Metasploit declared $5,000.00, in 5 weeks for exploits Bug Bounty program

If you've got a way to crack Google Chrome, the Metasploit team wants to pay you for it. Today Rapid 7 announced that it has a total of $5000 in cash to reward to contributors who send in exploits for its Top 5 or Top 25 vulnerability lists. The exploits have to be submitted, and accepted, as modules under its standard Metasploit Framework license. 

Cash for bugs is a controversial but common way for security firms to encourage hackers to send exploits to the white hats. As far as Bug Bounty programs go, Metasploit's program is meager. But for an open source program that relies on contributions sent in for free, it's an interesting experiment. The program will end quickly, lasting only five weeks (July 20). One fun thing that the team is doing is letting people stake a claim to their exploit of choice from their Top 5 (prize is $500) or Top 25 (prize is $100) lists. After claiming an exploit, hackers get a week to submit their Metasploit module for their chosen bug. The prize money will "only be paid out to the first module contributor for a given vulnerability," the Metasploit team says.

And guess what? Denial of Service exploits won't qualify. Metasploit wants your bug to be able to do more than that. It should also bypass ASLR/DEP when applicable and be geared toward English-based targets. Metasploit wants hackers to follow its hacking guidelines and they cannot be residents of a US embargoed country.

All accepted submissions will not only win a bit of cash but their submissions will be made available to other Metasploit users, again under the Metasploit Framework license (3-clause BSD).

As I look at the list of 30 possible exploits while writing this blog post, I see that only two have been claimed so far. CVE/ZDI 2011-1218, Lotus Notes - Autonomy Keyview(.zip attachment), and an exploit not listed in the CVE database, known as " DATAC RealWin On_FC_CONNECT_FCS_LOGIN packet containing a long username." So plenty of room for participants remains.

The cash-for-bugs program is interesting, but the list of vulnerabilities for which Metasploit is seeking help is even more so.

The Top 5 are for specific holes in ...

1. Google Chrome (before 11.0.696.71)
2. Lotus Note
3. IBM Tivoli Directory Server
4. DNS
5. GDI

In the Top 25, the entries on the list that caught my eye include holes in JScript, VBScript Scripting Engines, JBOS, Oracle VM and Citrix, among others. (Yes, browsers are in there, too, including Firefox, Chrome and Opera).

Of course, if you do have a killer bug, particularly for some of the browsers like Firefox or Chrome you can perhaps earn more than $100 for it. Mozilla's Bug Bounty program pays up to $3000 cash reward and you get a Mozilla T-shirt. For web applications or services related security bugs, Mozilla pays from $500 to $3,000. In January, Google plunked out what was then a record reward, $3,133, to a hacker for reporting a flaw Chrome. (Google raised its bug bounty fee about a year ago, from $1,337 after Mozilla bumped up its reward rate to $3,000).

TippingPoint, known as one of the founders of the bug bounty concept, not only pays cash (as much as $5,000 for your zero-day), but it also awards bonus points in a scheme more complicated than an airline mileage rewards program. Participants earn points for referring others into the program, for each zero-day they submit and so on. These points gain you bonuses for your hacks, and other goodies like all-expense-paid trips to hacker conferences like Black Hat.

Who knew hacking could be so rewarding?

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Adobe Patches Multiple Security Holes in Adobe Flash Player & AIR (CVE-2012-5274 to 5280)

Critical Buffer Overflow, Memory Corruption & Security bypass Vulnerability in Adobe Flash Player & AIR Patched

