's policy of not reporting flaws as the reason it could not verify the French firm's assertions.

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