Showing posts sorted by date for query bug. Sort by relevance Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by date for query bug. Sort by relevance Show all posts

VOGH Exclusive: URL Redirection Vulnerability Found In Facebook

Posted by Avik Sarkar On 1/02/2014 11:10:00 pm

VOGH Exclusive: URL Redirection Vulnerability Found In Facebook [The Vulnerability Still Active & Not Been Patched]
Facebook -the world's largest social networking site with registered users of more than one billion, is considered among one of the safest site of the cyber space. To maintain such reputation Facebook Inc has done all the required steps, that one could possibly take. Like other high profile and very popular websites, Facebook also stand as one of the hot target of almost every cyber criminals of the world. To get rid of this and make FB safe and secure, the company have introduced what it called 'Bug Bounty' offer; where you can submit vulnerabilities to FB and get rewarded. We have seen many security researchers and hackers across the globe has done this and get their award. But not every time, and today I will talk about that- few days ago a reader of VOGH, who also goes by the nick name of 'Dr41DeY' has figured out a URL redirection vulnerability in Facebook. One of the link in Facebook App which is apps.facebook.com is posing URL redirection vulnerability. The hacker has demonstrated how any one can use  the vulnerability  in order to manipulate millions of innocent Facebook users. Let see  

Before publishing this, one of our VOGH representative have talked with Facebook Security regarding this security vulnerability, but due to some reason FB might overlooked this issue. Finally after waiting for almost a week, we the Team VOGH decided to bring this in-front of our reader. Let briefly go through with the vulnerable link- 

https://apps.facebook.com/a.php?u=http://www.voiceofgreyhat.com&mac=AQLy7nyXi5NBt31j&__tn__=*B&eid=AQLpbizR7KEf3cyD0VTN7fNtv99fMZABDp2gdWhvL-MQocJIPy3w4hUG7_7hrmSMqDq7QLCI9k_0LbB95NEz_6GUDHGNgTDsGP_rX-VWRHxfg5a--VlnN1K9FdG3NAek8r2JPWENkb2Mu56EckbZCGXcPie27OnHxE-H7MBufQel0Pr-ZjpCWB6QF5xHeWsdKqyHzjK2woBGGrjk9Dlgnzcw3d9ZWPzrwbGpm6MSkpks3mqEphXnTP2Vd9UDQxIs68NnTaO35XIwKq5t3CSdb11iU_34gzjfLgvvDo_BYbgtrGe0Juc5CpRSwd5nImw9oPPvn6Za9rrxO_ivROtOGc2b2S3bYzNLWpbDwt3cFN2rJ3JElyIR0vjB4R859PpE9SrZx6AD3s_liikzPh30YLVb8XvPABk7r9MShk6OrVFPiAWZnEvPx49UzPDSF-nEl188rEPAi0KGJ4u1zb10hhzmHUCjH04SezDByUkyNituMb2lgiQz-Xlpgy_tkVYR-U7plDa38N9VzdAj_Bwefd7B85ykZCAy9ZQOt48Ql8KQeKfivk3sThZIkLwWPiju7R28Sw6bj09vS_Y28kFSqanGe9tYAPfKIe4zOzQt9-Q1CC_EwX3ypOlyQ2yXMiU3lwp7M9EriKHRFDsTgsuzzF-uvlpx3UrWh8M55-NX0ULjr4kxjAR5g_1wU-luUyn_Ot6Ly1_ZbBdahyb5uSmCDNvF5kMuIH8Gxvpql45dNffGzKau9oZGn6r1OmsG47JIGipznCVaZnWjXAakDnEMX6X8ZtI-M-db1olzbBpJdj5sZe-x2VM02S5XsXJWe_QLxFDOupjbz8I82HETHQ9PbzSIMsJboll4E3-f_JQFfdzwEguLa8SC_ImRahWBCwKNJeSlmRv91FqWpQaChe5-UyAoqcblvK4jPuRO3qC7o-qMTQ2jEJqqUW46koulOmgNJpMYXPgRxjNGcwjyTPS59Nr08zq6eCNd1aYLh2E4s5MYXBtVUTF8l0uhQ2wYSoR66xZsI2tK0DD1KiQHyTO1QieBwPtCN3eWgRzUTg3lM3ttkuwYKRPPLDvtUOPWmZhYUzUFcbfPM2kXdpqyGlrGx9-ErKGygYKATx2xzrTzktjgW4q0L5wfO3CSKAOCAoKfi_pfz-zIHSNE8ZAjZDtpbC_chgkvbHWJYYIs7pnE1riWJYORACjkkRr6nZoivC3z_g-8JBahghwy2C34kJYZJ6cBC8LKoB6KCTbj_F1tArQAzcSUij4vrJNUATzsdlO_ol6HwUQb8FjoWa38Bhtx81stxB328sgC9IGu1omPG0QeNJVhcJwh6HyEwtgycBLrlcdedaWbkwvnjv3F3BWuJIi763nBeYuAgNUaEUYHaXu_ZJzXW8fQ72nz_hddGT_GH50&sig=89099