Adobe- American multinational computer software company has released new versions of its Flash Player to eliminate a number of critical vulnerabilities  in Flash Player that could lead to system crashes or remote attackers controlling computers running compromised software. All the flaws were discovered by members of the Google Security Team are associated with several CVE numbers; CVE-2012-5274, CVE-2012-5275, CVE-2012-5276, CVE-2012-5277, CVE-2012-5280 are buffer overflows, CVE-2012-5279 is a memory corruption issue and CVE-2012-5278 is a security bypass; all of which are listed as potentially allowing an attacker to inject malicious code into the system. Google said it will update Flash Player installed with Google Chrome, and Microsoft will do the same with Internet Explorer 10. In the security bulletin Adobe said that it has released security updates for Adobe Flash Player 11.4.402.287 and earlier versions for Windows and Macintosh, Adobe Flash Player 11.2.202.243 and earlier versions for Linux, Adobe Flash Player 11.1.115.20 and earlier versions for Android 4.x, and Adobe Flash Player 11.1.111.19 and earlier versions for Android 3.x and 2.x. These updates address vulnerabilities that could cause a crash and potentially allow an attacker to take control of the affected system. 

Adobe recommends users update their product installations to the latest versions:-

• Users of Adobe Flash Player 11.4.402.287 and earlier versions for Windows and Macintosh should update to Adobe Flash Player 11.5.502.110.
• Users of Adobe Flash Player 11.2.202.243 and earlier versions for Linux should update to Adobe Flash Player 11.2.202.251.
• Flash Player installed with Google Chrome will automatically be updated to the latest Google Chrome version, which will include Adobe Flash Player 11.5.31.2 for Windows, Macintosh and Linux.
• Flash Player installed with Internet Explorer 10 will automatically be updated to the latest Internet Explorer 10 version, which will include Adobe Flash Player 11.3.376.12 for Windows.
• Users of Adobe Flash Player 11.1.115.20 and earlier versions on Android 4.x devices should update to Adobe Flash Player 11.1.115.27.
• Users of Adobe Flash Player 11.1.111.19 and earlier versions for Android 3.x and earlier versions should update to Flash Player 11.1.111.24.
• Users of Adobe AIR 3.4.0.2710 and earlier versions for Windows and Macintosh, SDK (including AIR for iOS) and Android should update to Adobe AIR 3.5.0.600.

AFFECTED SOFTWARE VERSIONS:- 

• Adobe Flash Player 11.4.402.287 and earlier versions for Windows and Macintosh
• Adobe Flash Player 11.2.202.243 and earlier versions for Linux
• Adobe Flash Player 11.1.115.20 and earlier versions for Android 4.x
• Adobe Flash Player 11.1.111.19 and earlier versions for Android 3.x and 2.x
• Adobe AIR 3.4.0.2710 and earlier versions for Windows and Macintosh, SDK (includes AIR for iOS) and Android

To verify the version of Adobe Flash Player installed on your system, access the About Flash Player page, or right-click on content running in Flash Player and select "About Adobe (or Macromedia) Flash Player" from the menu. If you use multiple browsers, perform the check for each browser you have installed on your system. To verify the version of Adobe Flash Player for Android, go to Settings > Applications > Manage Applications > Adobe Flash Player x.x.  To verify the version of Adobe AIR installed on your system, follow the instructions in the Adobe AIR TechNote. Adobe also recommended its Adobe AIR users to update  to 3.5.0.600.
While talking about security patches in Adobe product, we want to give to reminder that just couple of weeks ago Adobe also plugged buffer overflow vulnerability in its Shockwave Player. Also in late September, Adobe disclosed that it had been attacked and hackers were using a valid Adobe certificate to sign two malicious utilities used most often in targeted attacks. Adobe revoked the certificate Oct. 4.

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Web Browser Grand Prix 5

 

Three major released have landed since our last impromptu Web Browser Grand Prix (WBGP4): Chrome 12, Firefox 5, and Opera 11.50. Can Chrome or Opera regain the WBGP championship? Will Mozilla Firefox ever overtake Microsoft's IE9 in the rankings?
If it seems like it was only weeks ago when we were compelled to test the then-new Mozilla Firefox 4 against the reigning Web Browser Grand Prix champion Microsoft Internet Explorer 9 in Web Browser Grand Prix 4: Firefox 4 Goes Final, that's because it was only a few weeks ago.
In an attempt to curb the siphoning of its user base to Google, Mozilla decided to keep pace with the frenetic development cycle of Chrome. Firefox 5 is now a reality. But will Mozilla also keep up with innovation like Google? Furthermore, will a higher integer finally allow Mozilla to overtake arch-rival Microsoft in our performance metrics? Can former speed-kings Chrome and Opera reclaim the dual domination of our WBGP crown, as they did in 2010?

