VOGH Exclusive: URL Redirection Vulnerability Found In Facebook

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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BBC Server Compromised! Russian Hackers Broke Into FTP & Tried to Sell Unauthorized Access

BBC Server Compromised! Russian Hackers Hacked Into FTP & Tried to Sell Unauthorized Access on The X-Mass Evening 

Earlier we have seen world renowned media houses like CNN, NBC, Fox News, Washington Post, NY Times, NDTV and so on have fallen victim to hackers and cyber criminals. Now it was the turn for world’s largest and oldest broadcaster -British Broadcasting Corporation, widely known to us as BBC. Sources revealed that cyber criminals have managed to breach the security system of BBC and secretly took over a computer server at the BBC and then launched a Christmas Day campaign to convince other cyber criminals to pay him for access to the system. The attack was first identified by a cyber security firm named Hold Security LLC, in Milwaukee that monitors underground cyber crime forums in search of stolen information. However, it is still not clear whether the hacker stole any information or data or caused any damage to the site. In conversation with press Alex Holden, founder and Chief Information Security Officer of Hold Security told -"So far Hold Security researchers have found no evidence the conversations led to a deal or that data was stolen from the BBC.” So far the identity of hacker has not been confirmed, but the firm researchers observed a notorious Russian hacker known by the monikers "HASH" and "Rev0lver," attempting to sell access to the BBC server on December 25. However, BBC's security team managed to secure the site on Saturday, claims a person close to clean up efforts. One of the BBC spokesman refused to comment on the issue, he said, “We do not comment on security issues.” On the other hand, Justin Clarke, a principal consultant for the cyber security firm Cylance, said that while "accessing that server establishes a foothold within BBC's network which may allow an attacker to pivot and gain further access to internal BBC resources.” So far Hold Security researchers have found no evidence the conversations led to a deal or that data was stolen from the BBC. But we all know that  ftp systems are typically used to manage the transfer of large data files over the Internet. That's why the chances of data breach cant not be denied at this time. For updates on this piece of news and other hot information of the cyber & tech world stay tuned with VOGH. 

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Chinese Hackers Eavesdropping European Diplomats Before G20 Summit

Researchers At FireEye Found -Chinese Hackers Snitching  Europeans Before G20 Summit 

Story of cyber espionage by Chinese hackers used to remain one of most highest pick of breakneck. Yet again another breathtaking issue of  eavesdropping by Chinese hackers get spot light, when  California-based renounced computer security firm FireEye Inc have figured out that a group of Chinese hackers eavesdropped on the computers of five European foreign ministries before last September's G20 Summit, which was dominated by the Syrian crisis. From the detailed analysis we came to know that the hackers have infiltrated the ministries' computer networks by sending emails to staff containing tainted files with titles such as "US_military_options_in_Syria," which sells virus fighting technology to companies. Whenever the targeted recipients opened those documents, they loaded malicious code on to their personal computers. Researchers of FireEye said that they were able to monitor the "inner workings" of the main computer server used by the hackers to conduct their reconnaissance and move across compromised systems for about a week in the late August. But suddenly they lost access to the hackers after they moved to another server shortly before the G20 Summit in St. Petersburg, Russia. 

Though the company has declined in open press to identify the nations whose ministries were hacked, although it said they were all members of the European Union. But FireEye informed the FBI about the whole issue in details. FireEye also confirmed that the hackers where from China, but they did not find evidence which may link those hackers to the Chinese government. Not surprisingly and obviously like earlier the Chinese government has distanced itself from any claim that it might have hacked foreign governments for data. FireEye also successfully monitor several dozen hacking groups operating in China, most of which they suspect of having ties to the government. The firms also suspect the hacking groups of stealing intellectual property for commercial gain. The researchers had been following the hackers behind the Syria-related attack for several years, but this is the first time the group's activities have been publicly documented. The company calls the group "Ke3chang," after the name of one of the files it uses in one of its pieces of malicious software. "The theme of the attacks was U.S. military intervention in Syria," said FireEye researcher Nart Villeneuv. 

