BlackHat, Defcon and Vegas Baby!
The planets and stars have aligned, and it turns out I’ll be at BlackHat and Defcon this year! I’ve never gone, although I’ve been wanting to for many years, so it’s definitely an exciting first for me. My awesome gf pushed me to finally go ;) There are plenty of people from the security community that I know online, but I’m eager to finally meet them in person. Any of you guys (or gals) going? I’m currently on the hunt for some decent Defcon parties; hook me up if you know of any! Las Vegas baby, here we come.
BackTrack 5 “Revolution” Released
The most popular security and penetration testing Linux distribution has been updated once again, this time built from scratch! BackTrack 5, codenamed “Revolution”, is based on Ubuntu Lucid LTS with kernel 2.6.38, and brings with it full 32 and 64-bit support, an ARM-compatible image, forensics and stealth modes, KDE (4.6) and Gnome (2.6) desktop environments, and (allegedly) over 350 updated security tools including Metasploit 3.7.0. Best of all it’s “aligned with industry methodologies”! Whatever that means ;)
It appears BackTrack 5 will only be available torrents for the time being. The torrents are available in the following flavours: Gnome ISO (32bit, 64bit, ARM img), Gnome 32-bit VMware Image, KDE ISO (32bit, 64bit). Here’s the BackTrack downloads page. Those of you wondering which flavour to get between Gnome and KDE, it’s largely dependent on one’s taste, but the BackTrack guys appear to be favouring Gnome (which was the default Ubuntu graphics environment). If you have no idea what to get, then grab the Gnome 32-bit ISO (or VMware image) using the links above. I recommend Transmission (Mac) or uTorrent (Mac/PC) for BitTorrent clients. For anyone who hasn’t used BT before, the default username and password is root/toor.
BackTrack is a great tool for network security specialists and penetration testers, but it’s an even more valuable resource for people looking at learning more about application and network security (and Linux). Although I do have an Ubuntu install, I tend to use BackTrack more often due to the convenience (when I’m not using OSX that is ;).
It’s not possible to upgrade from BT4r2 to BT5, so those of you with installations of BackTrack 4 will need to reinstall (or download the new VM).
Check out their shiny promotional video below!
[Updated] BackTrack 5 R2 is now available, and brings a new kernel and 42 new tools. You can update your existing BT5 (R1) installation by running:
echo “deb http://updates.repository.backtrack-linux.org revolution main microverse non-free testing” >> /etc/apt/sources.list
apt-get update
apt-get dist-upgrade
WordPress.com Hacked and Rooted (but not exposed?)
WordPress.com (the blog hosting platform) was compromised by hackers using an undisclosed vulnerability. My guess is the attackers found an unpatched server somewhere, and used that to get into the environment. Information from Automattic is limited, but they’re assuming that source code and other information was probably stolen. Nobody has come forth to claim the hack, or post WordPress’ source code and account information online, Gawker-style.
If you have a blog on WordPress.com, I recommend changing your password there (and on any other site where you may have used the same password). If you host your own WordPress blog, there isn’t cause for concern just yet as there are many ways that the hackers could have gotten root access, so the vulnerability used may not be within the WordPress software itself.
I’ll update this post should any more information come to light.
Safari, Mac OS X and Fraudulent SSL Certificates (Comodo)
Following the recent hacking of Comodo, a certificate authority that distributes SSL certificates, web users to the following domains are at a higher risk of phishing and sniffing attacks:
- login.live.com
- mail.google.com
- www.google.com
- login.yahoo.com
- login.skype.com
- addons.mozilla.org
Attackers were able to obtain SSL certificates for these domains, essentially allowing them to pose as those websites. The certificates have since been revoked by Comodo, however this relies on browsers checking for them by checking Comodo’s Certificate Revocation List (CRL) and having the Online Certificate Status Protocol (OCSP) enabled. Firefox and Chrome were updated last week to block the fraudulent certs, but Safari doesn’t do CRL and OCSP checking by default.
Hit the jump for how to enable these checks in OSX and Safari. Read more
HBGary: Security Firm Investigating ‘Anonymous’ Hacked and Exposed
“Do not meddle in the affairs of hackers, for they are subtle and quick to anger.”
Following last week’s hacking of shamed LIGATT CEO Gregory D Evans, this week it was the turn of security firm HBGary to get exposed. HBGary have been aiding the FBI with their investigations into members of Anonymous. Although Anonymous isn’t a centralised ‘group’, their recent DDoS attacks and hacks of oppressive governments and anti-wikileaks organisations (including PayPal, MasterCard and VISA), have made them a target of the US Federal Government.