We've tightened up our suite of benchmarks for this article, cutting the fat that was Google's V8 JavaScript Benchmark and the redundant two-pixel variant of the GUIMark2 HTML5 Vector Charting test. We also fleshed it out by adding Facebook's JSGameBench, as well as battery life and reliability testing. But before we get to the benchmarks, let's get caught up on the latest developments in the continuing browser wars.
Opinions:-

The release of Firefox 5 was met with harsh criticism for its apparent lack of anything new. It has been said that Firefox 5 should have been called Firefox 4.1 or 4.2. Or even 4.02.
There is also a growing concern over whether the new rapid release schedule jives with IT departments. Firefox became a viable choice for many companies during the version 2 and 3 days. Mozilla also offers the preferred development platform for most Web designers. Basically, Firefox gained the reputation of being the most stable choice. By mimicking Chrome's development cycle, Mozilla may have shot itself in the foot.
Smack Talk:-

Microsoft took a shot right across the bow of Google and Mozilla by announcing that WebGL is “harmful,” and that IE10 would not be utilizing the specification. Several experts came out in support of Microsoft's assertion, though it should be noted that Redmond may have a dog in this fight with DirectX.

Attacking Mozilla even further, the Internet Explorer development team sent the Firefox development team a cupcake to celebrate the release of Firefox 5. Mozilla also received cakes from Microsoft for the release of Firefox 3 and 4. Full cakes. Obviously, this is in response to the criticism that Firefox 5 is nothing more than a minor update to Firefox 4. The included note read: "Congratulations on shipping! Love, The IE Team". "Congratulations on shipping" might have been in reference to the frequent delays that plagued Firefox 4, which was eventually made available more than six months late. Now that's a classy way to rag on somebody. Not missing a single opportunity to slam its competition, Microsoft also capitalized on the other major criticism of Firefox 5 when an IE developer boasted Microsoft's commitment to IT.
Mozilla shot back with a blog post addressing the IT issue, although in a very non-concrete way:

"We are exploring solutions that balance these needs..."

Not to be outdone, an Opera employee also had this to say in regard to rapid release schedule:

“Despite the version number (11.50), we've packed a lot of new features into it. While other browsers rush to release whole new version numbers with small tweaks, I think we've kept traditional versioning, while simply releasing a little faster.”Obviously, this comes at an unfortunate time for Mozilla, but one cannot help but wonder if this comment was meant for Google. Opera and Google have gotten into it pretty heavily in the past, and, for a time (before IE9), Chrome and Opera swapped places on a semi-monthly basis in the performance charts.

-News Source (Tom's Hardware)

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Google TV Update For Android 3.1 (Honeycomb)