Replace voiceofgreyhat.com with any of your favorite site, and the the said vulnerability will allow you to get redirected to that very website you want to from Facebook. This loophole is still active, and any one can test that with the above url, we thought the impact of this loophole is very serious, as any malicious attacker can misuse the trust-hod of Facebook's url in order to harm regular internet users, while redirecting them to any junk or malfunctional websites.

Disclaimer:- Earlier I told that the issue has already brought into the notice of Facebook Security, but they overlooked the whole issue, so being a responsible cyber media, we VOGH are disclosing this to people. If any one misuse this vulnerability, then Voiceofgreyhat will not at all be responsible for any kind of mishap.

Update:- May be doing more that what we call late repent, but finally the above disclosed vulnerability has been patched by Facebook security team. 


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'Royal Concierge' Secret Program of GCHQ to Spy Foreign Diplomats Through Hotel Bookings Unveiled By Edward Snowden

Posted by Avik Sarkar On 11/18/2013 08:15:00 pm

'Royal Concierge' Secret Program of GCHQ to Spy Foreign Diplomats By Hotel Bookings Unveiled By Edward Snowden

Edward Snowden the American whistle blowers who is currently living in Russia under temporary asylum, after Snowden is considered a fugitive by American authorities who have charged him with espionage and theft of government property  yet again uncovered what it called sensational information. This time he unfold a top secret program of Britain's GCHQ intelligence agency & US National Security Agency (NSA). In which they infiltrated the reservation systems of around 350 luxury hotels popular among diplomats and government officials with the help of a sophisticated program code-named "Royal Concierge" Royal Concierge designed to keeps tabs on foreign diplomats by monitoring their hotel bookings. This can include monitoring a hotel room and its guest by wiretapping the telephone and fax machine, gaining access to computers hooked up to the hotel network, or eavesdropping on the diplomat in the hotel bar. This surveillance program, uses a logo with a penguin -- meant to stand for the black and white uniforms worn by staff at top hotels -- wearing a crown, a purple cape and holding a wand. The top secret program automatically checked whether the e-mail address of a visitor on the hotel booking system matched with the address of his government and with this information the GCHQ could take the necessary steps to bug the concerned hotel room, to tap its telephones or to eavesdrop into the electronic data transfer, the news weekly said. Snowden said GCHQ has been using the search and analyse program for more than three years to track diplomats and government officials among hotel guests. 

The above breathtaking information first came on a German magazine 'Der Spiegel' on Sunday. And this exciting leaks been provided by former US intelligence contractor Edward Snowden. After this lurid information came to light, press asked questions to GCHQ, in response an official of GCHQ said "We are not going to comment on this report". But the entire conversation with Der Spiegel reporter with GCHQ officials came to the conclusion of GCHQ "neither confirms nor denies the allegation". On th other hand Britain's top spy chiefs reacted angrily to leaks by Snowden, a fugitive former analyst for the US National Security Agency, in an appearance this month before a parliamentary committee. Denying Britons were under mass surveillance, the heads of the foreign spy agency MI6, the domestic intelligence service MI5 and GCHQ warned that al-Qaeda and other enemies were "lapping up" intelligence revelations by Snowden and using them to change the way they operate.