On reaction Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said- "U.S. internet companies are keen on hyping up the so-called hacker threat from China, but they never obtain irrefutable proof, and what so-called evidence they do get is widely doubted by experts. This is neither professional nor responsible," 

While talking in this story of Chinese eavesdropping, I also want to dig some points from decent parts where we all became very habituated of seeing Europe & U.S. countries blaming China for engaging cyber attacks; and China also do the same for accusing U.S. like vice versa. I am reviving your memories of last few years where If you look at the story of major cyber attacks of this year we will find that the name of China has been involved several times for engaging cyber attacks against several high profile websites and organization of U.S. including New York Times, Twitter, NBC and so on. And if you refresh our memory then then we will find the scenario of big cyber attack and espionage by Chinese hackers have been spotted several times. In 2012 Chinese hackers had  breached Telvent's corporate network & gained control of US Power Grid. Also in the middle of last year, we have seen that Chinese hackers have broken into Indian Navy's Computer System & stolen sensitive data. Few months before this hack, Tokyo based computer security firm Trend Micro confirmed that Chinese hackers were responsible for biggest cyber-espionage in India, Japan & Tibet. Also the director of National Security Agency (NSA) General Keith Alexander confirmed that hackers from China was responsible for the serious attack on one of the leading IT security & cyber security company RSA. Also in 2011 China was responsible behind the attack on US Chamber of Commerce, Satellite System of U.S, Nortel Network & so on.  But few days ago National Computer Network Emergency Response Coordination Center of China (CNCERT/CC), China's primary computer security monitoring network claimed that China fallen victim of one of biggest cyber attacks originated from US, Japan & South Korea. We must have to say that this statement is truly irrelevant. Cyber crime investigator have found that China was directly responsible for the hack into Japan's Biggest Defense Contractor Mitsubishi, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) & Parliament of Japan. In case of South Korea  more than 13 Million of MapleStory players data has been stolen, there also hackers from China was responsible.  

Before I conclude, I request you to closely look at the above mentioned stories, you will find China majorly responsible for eavesdropping & security breach. On the same side China also been effected by the same way. So in conclusion, we cant put a full stop in this chain of cyber attacks, hacking & eavesdropping, as it comes from both end. So this exciting episode will be continued like it does. If you want to stay updated then don't forget to stay tuned with VOGH. 

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TeamSpeak Official Forum Hacked! Redirecting Users Into Malicious DotCache Exploit Kit

TeamSpeak Official Forum Hacked! Infecting Users By Malicious DotCache Exploit Kit

A serious security breach has compromised official forum of TeamSpeak, according to sources hackers have gained access inside the server and injected malicious script into the landing page of TeamSpeak official forum. Expert malware analyzer have figured out that the attack was thoroughly planned in order to infect millions of users while redirecting them to a DotCache exploit kit landing page as illustrated below 

TeamSpeak is a very famous Brazilian company who offers (VoIP) software that allows computer users to speak on a chat channel with fellow computer users, much like a telephone conference call. Users use the TeamSpeak client software to connect to a TeamSpeak server of their choice, from there they can join chat channels and enjoy the excellent VoIP service. Mostly it is used by millions of gamers across the globe. 

Basically we can consider TeamSpeak is a high value target, so did the hacker. Researchers said that the exploit kit landing page is hosted on atvisti.ro, a forum for ATV enthusiasts that's also been compromised. In a statement well known malware analyst & security researcher Jerome Segura said- if the Java exploit succeeds the final payload is loaded. In this particular example, the payload was the Zero Access Trojan which an Anti-Malware from Malwarebytes detects as Rootkit.0Access. The matter of a bit relief is that the malware has not yet been spotted in the wild. According to a statistic by Virus Total, only 7 of 46 leading antivirus can detect this type of malware. Exactly like TeamSpeak, a few days earlier Kahu Security researchers uncovered a similar compromise on the forum for the Nissan Pathfinder Off Road Association (NPORA) in both cases, JJEncode was used to obfuscate the malicious script. To avoid further infection, TeamSpeak forum has already been informed, an as expected they have over come this issue. For detail analysis of the above said malware you can visit official blog post of Malwarebytes. 