Google announced on its Google TV blog Friday that the platform will be upgraded to Android 3.1 (otherwise known as Honeycomb) for Sony devices Sunday, with the Logitech Revue set-top box getting its upgrade "soon thereafter." What will you get with this software upgrade to Android? Google says it's "much simpler." Its customization capabilities will go a long way toward alleviating the awkwardness of its first iteration, which Google admits was "not perfect."
And the addition of the Android Market will open up a variety of applications, with the promise of more -- perhaps thousands more -- on the way. One welcome improvement will be an easier ability to search across all the TV shows at your disposal. With this update, Google's trying to answer that age-old question, "What's on?" If Google can pull that off, it could be a powerful thing indeed. The company says it has learned from its mistakes with the first version of Google TV and is "committed to find the best way to discover and engage with the high-quality entertainment on your television." So does that mean Google TV will be able to find all the shows from whichever cable or satellite provider you're subscribing to, or from the web via all of the apps within Google TV, such as Netflix, Amazon Instant Video, and HBO Go? Maybe. Of course, Google plans to improve Google TV's search across YouTube, its own video streaming service.
In the blog post, Google also hinted at future software updates (Ice Cream Sandwich, anyone?) and new devices "on new chipsets from multiple hardware partners." Hey, this is getting interesting.
We'll have to reserve judgment until we can install this software update on our Logitech Revue box, but for now, clearly this update has great potential. It makes perfect sense for Google -- purveyor of Android, the Chrome browser, YouTube and by the way, the world's search expert -- to leverage these powerful capabilities in its TV set-top. The hurdle Google needs to navigate is not so much a technical or software one, but a matter of negotiating and arm-twisting of content providers. Will the company gain cooperation from TV networks and movie studios, allowing their content to be searchable on the Google TV platform? That's the key to Google TV's success.

• To see the google TV blog post click Here

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Google Chrome Security Hole 15 Patched

Vulnerability found in the last release of one of the most popular web-browser Google Chrome 15.0.874.121. The vulnerability contains to address a high-risk out-of-bounds write vulnerability in the V8 JavaScript engine. As part of its Chromium Security Rewards programme, Google paid security researcher Christian Holler $1,000 for discovering and reporting the hole. Additional details of the vulnerability are being withheld until "a majority of users are up-to-date with the fix". The maintenance and security update to the WebKit-based browser also upgrades the V8 engine to version 3.5.10.24 and fixes a regression related to SVG in iframes.

To Download Google Chrome For Linux, Windows & Mac Click 

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NSS Said : IE9 Blocks Virtually all Socially Engineered Malware, Rather Than Other Browsers

A study prepared by NSS Labs concludes that Microsoft's Internet Explorer 9 blocks virtually all socially engineered malware, far more than rival browsers.
The study was designed to examine one aspect of security: how a browser handled a malicious URL, such as one received in a posting on a social network or an email. The NSS goal was to find the browser which identified, warned, and/or blocked malicious URLs from being viewed by the user.
As it did in 2010, Microsoft's IE9 with Smart Screen URL detection and Application Reputation topped the field, blocking 99.2 percent of all malicious emails. Google's Chrome 12 finished far behind, blocking 13.2 percent of all malicious URLs. Apple's Safari 5 and Mozilla Firefox 4 tied at 7.4 percent, with Opera 11 finishing dead last at 6.1 percent.

 

The NSS Labs study showed that, globally, all of the browsers tested showed improvement over an NSS study performed last year, with two exceptions: Safari and Mozilla's Firefox. A year ago, Microsoft IE9 blocked 99 percent of the malicious URLs, followed by Chrome 6 (3%), Safari 5 (11%), Firefox 3.6.15 (19%), and Opera 10 (0%).
NSS attributed Microsoft's success to its Application Reputation technology, which has attempted to categorize applications across the Internet.
"The significance of Microsoft's new application reputation technology cannot be overstated," the NSS report found. "Application reputation is the first attempt by any vendor to create a definitive list of every application on the Internet. This new capability helps users discern malware, and potentially unsafe software from actual good software. The list is dynamically created and maintained, much the same way Google, (or Bing) is continuously building and maintaining a library of content for search purposes."
The NSS tests sliced the potential for malware along one specific axis, socially engineered malware, a distinction Google objected to during the 2010 tests. ""Google Chrome was built with security in mind from the beginning and emphasizes protection of users from drive-by downloads and plug-in vulnerabilities," a spokeswoman said then.
NSS also found that the combination of SmartScreen and Application Reputation means that IE9 blocked new malware in just over half and hour, while Safari 5 and Firefox 4 required 4.91 and 6.07 hours, on average, to detect a new malicious URL. Chrome 12 and Opera 11, by contrast, required 17.7 and 18.4 hours, respectively. Over time, as the malicious URLs changed in response to detection, the browsers maintained their level of protection fairly consistently, NSS found.
"Not only has the effectiveness of the technology improved, but so has the speed at which it is able to identify socially engineered malware," Roger Capriotta, director of Internet Explorer product marketing, wrote in a blog post Monday. "For our Windows customers, this means fewer infections and headaches for you."
In its report, NSS said its findings were independent, and that it had not received funding from any vendor. 