-Source (AFP, News 24)





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Apple Brings iOS 7.0.4 [Includes New Features, FaceTime Bug & App Store Purchase Flaw Fixed]

Posted by Avik Sarkar On 11/17/2013 06:32:00 pm

Apple Brings iOS 7.0.4 & iOS 6.1.5 Includes New Features, FaceTime Bug  & App Store Purchase Flaw Fixed


California based tech giant Apple Inc has released a new update on their popular iOS software running on iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch devices. This release of of iOS 7.0.4  includes bug fixes and improvements, including a fix for an issue that causes FaceTime calls to fail for some users. iPods that are not able to upgrade to iOS 7 have their own version to upgrade to, iOS 6.1.5. The release of iOS 7.04 marks the third update of the iPhone operating system in the short time since Apple pushed out iOS 7 in September. The new OS represented a major change from the older operating systems, both in the look and feel of the software and in its functionality.  There’s much zooming in and out and all about in iOS 7, as well as a blurry background that has drawn quite a bit of criticism. iOS 7 also was a major security release, fixing issues with the iPhone’s certificate trust policy as well as remote code-execution vulnerabilities in the CoreGraphics and CoreMedia components. 

The new update improves iCloud Keychain, which was introduced in iOS 7.0.3, and the latest version of the desktop software, OS X Mavericks. The cloud-based technology keeps the Safari browser's passwords and credit card data in sync across all your Apple devices. Secondly, in Spotlight, the device's internal search engine, Apple has brought back the ability to search Google and Wikipedia from the results. The two services were removed when iOS 7 was first released in mid-September. 
Also on Thursday, Apple released a corresponding update to its Apple TV, updating the set-top box to version 6.0.2.  Users can update to the latest version by accessing the device's Settings, selecting General, then Software Update. In spite of the relatively small size of the update, it's recommended that users use Wi-Fi when updating. To avoid security vulnerabilities every Apple users are highly recommended to update their software. 



-Source (Apple, ZDNet & Threat Post) 





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Linux Mint 16 "Petra" Released With Choice of MATE or Cinnamon

Posted by Avik Sarkar On 11/17/2013 06:29:00 pm

Linux Mint 16 "Petra" Released With Choice of MATE or Cinnamon

Earlier we have talked many times on Linux Mint, it is one of most modern, elegant and comfortable operating system based on Ubuntu or Debian which is both powerful and easy to use. The Linux Mint project has started  in 2006, since then the consistent effort of it's developers and contributors has made Linux Mint the 4th most widely used home operating system behind Microsoft Windows, Apple Mac OS and Canonical's Ubuntu. As promised from beginning the mint team used to release their new version in every six months. The last we got was Linux Mint 15 'Olivia'. Again also the team proudly to announced the release of Linux Mint 16 code named "Petra". There's been quite a lot of anticipation for the next version of Linux Mint, and as expected the result is indeed satisfactory. According to the official blog of Linux Mint- "Petra" took 6 months of incremental development on top of stable and reliable technologies. This new release comes with updated software and brings refinements and new features to make your desktop even more comfortable to use. This new release comes with updated software and brings refinements and new features to make your desktop even more comfortable to use." One of the more interesting updates of the release is version 2.0 of Cinnamon (a fork of GNOME Shell), with a large number of new features: "Cinnamon 2.0 represents 5 months of development and 856 commits from 28 developers. It features a lot of bug fixes but also brand new features and many improvements." Lets look at the new features at a glance:

New features in Linux Mint 16 MATE:-
  • Login Screen
  • USB Stick support
  • Performance improvements
  • Software Manager
  • System Improvements
  • Artwork Improvements
  • Main Components 


For a complete overview and to see screenshots of the new features Linux Mint 16 click here. The Linux Mint site has a list of new features separately for both MATE and Cinnamon. Make sure to read the “Release Notes” to be aware of important info or known issues related to this release. So dear friends what are you waiting for! lets download Mint 16 and explore it. 