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DHS & US-CERT Recommended to Disable Java in Web Browsers

DHS & US-CERT Recommended to Disable Java in Web Browsers Unless It's Absolutely Necessary

The running time is proving to be the worst period for Java, as it has been walking under serious security issues. Yet again security researchers have pointed out a zero-day security vulnerability in the Java program that hackers are exploiting. The exploit takes advantage of a vulnerability left open in Java 7 Update 10, released in October last year. It works by getting Java users to visit a website with malicious code that takes advantage of a security gap to take control of users' computers. Thus how Java is being used by cyber criminals to infect computers with malware. Oracle, hasn't specified the number of users who have downloaded Java 7 Update 10. However, Java runs on more than 850 million computers and other devices. When Oracle released Update 10, so it is predictable that more than 850 million devices run by Java is under threat. The exploit was first discovered by French researcher Kafeine, who claimed to have found it running on a site registering hundreds of thousands of page views daily. From that site, immediately that vulnerability and a large number of effected devices has been spotted in the wild. In Java 7 Update 10 the creator of Java, Oracle added several security control and fixed older bugs and promised more security enhancement, but its very unfortunate that Oracle failed to keep their promise. What ever after this newly discovered 0-day hole spotted wildly, Oracle Security Alert CVE-2013-0422 states that Java 7 Update 11 addresses this (CVE-2013-0422) and an equally severe, but distinct vulnerability (CVE-2012-3174). Immunity has indicated that only the reflection vulnerability has been fixed and that the JMX MBean vulnerability remains. Java 7u11 sets the default Java security settings to "High" so that users will be prompted before running unsigned or self-signed Java applets. It "strongly recommends" that Java SE 7 users upgrade immediately to avoid all kind of security hazards. 

After seeing all the drama, many of you have failed to keep trust in Java, and you all will be relieved when you will gone through the security advisory of CERT (Computer Emergency Response Team) where they have clearly instructed to disable Java in your popular web-browser. In their official release CERT said "Unless it is absolutely necessary to run Java in web browsers, disable it as described below, even after updating to 7u11. This will help mitigate other Java vulnerabilities that may be discovered in the future."

You will see similar advice in the advisory posted on the official DHS US-CERT website where DHS also suggested to disable Java until and unless it is that much necessary. "To defend against this and future Java vulnerabilities, consider disabling Java in web browsers until adequate updates are available. As with any software, unnecessary features should be disabled or removed as appropriate for your environment." - said U.S. CERT in their advisory. 

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Vulnerability Found in Samsung Printers Allowing Remote Hack

Vulnerability Found in Samsung Printers Allowing Remote Hack 

Bad news for those who are using Samsung and Dell-branded printers, as in an advisory U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US CERT) issued an warning that a hard coded administrative account could allow remote attackers to take control of their device. According to the vulnerability note (VU#281284)- Samsung printers contain a hardcoded account that could allow a remote attacker to take control of an affected device. Samsung printers (as well as some Dell printers manufactured by Samsung) contain a hardcoded SNMP full read-write community string that remains active even when SNMP is disabled in the printer management utility. Manipulating the above vulnerability a remote, unauthenticated attacker could access an affected device with administrative privileges. Secondary impacts include: the ability to make changes to the device configuration, access to sensitive information (e.g., device and network information, credentials, and information passed to the printer), and the ability to leverage further attacks through arbitrary code execution. 

Solution:-
Samsung and Dell have stated that models released after October 31, 2012 are not affected by this vulnerability. Samsung and Dell have also indicated that they will be releasing a patch tool later this year to address vulnerable devices.
Block Port 1118/udp
The reporter has stated that blocking the custom SNMP trap port of 1118/udp will help mitigate the risks.

Restrict Access:
As a general good security practice, only allow connections from trusted hosts and networks. Restricting access would prevent an attacker from accessing an SNMP interface using the affected credentials from a blocked network location.

While talking about vulnerabilities in Printer, then we would like to remind you that late in last year Columbia University Researchers have discovered a vulnerability in some Hewlett-Packard (HP) LaserJet printer lines that could allow attackers to install a modified firmware to steal information, run attacks from within a network or cause physical damage to the printer. Later HP issued firmware to fix those security hole.

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Chrome 23 Closes 15 Security Vulnerabilities, Promises Longer Battery Life & Added Do Not Track (DNT)

Chrome 23 Closes 15 Security Vulnerabilities, Promises Longer Battery Life & Added Do Not Track (DNT)

The searching giant Google finally included the Do Not Track (DNT) option into its first stable version of the company's browser which is Google Chrome 23. In February internet giant Google has agreed with the White House's Consumer Privacy Bill and here comes the result. Google has implemented the Do Not Track (DNT) header in its Chrome web browser.  Few months ago Microsoft made Do Not Track (DNT) facility available by default in Internet Explorer 10. Also the Redmond based software giant drew some criticism recently for its decision to enable Do Not Track by default in IE 10. First it was Mozilla who proposed the Do Not Track mechanism, in Firefox in June 2011 when it released Firefox 5. The DNT option is disabled by default in Chrome and in order to turn it on, users need to go to the customization menu in the top right corner of the browser window. Then click on the Settings option in the left side and scroll down to open the Advanced Settings menu. Under the Privacy menu, check the box next to the "Send a 'Do Not Track' request with your browsing traffic" option. Once that option is enabled, the user will see a message explaining what the DNT system will do for them.