-News Source (PC Mag)

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Flash Player Vulnerability in Google Chrome

Multiple vulnerabilities have been identified in Google Chrome, which can be exploited by malicious people to conduct cross-site scripting attacks and compromise a user's system. The vulnerabilities are caused due to a bundled vulnerable version of Adobe Flash Player.

Note: The Vulnerability (CVE-2011-2444) Is Currently Being Exploited In The Wild
Impact:-
Cross-Site Scripting
Remote Code Execution

System / Technologies Affected:-
Google Chrome 14.x
Solutions:-
Before installation of the software, please visit the software manufacturer web-site for more details. And update to version 14.0.835.186

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Microsoft Announces Coordinated Vulnerability Disclosure Procedures And First Two Vulnerability Advisories

Microsoft announced that it will be actively demonstrating its commitment to Coordinated Vulnderability Disclosure (CVD) by publishing CVD documents and releasing Microsoft Vulnerability Research (MSVR) Advisories on vulnerabilities discovered by Microsoft but fixed by affected vendors. Microsoft hopes that these documents will provide more transparency and insight into their disclosure philosophy and about how they go through the process.

CVD documents clarify how Microsoft responds as a vendor impacted by the vulnerabilities in their own products and services. These documents also demonstrate how Microsoft acts as a finder of vulnerabilities in third-party products and services, and how they act as a coordinator of such vulnerabilities. Read more on CVDs here (word document).

MSVR advisories cover security vulnerabilities that Microsoft or other security researchers discovered in third-party products or services. Microsoft discloses the vulnerabilities to the affected vulnerabilities using procedures described in the Coordinated Vulnerbility Disclosure.

Additionally, yesterday, Microsoft released the first two MSVR advisories which cover issues discovered by Microsoft in third party products, MSVR11-001 and MSVR11-002. Vulnerability 001 covers a vulnerability affecting the Google Chrome browser in versions prior to 6.0.472.59. This vulnerability affects the Sandbox in Chrome and could actually allow an attacker to run arbitrary code inside of Chrome's Sandbox. If the attacker fully exploited this vulnerability your browser would become unresponsive and/or exit unexpectedly; the attacker could run arbitrary code. Vulnerability 002 affects Google Chrome versions 8.0.552.210 and earlier, and Opera versions 10.62 and earlier; 002 addresses an information disclosure vulnerability which exists in the implementation of HTML5 in these browsers. If an attacker successfully exploited this vulnerability they could obtain private information from you.

As always, you should keep your system and programs on automatic update to get the most up to-date bug-free versions. To learn more about each vulnerability visit the Microsoft Vulnerability Research Advisories page.

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Google Added Do Not Track (DNT) Facility in Chrome (User Privacy Implemented)

Google Added Do Not Track (DNT) Facility in Chrome Web-Browser (User Privacy Implemented)

Few months ago Microsoft made Do Not Track (DNT) facility available by default in Internet Explorer 10. So here comes the turn for Chrome. 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, while promising to respect DNT headers set by visitors to its web site. 

First it was Mozilla who proposed the Do Not Track mechanism, later it has been garnered support from all major browser makers and a majority of the technology industry. 

Users who want to take advantage of the new DNT capabilities in Chrome will have to install the latest "bleeding edge" developer build in the form of the Chrome Canary branch. However, this version is not recommended for use in production environments. Users who are running a stable version of the browser will have to wait some months for the feature to arrive in the mainstream version.