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Hcon Security Testing Framework (HconSTF) v0.5 Codename 'Prime' Released

Posted by Avik Sarkar On 4/07/2013 05:20:00 pm

Hcon Security Testing Framework (HconSTF) v0.5 Codename 'Prime' Released

Previously we have discussed couple of times about HconSTF - a browser based security testing framework. Earlier in last year we got HconSTF version 0.4, now after almost 14 month, the author of Hcon, Mr. Ashish Mistry (Information Security Researcher) has proudly released the version 0.5 of HconSTF code named "Prime." No doubt that Hcon has already became a very popular and widely used browser based pen testing framework. Not only in hackers community but also several security experts and infosec researcher's prefers Hcon as one of their all time favorite pentesing tool as HconSTF is very flexible and very handy multipurpose tool for any IT Security Professionals, Web Bug bounty Hunters, Web Developers or any one interested in IT security. As expected this version of Hcon, came with enhanced features and more functionality, so lets take a glance of HconSTF v0.5 -

HconSTF is semi-automated but you still need your brain to work it out. It can be use in all kind of security testing stages, it has tools for conducting tasks like,
  • Web Penetration Testing
  • Web Exploits Development
  • Web Malware Analysis
  • Open Source Intelligence ( Cyber Spying & Doxing )
  • and much more with lots of hidden features

HconSTF v0.5 in Brief:-
  • Based on Firefox 17.0.1
  • Designed in Process based methodology
  • Less in size (40mb packed-80mb extracted), consumes less memory
  • More than 165+ search plugins
  • New IDB 0.1 release integrated
  • Underlined Logging for each and every request
  • More NEW scanners for DomXSS, Reflected XSS
  • New reporting features like note taking, url logging for easy report making
  • Smart searchbox - just select and it will copy it and just change search engine to search
  • Integrated Tor, AdvoR, I2p and more proxies
  • New Grease monkey scripts (18 scripts)
To Download HconSTF v0.5 Click Here [Download Type- Portable (no need to install , run from usb drive or any memory card) Platform : Windows XP , Vista , 7 both x32 & x64]





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Facebook Hacker Cup 2013: Petr Mitrichev Won The Competition Followed By Jakub Pachocki & Marcin Smulewicz

Posted by Avik Sarkar On 3/31/2013 03:21:00 pm

Facebook Hacker Cup 2013: Petr Mitrichev Won The Competition Followed By Jakub Pachocki & Marcin Smulewicz

Now a days leading organizations offers bug bounty and other competitions by which hackers from different part of the world will participate and find out security holes, in order to make more secure product and enhance cyber security. While talking about hackers competition then the name of "Hacker Cup" organized by the social networking giant Facebook will surely be an important one. Like last last two years, this year also Facebook called Hacker Cup 2013 in February and after completing several exciting  rounds finally we have the winners of this year's championship. Last year it was Roman Andreev of Russia who won the Hacker Cup with a heavy and prestigious trophy and a check for $5,000. Just like last year, this time also thousand of hackers across the globe participated in the competition and after completing the breathtaking championship three lucky winners been rewarded by Facebook for the outstanding performance. And the winners of Hacker Cup 2013 are Petr Mitrichev,  in second place we have Jakub Pachocki and third place it was Marcin Smulewicz. The social networking giant congratulated all the competitors who taken part in Hacker Cup for a great showing and performance. This year winner Petr Mitrichev solved all the four problems (Archiver, Colored Trees, Minesweeping, Teleports) in a due time and honored with the highly coveted Hacker Cup Trophy and an amount of $10,000. Here are some key moments of this year Hacker Cup:- 
 (Hacker Cup 2103 Finalist)
 (Competition is on)
 (The Prestigious Trophy) 
(Electric Moment)
(Hacker Cup 2103 Award)

(Petr Mitrichev Hacker Cup Winner)
Brief About Facebook Hacker Cup:-
Hacking is core to how we build at Facebook. Whether we’re building a prototype for a major product like Timeline at a Hackathon, creating a smarter search algorithm, or tearing down walls at our new headquarters, we’re always hacking to find better ways to solve problems. Programmers from around the world will be judged on accuracy and speed as they race to solve algorithmic problems to advance through up to five rounds of programming challenges. This is the chance to compete against the world’s best programmers for awesome prizes and the title of World Champion. 
As expected Facebook promises to continue this event every year so keep your eye out for signups to open to be the Hacker Cup 2014. So stay tuned with VOGH, for all the upcoming updates on cyber security. 







