Exploiting the Jackson RCE: CVE-2017-7525
Earlier this year, a vulnerability was discovered in the Jackson data-binding library, a library for Java that allows developers to easily serialize Java objects to JSON and vice versa, that allowed an attacker to exploit deserialization to achieve Remote Code Execution on the server. This vulnerability didn’t seem to get much attention, and even less documentation. Given that this is an easily exploited Remote Code Execution vulnerability with little documentation, I’m sharing my notes on it.
Read more…Breaking the NemucodAES Ransomware
The Nemucod ransomware has been around, in various incarnations, for some time. Recently a new variant started spreading via email claiming to be from UPS. This new version changed how files are encrypted, clearly in an attempt to fix its prior issue of being able to decrypt files without paying the ransom, and as this is a new version, no decryptor was available1. My friends at Savage Security contacted me to help save the data of one of their clients; I immediately began studying the cryptography related portions of the software, while the Savage Security team was busy looking at other portions.
Read more…PL/SQL Developer: HTTP to Command Execution
While looking into PL/SQL Developer – a very popular tool for working with Oracle databases, to see how it encrypts passwords I noticed something interesting. When testing Windows applications, I make it a habit to have Fiddler running, to see if there is any interesting traffic – and in this case, there certainly was. PL/SQL Developer has an update mechanism which retrieves a file containing information about available updates to PL/SQL Developer and other components; this file is retrieved via HTTP, meaning that an attacker in a privileged network position could modify this file.
Read more…PL/SQL Developer: Nonexistent Encryption
(See here for another issue discovered during this research; Updates over HTTP & Command Execution.) PL/SQL Developer by Allround Automations has an option to store the user’s logon history with passwords – the passwords are encrypted with a proprietary algorithm. At this point, you should know how this is going to go. For those that don’t know, PL/SQL Developer is a tool for developers and database administrators to access Oracle – an essential tool in many enterprise environments.
Read more…Verizon Hum Leaking Credentials
or, Christmas Infosec Insanity… A friend mentioned Hum by Verizon, a product that I hadn’t heard of but quickly caught my attention – both from a “here’s a privacy nightmare” perspective, and “I might actually use that” perspective. While looking at the site, I decided to take a look at the source code for the shopping page – what I saw was rather unexpected. Near the top is a large block of JSON assigned to an otherwise unused variable named phpvars – included was some validation code, a number of URLs, some HTML, and the like.
Read more…Dovestones Software AD Self Password Reset (CVE-2015-8267)
Software AD Self Password Reset v3.0 by Dovestones Software contains a critical vulnerability in the password change functionality, that allows unauthenticated users to change the password of arbitrary accounts. The vendor has been working with customers to upgrade them to a fixed version. The /Reset/ChangePass function doesn’t validate that the validation questions have been answered, or validate that the account in question is enrolled. This allows an attacker to reset any account that the service account is able to reset, even if they aren’t enrolled.
Read more…Making BadUSB Work For You – DerbyCon
Last week Brandon Wilson and I were honored to speak at DerbyCon, on the work we’ve been doing on the Phison controller found in many USB thumb drives. This was my first time speaking at DerbyCon – it’s a great event, with a fantastic team making the magic happen. Slides: Video (which I’ve haven’t been able to bring myself to watch): Now that the dust has settled, I would like to provide some updates, thoughts, and extra information – and maybe correct an error I made during the presentation.
Read more…phpMyID: Fixing Abandoned OSS Software
phpMyID is a simple solution for those that want to run their own OpenID endpoint – the problem is that its author stopped maintaining the project in 2008. Despite this, there’s still quite a few people that use it, because it’s the easiest single-user OpenID option available. Unfortunately, the author didn’t follow best practices when building the software, and as a result multiple security flaws were introduced. In 2008, a XSS was identified and never fixed (CVE-2008-4730), in the years since then it seems the software has been below the radar.
Read more…Evernote for Windows, Arbitrary File Download via Update
Update: The Evernote security has reported that this issue is resolved. Evernote for Windows downloads its update information via HTTP, making it subject to man-in-the-middle attacks – further, this allows an attacker to specify an arbitrary file for the updater to download. The good news is that Evernote will not execute the file thanks to signature validation – but the file isn’t removed, so it’s available for later use. As the file isn’t executed, it isn’t a critical issue.
Read more…VICIDIAL: Multiple Vulnerabilities
Update: The VICIDIAL team has publicly released a new version that, according to them, has corrected the issues I’ve pointed out here. Please make sure you are using the latest version available. If you aren’t sure if your instance is safe, contact your friendly local penetration tester to verify it’s secure as you expect it to be. Update: The SQL Injection vulnerability has been assigned CVE-2013-4467, and Command Injection assigned CVE-2013-4468.
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About Me
Security researcher, engineer and software developer with more than 20 years of experience.
Work: I primarily focus on application security, usable security, secure communications, and cryptography. I build and lead strong and dynamic teams, who cover all facets of security and privacy.
Writing: I write about my research, security in general, development and software design, and leadership through my blog, essays, and various publications. I also engage in some creating writing when I can.
Photography: I am a purist fine art photographer, working primarily in black & white, and focused on sharing new perspectives of the world. Limited edition prints of my work are available on my online gallery. I also have a background in photojournalism, and volunteer in this field when I can.