HBGary were allegedly preparing to hand over information about certain members of Anonymous to the FBI, who have already made several arrests in the US and UK, and obtained over 40 search warrants in an attempt to shut down Anonymous (probably not possible imo). Angered by CEO Aaron Barr and HBGary’s involvement in FBI investigations, members of Anonymous compromised a number of HBGary servers, defacing their website, gaining access to CEO Aaron Barr’s Twitter account, and obtaining a large number of emails. In what seems to be the popular punishment at the moment, over 50,000 corporate emails were released in a torrent. Anonymous also stated, on one of their many Twitter accounts, that the source code of HBGary’s security products was also obtained – although these don’t appear to have been released (yet?).
“You’ve angered the hive, and now you are being stung.”
Anonymous posted a message to HBGary on their defaced website, where they mock the firm for their lack of security and the unsubstantial ‘public’ information that was going to be handed sold to the FBI.
Hit the jump for Anonymous’ full message.
Ars Technica has a good review of how this all went down, and a step-by-step account of how the hack was possible.
[Update] Aaron Barr steps down as CEO of HBGary Federal
Pic of the Week: Real-World Penetration Testing
Can’t remember where I found this image, but it’s an amusing hyperbole of the sometimes limited or frustrating nature of penetration testing. Anyone who’s done pen testing/ethical hacking as a job will be able to appreciate the various points along the graph.
To the unknown author of this image: we feel your pain. ;)
There just one thing… I get M, T, W and F along the X-axis… wtf’s R ??
Finding Security Bugs in Gawker Source Code
With the recent high-profile Gawker compromise, their entire source code and user database are available as a torrent. Some people have taken to cracking the (weak) password hashes, whilst others are looking for bugs in the source.
Mike Bailey has started Gawker Bug of the Day (@gawkerbugs), and will be disclosing security vulnerabilities in their source code… presumably for funsies.
GBOTD#1 is a XSS found in the first 3 lines of the first file:
http://gawker.com/at.js.php?country=%3Cimg%20src%3D.%20onerror%3Dalert%28document.cookie%29%20%3E
According to Mike, he’s already found over 30 bugs after just a few hours of hunting.
Gawker Media Hacked and Accounts Compromised
Gawker Media, who run many other sites including Lifehacker, Gizmodo and io9, have had their servers and databases hacked by a group called Gnosis. This results in over 1.3 million user accounts being compromised, across their various websites. Part of the issue is the fact that Gawker were using the outdated DES algorithm to secure passwords in the database, making it trivial for the hackers to crack the hashes. To make matters worse, many Gawker admins have also been using extremely weak passwords for their accounts. A full account from the hackers’ perspective can be found here, and there is clearly some beef between them and Nick Denton (owner of Gawker) who appears to have been baiting 4chan (baad idea).
The 1.3 million user accounts, together with Gawker Media’s source code, have been made available in a torrent posted on The Pirate Bay. You can quickly check whether your account is one of those by checking out this spreadsheet (Google). It’s safe to say that if you have any accounts on websites run by Gawker Media, you’re going to want to change your password. If you happen to reuse passwords a lot, then you’ll want to change your password everywhere… isn’t password reuse a joy?
Armitage: Metasploit Attack Management GUI
Armitage, by Raphael Mudge, is a great little user interface for Metasploit which allows you to easily discover targets, deliver exploits, and manage your attacks to do things like pivots without any hassles.
Getting started with Armitage in Backtrack 4 R2 is easy. First, start the MySQL DB with /etc/init.d/mysql start (root/toor), and then start the Metasploit RPC daemon:
cd /pentest/exploits/framework3
./msfrpcd -f -U msf -P test -t Basic
Once msfrpcd is running, simply launch Armitage using the script provided and click Connect (you may need to check the Use SSL checkbox).
Armitage is written in Java, and works in Linux, Windows and Mac OS X. Download it here.
[Update] Armitage has been added to the Backtrack repos. Here’s a short tutorial, and check out the video tutorial below.
[Updated 21/01/2011] Hak5 episode 882 features a tutorial with mubix and Mudge (Hak5).
Wikileaks Releases 250k US Embassy Cables (Chinese Gov’t Responsible for Google Attacks)
Wikileaks, who are currently the target of a massive DDoS attack, has just released 251,287 leaked US embassy cables (dubbed Cablegate). Mirrors available here.
The cables, which date from 1966 up until the end of February this year, contain confidential communications between 274 embassies in countries throughout the world and the State Department in Washington DC. 15,652 of the cables are classified Secret.
The embassy cables will be released in stages over the next few months. The subject matter of these cables is of such importance, and the geographical spread so broad, that to do otherwise would not do this material justice.
The cables show the extent of US spying on its allies and the UN; turning a blind eye to corruption and human rights abuse in “client states”; backroom deals with supposedly neutral countries; lobbying for US corporations; and the measures US diplomats take to advance those who have access to them.
One cable reveals that China’s Politbureau was responsible for the attacks against Google China back in January 2010.
[Update] A torrent is available to download the entire Cablegate site in a single archive for your personal reading pleasure (magnet links).
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