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

Posted by Avik Sarkar On 3/11/2013 02:55:00 am

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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NBC.com Compromised, Hackers Exploited The Website to Spread Malware

Posted by Avik Sarkar On 2/25/2013 02:07:00 pm

NBC.com Compromised, Hackers Exploited The Website to Spread Malware

The month of February is still going from bad to worse for the cyber domain, in this very month cyber criminals swallowed the security system of many giant companies like Facebook, Twitter, Apple, New York Times and many more. But the game is not over yet, as we have just passed a few weeks, when the attack on NY Times took place, which stolen the employ database; yet again the cyber criminals have targeted another media giant National Broadcasting Company widely known as NBC. During the attack, hackers have successfully gain access inside the server of NBC and planted malware, in order to harm innocent readers. Famous security expert and blogger Brian Krebs said that the hackers inserted code into the NBC.com homepage. This caused visiting browsers to load pages from third-party sites that were compromised. While explaining the nature of the attacker, Krebs said; "The compromised sites tried to foist the Citadel Trojan, a variant of the Zeus Trojan." The Zeus is a "sophisticated data theft tool that steals passwords and allows attackers to control machines remotely" he added. Not only the NBC’s home page, also several others were affected, including the pages of late night talk show hosts Jay Leno and Jimmy Fallon. Well known security firm Sophos explained how roughly attack played out, and how NBC got sucked into the equation:
  • NBC's hacked pages were altered to add some malicious JavaScript that ran in your browser.
  • The JavaScript injected an additional HTML component known as an IFRAME (inline frame) into the web page.
  • The IFRAME sucked in further malicious content from websites infected with an exploit kit known as RedKit.
  • The exploit kit delivered one of two exploit files to try to take control over your browser via a Java vulnerability or a PDF bug.
  • If the exploit worked on your computer, financially-related crimeware from the Citadel or ZeroAccess families was installed.
This, of course, is an example of a dreaded drive-by download, where the crooks use a cascade of tricks to download, install and execute software without going through any of the warnings or confirmation dialog you might expect. This, in turn, means that even if you are a careful and well-informed user, you may end up in trouble, since there are no obvious signs that you are doing anything risky, or even unexpected.
As soon as this story get spotted the American commercial broadcasting television network, NBC News reported and confirmed that its site had been attacked. The broadcaster released the following statement regarding the website: "We've identified the problem and are working to resolve it. No user information has been compromised."
The emergency response team immediately take the situation under control and restored the website, and confirmed that the site is back again and completely safe for its visitors. But so far there is no evidence of attackers who were involved in this attack. For the safety of VOGH readers we would like to recommend you to update your operating systems and browser plugins. Also note that the attack on NBC was similar to many that have occurred in recent years in that the malicious sites tried to exploit vulnerabilities in Java. So it will better to disable Java, unless it is that much necessary. So stay tuned with VOGH and be safe in the cyber domain. 






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Oracle Released Java 7 update 10 With Security Enhancements & Bug Fixes

Posted by Avik Sarkar On 12/21/2012 07:18:00 pm

Oracle Released Java 7 update 10 With Security Enhancements & Bug Fixes 

This is the third time in a year when Oracle has updated the standard edition of Java platform. This release includes new security controls in addition to a bug fix and updated timezone data. This latest update also contains a number of security enhancements and is now certified for Mac OS X 10.8 and Windows 8. The security enhancements include the ability to disable any Java application from running in the browser and the ability to set a desired level of security for unsigned applets, Java Web Start applications, and embedded JavaFX applications. While keeping in mind the last security issues with Java, in the press release of this Java update Oracle said "if the JRE is deemed expired or insecure, additional security warnings are displayed. In most of these dialogs, the user has the option to block running the app, to continue running the app, or to go to java.com to download the latest release."

Security Feature Enhancements

The JDK 7u10 release includes the following enhancements:
  • The ability to disable any Java application from running in the browser. This mode can be set in the Java Control Panel or (on Microsoft Windows platform only) using a command-line install argument.
  • The ability to select the desired level of security for unsigned applets, Java Web Start applications, and embedded JavaFX applications that run in a browser. Four levels of security are supported. This feature can be set in the Java Control Panel or (on Microsoft Windows platform only) using a command-line install argument.
  • New dialogs to warn you when the JRE is insecure (either expired or below the security baseline) and needs to be updated.

Bug Fixes

Notable Bug Fixes in JDK 7u10

The following are some of the notable bug fixes included in JDK 7u10.
Area: java command

Description: Wildcard expansion for single entry classpath does not work on Windows platforms.