Not only DNT, with the release of Chrome 23, Google closes several security holes and promises to improve battery life for some users. For systems with dedicated graphics chips that support Chrome's GPU-accelerated video decoding, version 23 of the WebKit-based browser is said to significantly reduce power consumption. According to Google, batteries lasted on average 25% longer in its tests when GPU-accelerated video decoding was enabled compared to only using a system's CPU when streaming online videos. Version 23 of Chrome also addresses a total of 15 security vulnerabilities in the browser, 6 of which are rated as "high severity". These include high-risk use-after-free problems in video layout and in SVG filter handling, a integer bounds check issue in GPU command buffers and a memory corruption flaw in texture handling; a Mac-only problem related to wild writes in buggy graphics drivers has also been fixed. Eight medium-severity flaws including an integer overflow that could lead to an out-of-bounds read in WebP handling, and a low-risk have also been corrected. As part of its Chromium Security Vulnerability Rewards program, Google paid security researchers $9,000 for discovering and reporting these flaws. The update to Chrome also includes a new version of the Adobe Flash Player plugin which eliminates a number of critical vulnerabilities, all of which were discovered by the Google Security Team. Further information about the new features can be found in the release announcement, while a full list of security fixes is provided in a post on the Chrome Releases blog. Chrome 23.0.1271.64 is available to download for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux users. 

-Source (Google Chrome Blog, The-H & threatpost)

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Apple Releases iOS 6.0.1, Serious Flaws in Kernel, Passcode Lock & WebKit Patched

Apple Releases iOS 6.0.1, Serious Flaws in Kernel, Passcode Lock & WebKit Patched

Couple of moths ago we got iOS6, where Apple added over 200 new features, including Apple's own Maps app, Facebook integration, Siri improvements, Apple's new Passbook digital wallet app, and more. iOS 6 is compatible with the third-generation iPad, iPad 2, iPhone 4S, iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, and fourth-generation iPod touch. With such tremendous features there also several security bugs have been spotted in the wild, which is affecting millions of iOS users across the globe. Among those bugs the most serious seems to be a kernel flaw discovered by researcher Mark Dowd of Azimuth Security and Eric Monti of Square that affects iPhone 3GS and later, as well iPod Touch and iPad2 and later. An attacker exploiting the vulnerability could essentially bypass address space randomization layout (ASLR) protections using a malicious application, and could determine addresses in the kernel, Apple’s advisory said. The researchers said the vulnerability, which could expose data to an attacker, occurs in the way iOS handles application programming interfaces in relation to kernel extensions. 

Apple has released updates for iOS 6 which include security fixes. The iOS 6.0.1 update includes security fixes for the kernel, passcode locking and WebKit. The WebKit issues were also fixed in an update of the Safari web browser for Mac OS X. “Responses containing an OSBundleMachOHeaders key may have included kernel addresses, which may aid in bypassing address space layout randomization protection,” Apple said. “This issue was addressed by unsliding the addresses before returning them.” 

A vulnerability in iOS’ Passcode Lock was also addressed in the latest update that could allow someone with access to the iOS device to access Passbook passes without entering a passcode. “A state management issue existed in the handling of Passbook passes at the lock screen. This issue was addressed through improved handling of Passbook passes,” Apple said. Finally, a pair of WebKit vulnerabilities were patched.

The first involved how iOS handled JavaScript arrays, and could allow an attacker to remotely execute code if a user visited a malicious site and was infected. Apple said it addressed the matter through additional validation of JavaScript arrays. The other WebKit flaw is a use-after-free issue in the handling of SVG images. Scalable vector graphics (SVG) are file formats for static or animated graphics. A user visiting a website hosting a malicious graphic could experience application crashes or worse, an attacker could remotely execute code.  