"Do Not Track" is a tool that allows browser users to restrict advertisers from collecting information about their online Web activities. It has the backing of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission. Browsers with "Do Not Track" turned on don't block cookies but send a message to advertisers that the user does not want to be tracked. Companies voluntarily decide whether to comply with "Do Not Track," much as they currently decide whether to comply with the "Do Not Call" registry. Microsoft's announcement that it would turn on "Do Not Track" by default in IE10 angered advertisers. "The Digital Advertising Alliance, a coalition that counts Microsoft as a member, said that the decision ran counter to the industry's agreement with the White House announced earlier this year to honor 'do not track' as long as it is not a default setting," many international standards bodies.

-Source (The-H)

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Google Gets Another Chance To Operate In China For One Year

Google’s relationship with the government of China has been a tad tense over the past couple of years. There have been accusations of state-sponsored hacking, interference with access to services, and, of course, Google’s flat-out refusal to censor search results. China also wasn’t pleased with the introduction of Google Plus in Gmail this summer, which shouldn’t have come as a surprise. The Chinese government is widely regarded as being afraid of social networks and some officials even believe that they are being used by the U.S. to destabilize China.
But despite those fears and tensions with Google, a government spokesperson has announced that the license Google requires to continue operations within Chinese borders has been renewed for another year. China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology stated that the Google license was one of more than a hundred that were renewed following “adjustments” to operations, though no details about those changes were given.

It’s worth noting that the Internet content license doesn’t actually belong to Google, and that could very well have something to do with the renewal. The license actually belongs to a Chinese partner who works with Google, since the Ministry doesn’t allow foreign companies to own such licenses. Since the spat began, Google’s presence in China has diminished greatly. Its search market share has been devoured by Baidu, who now has its sights set on Google Chrome and Android. Baidu recently announced the Baidu Yi mobile operating system, which will begin shipping on Dell tablets and smartphones in China in the near future.

-News Source (Geek.com)

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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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Chrome-based Web security scrutinizer by Google

Google today released an open-source tool called DOM Snitch that tries to flag Web site software that would be dangerous to run in a browser.

The software is an experimental Chrome extension that examines how Web site code executes to see if commands could lead to cross-site scripting or other attacks used to deliver malware to computers via a Web browser.

DOM Snitch (download) "enables developers and testers to identify insecure practices commonly found in client-side code," said Google security test engineer Radoslav Vasilev in a blog post. He elaborated:

To do this, we have adopted several approaches to intercepting JavaScript calls to key and potentially dangerous browser infrastructure such as document.write or HTMLElement.innerHTML (among others). Once a JavaScript call has been intercepted, DOM Snitch records the document URL and a complete stack trace that will help assess if the intercepted call can lead to cross-site scripting, mixed content, insecure modifications to the same-origin policy for DOM access, or other client-side issues.

The move is one of many Google has made of late to improve security on the Web--a medium the company believes is the programming platform of the future and that holds a dominant role in its own business. The company also is working hard to improve Chrome's own security.

Other open-source Google security products include Skipfish and Ratproxy, which let people test the security of Web applications.

-NEWS  SOURCE (Cnet)

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Chrome 13 Stable Released With Print Preview & Instant Pages Support

As browser version numbers go, Chrome 13.0.782.107 sounds like it’s going to be less than exciting, the kind of build that delivers eight bug fixes and support for some minor HTML5 feature you’ve never heard of.
The reality is very different, though, with Google’s latest stable release providing a couple of important new features and a lengthy list of useful extras.
The headline addition has to be the long-awaited Print Preview. Unlike Firefox and IE, there’s no separate Print Preview menu option; you just click Print as normal, and the current page appears in a new tab, where you can choose your layout (portrait or landscape), the pages you need, your printer and so on, before printing your selection with a click.
While this generally works well, we do have one issue. If you want to see the standard Windows printer properties dialog then you need to click Advanced, which would be fine if it wasn’t for the fact that the Print Preview tab then immediately closes – not what we’d expect. Still, for the moment we’re just happy that Chrome has Print Preview in any form, the fine tuning can come later.
The other major new feature this time is support for Google’s “Instant Pages”, which means that when you run a Google search, Chrome will prefetch the top search result for you (if it’s very sure you’re going to click it). In our tests this worked only occasionally, but when it does the results are impressive, with the selected page popping onto the screen in a flash.
Of course, as with any prefetching, there’s a risk that you may be downloading content which you never access, a particular problem if you’re on a slow or expensive 3G connection. If you’d like to keep your bandwidth use to a minimum, you might prefer to turn this feature off by going to Options > Under the Bonnet and clearing “Predict network actions to improve page load performance”.