The Java command and Setting the classpath documents describe how the wildcard character (*) can be used in a classpath element to expand into a list of the .jar files in the associated directory, separated by the classpath separator (;).
This wildcard expansion does not work in a Windows command shell for a single element classpath due to the Microsoft bug described in Wildcard Handling is Broken.
See 7146424.
For a list of other bug fixes included in this release, see JDK 7u10 Bug Fixes page. 

The updated Java Development Kit and Java Runtime Environment are available to download from the Oracle site. 



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Apple Hired Kristen Paget, Renowned Hacker & Former Security Expert of Microsoft

Posted by Avik Sarkar On 12/11/2012 05:53:00 pm

Apple Hired Kristen Paget, Renowned Hacker & Former Security Expert of Microsoft 

 To become  the very best along with that to maintain and hold your position, you need to deliver your hundred percent even some times more than hundred percent, and this race continues. For that we have to gather the very best guy with as. The above fact took place again, when Apple hired a renowned computer security researcher who helped Microsoft to rid Windows Vista from glaring exploits. I think, you already started guessing, let me tell you that yes you are absolutely right. Kristen Paget formerly known as Chris Paget who was part of an elite team of security experts of Microsoft has now been hired by Apple to lend her expertise to securing the company's operating systems. Apple, slowly, has been trying to make inroads into the security community. This summer, an Apple engineer spoke at the Black Hat security conference for the first time. So it is a bit predictable that why Apple is looking for security experts. Paget's exact charge at Apple is still somewhat of a mystery, with company representatives declining to comment on the specifics of what she'll be working on. After leaving Microsoft and prior to her move to 1 Infinite Loop, Paget was employed by security firm Recursion Ventures. According to sources, this past July, she'd departed stating that she wished to focus on developing security-related hardware.  
According to a report by Wired - Paget’s work at Microsoft had been similarly secretive. She’d been forbidden from speaking about it for five years after her work there ended.
But in 2011, the NDA expired, and she spilled the beans on her Vista hacking at the Black Hat Las Vegas conference. In short: Microsoft’s security team had expected Vista to be pretty clean when Paget got her hands on it, but they were wrong.
“We prevented a lot of bugs from shipping on Vista,” Paget said, according to a recording of her talk. “I’m proud of the number of bugs we found and helped get fixed.” Paget and company’s bug-hunt was so successful, in fact, that it forced Microsoft to push back Vista’s ship date. When the work was done, the hackers received special T-shirts, signed by Microsoft Vice President of Windows Development Brian Valentine. They read: “I delayed Windows Vista.” 
Until this past summer, Paget had been chief hacker at Recursion Ventures, a company that specializes in hardware security. When she left in July, she said she was looking for a break from bug-finding, hoping to find a job that involved building “security-focused hardware.”
“I’ve done too much breaking of things, it’s time to create for a change,” she said on Twitter. She was hired in September as a core operating system security researcher at Apple, according to her Linkedin Profile. 
Paget made headlines in 2010 when she built her own cellphone-intercepting base station at the Defcon hacker conference. Back then, Paget was known as Chris. She switched genders last year.

While talking about hiring geniuses by giant firms, we would like to remind you that very recently Apple has hired search guru Bill Stasior to oversee Apple's Siri voice-activated personal assistant. Along with this, few months ago social networking giant Twitter had appointed famous whitehat hacker Charlie Miller, to boost up its security.  Also in late 2011 Nicholas Allegra, the world-famous hacker known as "Comex", creator of JailbreakMe.com comes was also hired by Apple.


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TOR Client Leaking Sensitive Information From Cache Memory, Later The Bug Has Been Fixed

Posted by Avik Sarkar On 11/10/2012 12:57:00 am

TOR Client Leaking Sensitive Information From Cache Memory, Later The Bug Has Been Fixed  