The iOS 6.0.1 software update also includes fixes for the iPhone 5 to allow it to install over the air updates and to make it work better with WPA2 Wi-Fi networks. There are also corrections for bugs which flashed horizontal lines over the keyboard and stopped the camera flash going off. The two WebKit issues were also the only issues apparently fixed in the Safari 6.0.2 update. Safari 6.0.2 is available through Software Update for Mac OS X 10.7 Lion and the Mac App Store for Mac OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion.

-Source (Apple, threat post & The-H)

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

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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Russian Hacker Behind Cyber Attack on Georgia Caught on His Webcam

Suspected Russian Hacker Behind Cyber Attack on Georgia Caught on His Webcam 

It said that there may be hundred ways to commit crimes but there are chances of one hundred and one times to get busted. Exactly the same things happened for a Russian hacker who was behind the cyber attack against the country of Georgia. Since 2011 Georgia is blaming that few Russian hackers are disturbing their cyber space while attacking its computer networks, injecting malicious code into websites, and planting spyware to steal classified information. After discovering that a cyber-spy was infecting government computers with malware designed to mine important documents, government officials decided to fight fire with fire. They intentionally allowed the malicious software to infect one particular computer, and baited it with a ZIP file called “Georgian-Nato Agreement” — exactly the sort of thing they knew the intruder would be looking for. Instead of important documents, however, the bait file was loaded with the hacker’s own malware. Once the hacker downloaded and opened the file, the software went to work stealing his documents and, best of all, hijacking his webcam to capture clear video of his face. According to the CERT-Georgia report, an analysis of the attack's command-and-control center revealed that at least 390 computers were infected in the attack. 70% of compromised PCs were based in Georgia, with other victims found in the USA, Canada, Ukraine, France, China, Germany and Russia. Computers hit in Georgia were predominantly based in government agencies, banks and critical infrastructure the report claims. 

In a 27 page report, the Georgian government explains in details that, how in early 2011 Georgian news websites were hacked in order to exploit vulnerabilities, and spread malware that hijacked infected computers and searched for sensitive documents. 

According to report by Naked Security- Georgian officials lay a trap. Georgia's CERT deliberately infected one of its own PCs with the malware, and planted a ZIP file named "Georgian-Nato Agreement" on its drive, hoping it would prove irresistible for the hacker. Sure enough the hacker stole the archive file and ran malware that Georgia CERT had planted inside, meaning that now investigators had control over the hacker's own computer. This made it relative child's play to capture images of the suspect at work in front of his PC. The CERT researchers claim that they also found a Russian email conversation on the suspect's computer in which he gives instruction on how to use his malware and infect targets. Furthermore, the suspected hacker's city, ISP, email address and other information were also acquired. Curiously, a domain used by the attackers was registered to an address in Moscow belonging to the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs, department of logistics - which just happens to be based close to the Russian Secret Service (FSB). Furthermore, according to CERT-Georgia, websites used to control the infected Georgian computers have links with RBN, the notorious Russian Business Network.

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Facebook Donates $250,000 to University of Alabama at CIA|JFR to Fight Against Cybercrime

Facebook Donates $250,000 to University of Alabama at CIA|JFR to Fight Against Cybercrime 

All of us, who are associated or directly involved in this cyber domain know very well that its almost impossible to stand against the rising cyber crime & cyber criminals. Then the very first question will arise and that is, what is the solution? The answer will be tie-up collaboration, unity in diversity. That means if we stand together and help each other, then definitely we can control cyber crime, not only that but also we can have a safe and secure cyber space. While talking about co-operation and collaboration then a live instance is here for you. It is your favorite social network, Facebook who stand against cyber criminals and donate $250,000 to help fight cyber crime. According to UAB News - The Center for Information Assurance and Joint Forensics Research at the University of Alabama at Birmingham has received a $250,000 donation from Facebook in recognition of the center’s role in tracking international criminals behind social-media botnet Koobface as well as other spammers. The donation, which comes from money Facebook has recovered from spammers located around the world, will be used to expand the new CIA|JFR headquarters. 

“As a result of numerous collaborations over the years, Facebook recognizes the center as both a partner in fighting Internet abuse, and as a critical player in developing future experts who will become dedicated cybersecurity professionals,” says Joe Sullivan, chief security officer at Facebook. “The center has earned this gift for their successes in fighting cybercrime and because of the need for formal cybersecurity education to better secure everyone’s data across the world.”  