To Download Chrome 13 stable click Here

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Spammers are Exploiting Google+

Scammers have begun exploiting the launch of Google’s new Google+ social network, with a growing raft of spam emails that imitate Google+ invitations. Google+ is currently still in the testing phase following its launch last week, and users need to be invited by another Google+ member before they can sign up.

Fake invitations:-

However, some of those Google+ invitations are fake, and their links direct traffic to an online business called Canadian Family Pharmacy, which sells Viagra, according to Sophos. Sophos said the emails, distributed by a Canadian hacking group called Partnerka, look authentic.

“The spammers are no doubt hoping that the email will be hard to resist, as many people are eager to see what is being billed as Google’s answer to Facebook,” said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos, in a statement. “Research shows that last year alone, 36 million Americans bought drugs from online pharmacies, so this is a technique that is clearly continuing to work for spammers.”

Overall the scam is “amateur” in that it makes no attempt to use a site that looks like Google+ to harvest users’ personal information, Sophos said. While Facebook doesn’t allow friends lists to be exported to Google+, an extension is now available for Google’s Chrome browser that allows users to export friends data in a format that can be imported into Google+. Facebook has, however, begun modifying accounts to prevent the tool from working, according to Mohamed Mansour, who developed the Facebook Friend Exporter tool.

Google’s answer to Facebook:-

Google unveiled Google+ last week as its answer to Facebook, which has racked up some 700 million users in six-plus years. Seizing on the market leader’s seemingly cavalier attitude toward user privacy, Google envisions Google+ as a more nuanced approach to social networking that tries to give users complete control over what content they share online and with whom they share it. Available to users by invitation only for now, Google+ comprises four major components: Circles, Sparks, Hangouts and mobile, which includes instant photo and video uploads and group messaging.

Social Circles has been rumoured since March, and was at the centre of a clumsy smear campaign by Facebook which attempted to brand Google’s privacy as poor. Circles is a sharing service that lets users add circles, or groups of users united by common interests by dragging and dropping their profiles into a circle. Circles could include family, friends and colleagues.

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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 Makes Chrome From SSL Attacking BEAST

Google has prepared an update for its Chrome browser that protects users against an attack that decrypts data sent between browsers and many websites protected by the secure sockets layer protocol. The fix, which has already been added to the latest developer version of Chrome, is designed to thwart attacks from BEAST, proof-of-concept code that its creators say exploits a serious weakness in the SSL protocol that millions of websites use to encrypt sensitive data. Researchers Juliano Rizzo and Thai Duong said they've been working with browser makers on a fix since May, and public discussions on the Chromium.org website show Chrome developers proposing changes as early as late June.
It's hard to know how effective BEAST will be at quickly and secretly cracking the encryption protecting online bank passwords, social security numbers and other sensitive data, but Google appears to be taking no chances. Rizzo and Duong have released only limited details of their attack ahead of a presentation scheduled for Friday at the Ekoparty security conference in Buenos Aires.

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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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WebGL in Chrome and Firefox is a serious security risk

A WEB STANDARD enabled by default in the Firefox 4 and Google Chrome web browsers has serious security issues, according to an independent security consultancy.

WebGL, which stands for web-based graphics library, is a software technology that allows you to bring hardware-accelerated 3D graphics to a web browser without the need for additional software. Enabled in the latest versions of Chrome and Firefox, it can also be switched on in Safari and Opera.