Major security issue has been found in the world's most famous and widely used software for online anonymity, Tor (The Onion Router). A software developer named Andrey Karpov found that the anonymisation software uses a function called memset() to delete cache data, which is not supported by all compilers. In some cases, that can cause the TOR client to leave confidential data like passwords in the system memory when it is closed. The memset() function is problematic because it is automatically deleted when TOR is optimized for speed with a compiler like the one in Microsoft Visual Studio 2010. Once that happens, the data remains in system memory, where it can be read by malicious programs.
As soon as this security issue get spot light The Tor Project has immediately issues a fix to close the security vulnerability which leads to leak information from memory on some machines running Tor that could give an attacker access to sensitive information stored in the cache. The developers at the Tor Project were alerted to the problem recently and began looking into the issue. What they found is that in some cases, when the Tor client uses a function called memset to erase some cache data on a machine, some of that information will still remain when Tor exits. The data that remains could give an attacker access to sensitive information in the cache. The strring explaining the bug fix in Tor says that different compilers handle the situation differently. In their bug fix Tor Project says that "Tor tries to wipe potentially sensitive data after using it, so that if some subsequent security failure exposes Tor's memory, the damage will be limited. But we had a bug where the compiler was eliminating these wipe operations when it decided that the memory was no longer visible to a (correctly running) program, hence defeating our attempt at defense in depth. We fix that by using OpenSSL's OPENSSL_cleanse() operation, which a compiler is unlikely to optimize away. Future versions of Tor may use a less ridiculously heavy approach for this. Fixes bug 7352."



 -Source (Tor Project, The-H & threatpost)

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VUPEN Researchers Said: They Have First Zero-Day Exploit for Windows 8 & Internet Explorer 10

Posted by Avik Sarkar On 11/04/2012 04:52:00 am

VUPEN Researchers Said: They Have First Zero-Day Exploit for Windows 8 & Internet Explorer 10

Everyday the users of Microsoft newly launched and so far most advanced windows operating system, I mean Windows 8 are increasing. But we have to keep in mind the security threats are also increasing in parallel. Recently well known French IT security firm Vupen, also known as controversial bug hunters and exploit sellers claimed to have Zero-day exploit of Windows 8. Experts at Vupen Security took credit of cracking the low-level security enhancements featured in Windows 8, Microsoft's latest operating system. According a tweet made by the official account of Vupen Security said it already has a Windows 8 exploit on offer. "Our first 0day for Win8+IE10 with HiASLR/AntiROP/DEP & Prot Mode sandbox bypass (Flash not needed) is ready for customers. Welcome #Windows8" 
Apparently, the exploit combines several unpatched (0-day) security holes in the new version of Windows and the bundled Internet Explorer 10 browser to inject malicious code into systems via specially crafted web pages. Also VUPEN CEO and head of research Chaouki Bekrar sent out a pair of ominous Tweets yesterday claiming to have developed the first zero-day exploit for Windows 8 and Internet Explorer 10, both released Oct. 26. Bekrar hints the exploit is a sandbox bypass for IE10 with ASLR, DEP and anti-ROP mitigations enabled. “We welcome #Windows8 with various 0Ds combined to pwn all new Win8/IE10 exploit mitigations,” Bekrar wrote. 

The exploit allegedly bypasses all of Windows 8's malware protection features: for example the Address Space Layout Randomization (ASLR) function that Microsoft has extended in the current edition of Windows to cover more system areas and offer improved randomisation. Vupen claims that the exploit also bypasses the Data Execution Prevention (DEP) and ROP features as well as Internet Explorer's sandbox-like Protected Mode. A patch for the exploited holes may not become available in the foreseeable future: Vupen said that it discovered the vulnerabilities itself and doesn't plan to disclose them to Microsoft. The company is only offering its exploit to its paying customers, among them government investigation authorities. Should Microsoft close the holes, the elaborate exploit would significantly decrease in value.



-Source (The-H & threatpost)





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Mozilla Fixed Cross Site Ccripting (XSS) Flaws & Released Firefox Version 16.0.2