Here we want to remind our readers that 'Koobface' was the most dangerous malware ever made to infiltrate Facebook made by few Russian hacker. The hackers, known as the Koobface gang, sent Facebook users attractive invitations to watch a funny or sexy video. When the unsuspecting users clicked the link, the message appeared saying that their computer’s Flash software needed updating. The “update” was in fact malware that hijacked the user’s clicks and delivered them to advertisers, making the hackers money -to the tune of over $2 million annually. According to Kaspersky Labs the network of infected computers included between 400,000 and 800,000 PC. Earlier in this year the entire Koobface gang was exposed and the C&C server of Koobface has been stopped prenatally by few German Researchers. 

With this story here we, the entire VOGH Team would like to congratulate the team at the University of Alabama at Birmingham on the donation from Facebook. More power to them and similar experts around the world, helping investigate cybercrime and making the online world a safer place! 

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Ekoparty Conference: Stealth Password Cracking Vulnerability Found in Oracle Database

Ekoparty Conference: Stealth Password Cracking Vulnerability Found in Oracle Database

Researchers unveiled serious vulnerability in the authentication protocol used by some Oracle databases, a flaw that could enable a remote attacker to brute-force a token provided by the server prior to authentication and determine a user's password. The attacker could then log on as an authenticated user and take unauthorized actions on the database. The vulnerability exists in Oracle Database 11g Releases 1 and 2 and is caused by a problem with the way the authentication protocol protects session keys when users try to log in. The first step in the authentication process when a client contacts the database server is for the server to send a session key back to the client, along with a salt. The vulnerability enables an attacker to link a specific session key with a specific password hash. The researcher who discovered the bug named Esteban Martinez Fayó has also released a tool that can crack some simple passwords in about five hours on a normal PC.  Fayó is a security specialist of AppSec Inc, he demonstrated his findings at the Ekoparty conference which is currently taking place in Buenos Aires. 

According to Esteban Martinez Fayo "This Session Key is a random value that the server generates and sends as the initial step in the authentication process, before the authentication has been completed.  This is the reason why this attack can be done remotely without the need of authentication and also, as the attacker can close the connection once the Session Key has been sent, there is no failed login attempt recorded in the server because the authentication is never completed."  He also staid "Once the attacker has a Session Key and a Salt (which is also sent by the server along with the session key), the attacker can perform a brute force attack on the session key by trying millions of passwords per second until the correct one is found.  This is very similar to a SHA-1 password hash cracking.  Rainbow tables can’ t be used because there is a Salt used for password hash generation, but advanced hardware can be used, like GPUs combined with advanced techniques like Dictionary hybrid attacks, which can make the cracking process much more efficient."  

"Basically, I discovered that not all failed login attempts were recorded by the database.  Looking closer at the issue, I located the problem in the way that one of the components of the logon protocol, the Session Key, was protected.  I noticed that, in a certain way, the Session Key was leaking information about the password hash," he added 

Although Oracle closed the hole with the 11.2.0.3 patch set, which introduced the new version 12 of the protocol in mid-2011, Fayó said that there has been no fix for versions 11.1 and 11.2 of the database because the update was never included in any of Oracle's regular "critical patch updates". The researcher explained that unless administrators activate the new protocol manually, the database will continue to use the vulnerable version 11.2 protocol. The vulnerability is in a widely deployed product and is easy to exploit, Fayo said he considers it to be quite dangerous. "The Oracle stealth password cracking vulnerability is a critical one.  There are many components to affirm this: It is easy to exploit, it doesn’t leave any trace in the database server and it resides in an essential component of the logon protocol," he said.

"It is very simple to exploit.  The attacker just needs to send a few network packets or use a standard Oracle client to get a Session Key and Salt for a particular user.  Then, an attack similar to that of cracking SHA-1 password hash can be performed. I developed a proof-of-concept tool that shows that it is possible to crack an 8 characters long lower case alphabetic password in approximately 5 hours using standard CPUs."