Context Information Security consultant James Forshaw said there are a number of serious security issues with the specification and implementation of WebGL.

He said, "These issues can allow an attacker to provide malicious code via a web browser which allows attacks on the graphic processor unit (GPU) and graphics drivers. These attacks on the GPU via WebGL can render the entire machine unusable."

Forshaw claimed that there are other dangers with WebGL that put user data, privacy and security at risk, adding, "These issues are inherent to the WebGL specification and would require significant architectural changes in order to remediate in the platform design."

"Fundamentally, WebGL now allows full programs from the internet to reach the graphics driver and graphics hardware which operate in what is supposed to be the most protected part of the computer."

He said that denial of service attacks are already a well known WebGL security issue, and that some operating system crashes that the firm has observed created potentially exploitable conditions.

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Javascript Emulator runs Linux in a browser

Fabrice Bellard has released a JavaScript program that can run Linux in a Web browser window.

step aside, Google Docs, there's a new JavaScript tour de force in town.
I'm talking about the latest project from programmer Fabrice Bellard, a JavaScript program that emulates an x86 processor fast enough to run Linux in a Web browser.
The JavaScript PC Emulator can do the work of an Intel 486 chip from the 1990s, but doesn't have a built-in floating point unit for numeric processing, Bellard said. Happily, Linux itself can emulate that, and a version of the operating system's core--2.6.20--runs on the foundation.
Bellard published a technical description of the JavaScript PC Emulator on Saturday, but today the project caught the notice of prominent techies, including Brendan Eich, a Mozilla programmer and the creator of JavaScript.
"I did it for fun, just because newer JavaScript engines are fast enough to do complicated things," Bellard said of the project. "I happen to be interested by the implementation of JavaScript engines these days--but I don't know yet if I will write my own any time soon! Anyway, this emulator was a way to learn how to write optimized code for recent JavaScript engines, in particular JaegerMonkey (for Firefox 4) and V8 (for Chrome)."
Bellard suggests some possibilities for more serious use, including benchmarks or running old DOS games. But probably the project's biggest practical repercussion is simply the news that JavaScript has matured enough to run an entire computer-within-a-computer.
Curious people can try the emulator with a modern browser that has fast JavaScript performance; it works with Firefox 4 but not newer versions of Google Chrome. And those who really want to dig in can look at the JavaScript PC Emulator's actual JavaScript code.
The project is the latest attention-getter from Bellard. The French programmer also wrote QEMU, software that can emulate one type of processor on another; FFmpeg, open-source software for playing and otherwise handling video and audio streams; QEmacs, a lightweight text editor for Unix systems; digital TV signal generator software that uses a computer's VGA card to broadcast TV over the air; Linmodem, Linux software that emulates a hardware modem chip; and a program that calculated pi to a then-record 2,699,999,990,000 digits using a mere personal computer.
Bellard also is a two-time winner of the Obfuscated C competition to produce clever but superficially incomprehensible programs in the C language.

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Firefox with Bing By Microsoft & Mozilla

Mozilla has teamed with Microsoft to bring more Bing to Firefox. Mozilla and Bing are pleased to make available Firefox with Bing, a customized version of Firefox that sets Bing as the default search engine in the search box and AwesomeBar and makes Bing.com the default home page.  (Existing Firefox users can also make these changes by installing the Bing Search for Firefox Add-on)

Of course, any user of Firefox can go into the browser's settings and make those changes themselves if they want, and there is even a "Bing Search for Firefox" add-on that will do the same. But many users don't mess with their settings too much, which is why Google (the usual default for Firefox) is the most widely used search engine among Firefox users. Google competes with Bing on the search side and Google's Chrome browser competes with Firefox. Microsoft, of course, makes a Firefox rival in Internet Explorer. Mozilla, in a blog post, said that "nearly 20 customized versions of Firefox" are available from its partners, including Bing, Yahoo (which now uses Bing to power its search as well), Twitter and Yandex.

To Download firefox with Bing here

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