Posted by Avik Sarkar On 11/02/2012 03:28:00 am

Mozilla Fixed Cross Site Ccripting (XSS) Flaws & Released Firefox Version 16.0.2

Serious security hole in Mozilla Firefox has been fixed. Mozilla has announced availability of Firefox version 16.0.2, an emergency update to address a serious flaw in the way the browser treats the LocationObject. According to the advisory, successful exploitation of this flaw can result in cross site scripting or code execution. The bug was first discovered by security researcher Mariusz Mlynski, which  forced Mozilla developers to release the third emergency fix in a month since the introduction of version 16 of the popular browser. According to the Security Advisories of Mozilla Foundation -Mozilla has fixed a number of issues related to the Location object in order to enhance overall security. With Firefox 16.0.2 also the security bug in Firefox ESR 10.0.10, Thunderbird 16.0.2, Thunderbird ESR 10.0.10 & SeaMonkey 2.13.2 has been fixed. Security researcher Mariusz Mlynski reported that the true value of window.location could be shadowed by user content through the use of the valueOf method, which can be combined with some plugins to perform a cross-site scripting (XSS) attack on users. There is also the possibility of gaining arbitrary code execution if the attacker can take advantage of an add-on that interacts with the page content. Security researcher Antoine Delignat-Lavaud of the PROSECCO research team at INRIA Paris reported the ability to use property injection by prototype to bypass security wrapper protections on the Location object, allowing the cross-origin reading of the Location object. Users running older versions of Firefox are advised to update immediately using the auto-update feature built into the browser.




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BackBox Linux 3 Released! To Perform Penetration Tests & Security Assessments

Posted by Avik Sarkar On 10/26/2012 05:58:00 am

BackBox Linux 3 Released! To Perform Penetration Tests & Security Assessments

In past we have discussed many times about BackBox, which is a Linux distribution based on Ubuntu. It has been developed to perform penetration tests and security assessments. Designed to be fast, easy to use and provide a minimal yet complete desktop environment. Its own software repositories, always being updated to the latest stable version of the most used and best known ethical hacking tools. Now a days along with  BackTrack this Ubuntu based penetration testing distribution has became very popular in hacker communities, even several penetration testers also using BackBox. Like other popular Pen testing distro, BackBox also get updated periodically. This time BackBox developer team has announced a major release BackBox Linux, version 3.0. The major release include features such as the new Linux Kernel 3.2 flower and Xfce 4.8. Apart from the system major upgrade, all auditing tools are up to date as well. 

What's new:- 
  • System upgrade
  • Bug corrections
  • Performance boost
  • Improved start menu
  • Improved Wi-Fi dirvers (compat-wireless aircrack patched)
  • New and updated hacking tools
System requirements:- 
  • 32-bit or 64-bit processor
  • 512 MB of system memory (RAM)
  • 4.4 GB of disk space for installation
  • Graphics card capable of 800×600 resolution
  • DVD-ROM drive or USB port
To Download BackBox Linux Version 3.0 Click Here





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

Posted by Avik Sarkar On 10/11/2012 03:52:00 am

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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GNOME 3.6 Released! Includes Number of New Features & Enhancements

Posted by Avik Sarkar On 9/28/2012 04:41:00 am

GNOME 3.6 Released! Includes Number of New Features & Enhancements

The developers at GNOME Project officially declared the general availability of GNOME 3.6, the third major update to the 3.x series. This latest version of GNOME 3 includes a number of new features and enhancements, as well as many bug fixes and minor improvements. Together, they represent a significant upgrade to the GNOME 3 user experience. 

Highlights for this release include:
  • Big improvements to notifications, including a redesigned Message Tray, smarter notifications, and other tweaks and refinements.
  • An enhanced Activities Overview with an improved layout.
  • A greatly enhanced Files application, with functional file search, a new Recent location, redesigned interface and lots of bug fixes and handy new features.
  • Integrated Input Sources, which makes inputting different character sets (eg. Japanese or Chinese) fast and easy.
  • Accessibility on demand, meaning that universal access features like the Orca screen reader can be enabled with the push of a button.
  • A new Lock Screen. This provides an attractive view when the device is locked, plus handy functionality like media controls and notifications.
There are many other enhancements in GNOME 3.6, including Online Accounts support for Microsoft Exchange, Facebook and Windows Live, much improved System Settings and a redesigned User Menu. Many GNOME applications have also received improvements, including Web, Empathy, Disk Usage Analyzer, Disks and the Font Viewer. This release also includes the first major release of Boxes, an application for using remote systems and virtual machines, and a development preview of the new Clocks application. You can read about all the changes included in GNOME 3.6 in the release notes. To download the live image of GNOME 3.6 click Here. You can also obtain the source code for the desktop environment and compile it manually.

-Source (GNOME Project)





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