-Source (Threat Post)

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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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Microsoft Issues 'fix it' To Close Internet Explorer 0-day Vulnerability

Microsoft Issues 'fix it' To Close Internet Explorer 0-day Vulnerability 

Last few days the whole cyber world have gone through with so many drama of Internet Explorer's security bug, as researchers have unveiled four active exploits of a zero-day vulnerability in the browser. As expected the software giant Microsoft has released an emergency fix to get rid of these major security issues. Microsoft released a “fix it” tool for a critical security flaw in most versions of Internet Explorer 6, 7, 8 and 9  that hackers have been exploiting to break into Windows systems. The company said it expects to issue an official patch (MS12-063) for the vulnerability on Friday, Sept. 21. "While we have only seen a few attempts to exploit this issue, impacting an extremely limited number of people, we are taking this proactive step to help ensure Internet Explorer customers are protected and able to safely browse online," said Yunsun Wee, director of Microsoft Trustworthy Computing in a statement. The zero-day in IE 6-9 is a use-after-free memory corruption vulnerability, similar to a buffer overflow, that would enable an attacker to remotely execute code on a compromised machine. The original exploit payload dropped the PoisonIvy remote access Trojan (RAT) via a corrupted Flash movie file. The latest payload discovered dropped the PlugX RAT via the same corrupted Flash movie, Blasco said. He also said the new exploits are the work of the Chinese hacker group Nitro, the same group behind a pair of Java zero-day exploits disclosed in August.

Blasco also said the new exploits appear to be targeting defense contractors in the United States and India.

Microsoft recommended several workarounds Tuesday morning before announcing its intention to send out a FixIt.

• Setting Internet and local Internet security zone settings to high, which would block ActiveX Controls and Active Scripting in both zones
• Configure IE to prompt the user before running Active Scripting, or disable Active Scripting in both zones

• Use of Microsoft's Enhanced Mitigation Experience Toolkit provides mitigations as well, and would not impact website usability, as both of the first two options might.

Microsoft also said that IE running on Windows Server 2003, 2008 and 2008R2 runs in a restricted mode that mitigates the vulnerability. Outlook, Outlook Express and Windows Mail also open HTML messages in a restricted zone, mitigating the vulnerabilty but should a user click a link in a message, they could still be vulnerable to exploit.

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Adobe Says Windows 8 Users are Vulnerable to Active Flash Exploits (Microsoft Will not Patch the Bug Until October)

Adobe Says Windows 8 Users are Vulnerable to Active Flash Exploits (Microsoft Will not Patch the Bug Until October 26)

Adobe confirmed a serious security hole in Windows 8, hackers have been aiming at  Microsoft's Windows 8 PCs for several weeks as it is vulnerable to attack by exploits. Its very unfortunate for those who runs all the four (consumer preview, developer preview, release preview & enterprise) pre-release version of Windows 8, because the Redmond based software giant Microsoft said it will not patch the bug in Flash Player until what it called "GA," for "general availability." That would be Oct. 26, when Windows 8 hits retail and PCs powered by the new operating system go on sale. 

"We will update Flash in Windows 8 via Windows Update as needed," a spokeswoman said in a reply to questions. "The current version of Flash in the Windows 8 RTM build does not have the latest fix, but we will have a security update coming through Windows Update in the GA timeframe."
Microsoft, not Adobe, is responsible for patching Flash Player in Windows 8 because the company took a page from Google's playbook and integrated the popular media software with Internet Explorer 10 (IE10), the new operating system's browser. Last month, Adobe issued two updates for Flash Player that patched eight vulnerabilities, some of which were ranked as "1" by the company, its highest threat warning. One of the vulnerabilities, tagged as CVE-2012-1535, was patched Aug. 14, but had been exploited for an indeterminate time before that.
In fact, CVE-2012-1535 was one of four "zero-days," or unpatched vulnerabilities, exploited in a 16-week stretch by an elite hacker gang revealed by Symantec researchers on Friday. Microsoft has not updated the Flash in IE10 within Windows 8 to accommodate those two sets of patches, Adobe confirmed Friday. "Flash Player 11.3.372.94 does not incorporate the fixes released in APSB12-18 and APSB12-19," said Wiebke Lips, a spokeswoman for Adobe, referring to the Aug. 14 and Aug. 21 Flash updates.
Windows 8 RTM's IE10 identifies the integrated Flash Player as version 11.3.372.94, a more recent build than the one in Windows 8 Release Preview, but older than the most-up-to-date version for Windows, 11.4.402.265, which Adobe delivered on Aug. 21.

Adobe actually told some users about Windows 8's Flash situation two weeks ago. On an Adobe support forum, a company representative announced on Aug. 23 that there would be no Flash update for Windows 8 and IE10 until late October. "Since Windows 8 has not yet been released for general availability, the update channel is not active," said Chris Campbell, identified as an Adobe employee. "Once this goes live, you'll start getting updates to Flash Player."

-Source (Computer World)

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