Vista Back door

Originally posted by Digital_Reality
I know this is of the subject but since it was brought up...

A more positive application of Alt+F4 would be to close pop ups that intentionally try to get you to click on them to install spy-ware. I prefer to do this rather than clicking on the red X to close the window.

Try Ctrl+W, same thing but less awkward.

spiteful: That's what the 'lead plate' was for, an attempt to solve the 'user problem'. But of course, some users can break a machine just by intending to use it, so I guess I have to add "forgotten to time itself" to the description.

WTF.

what i really want to know is why no-one has invented a programming language called "simple english", which consists of simple english. why in the name of god do people feel it is a good idea to make this stuff so complicated. what are you guys on about?

for example, what exactly is a port and why do i need more than 1?

EDIT: that was a rhetorical question, i don't actually care.

[edit on 5/12/08 by pieman]

So this is a simple proof of concept for a buffer overflow resulting in a denial of service attack on a local level. No backdoor to let people in your system, no opening up ports, no aliens are going to crawl out of your monitor.

What you essentially are doing with this is exploiting the fact that the variable PrefixLength can only hold an interger up to 32. The program fails to use proper bounds checking, allowing you to squeeze more data into a buffer then the program can handle. This results in you actually accessing a part of memory past the buffer, with the data that is overflowing into it. The part of memory when overwritten results in a blue screen of death when the system goes to access the section of memory that has been overwritten.

By using a debugging program, you can actually trace the execution of code to find out exactly how much data you need to overflow the buffer, and how much data is required to write into what is called the EIP, which is a memory register that points to the next command. So, you overflow the buffer, resulting in changing the EIP to a predetermined memory address pointing to your next command. This next command is whatever you want it to be. This results in you actually accessing memory that you are not supposed to have access to, which can possibly run whatever command the EIP points to, as whatever privliges the programming has. At least, it usually results in a denial of service - usually in the form of proof of concept code, but at worst this can be a serious vulnerability.

This is why its so important for programmers to use "safe" functions, and to use correct bounds checking in their code. Some operating systems employ the use of "canary" values, which are placed between the buffer and the data, so if anything is changed the program notices and aborts before a security risk can occur. Although, this method has been proven ineffective in heap based overflows, as compared to the older and more common stack based overflows. Some exploiters are able to defeat these canarys on the stack as well though.

Anyway, thats my little explanation.

Originally posted by Ian McLean
spiteful: That's what the 'lead plate' was for, an attempt to solve the 'user problem'. But of course, some users can break a machine just by intending to use it, so I guess I have to add "forgotten to time itself" to the description.

Plus you'r forgetting about "Schroedinger Cat", if you can't look in the box how do you know it hasn't been hacked?

lol

Originally posted by spitefulgod
reply to post by Ian McLean

 

..it would be done under the guise of a buffer overflow or underrun bug

You are very much correct, Sir. And It was explained to me that that's exactly how access was gained. So as you suggest it's not a back door, per se, only a security flaw that was never truly delt with.

Kind regards.

reply to post by spitefulgod


oh christ, now we're onto in-jokes. why, just why.

look, this is a catholic throwback, keeping things latin so the laity didn't understand. every bloody profession does it. it bugs me.

FIREWALL: a wall to stop a fire
PORT: where ships live
ROUTE: how i get from here to there
NETWORK: something 80's people did at parties
STACK: a serving suggestion for pancakes

just cus you guys steal em for your own nefarious uses doesn't make you extra clever.

reply to post by pieman


COMPUTER : magic box

reply to post by deadline527


Hi deadline, nice explanation of how implementation flaw allow arbitrary programs to run.

But it doesn't explain how the code sequence in the OP could cause that kind of menu-driven output, if the machine's not connected to a network. The amount of 'garbage characters' is too small to encode that kind of text/menu.

So that would imply that the code being executed through the command is branching to an existing system, built in to Vista, or to some exploit that had previously been installed on the system.

Of course, that's assuming that the OP is accurate, and that behaviour can be demonstrated.

I've searched the net for the phrases found in the OP, and have found no other mention, other than security advisories on the "route" flaw. Anyone else find anything more?

Originally posted by Ian McLean
reply to post by deadline527

 

But it doesn't explain how the code sequence in the OP could cause that kind of menu-driven output, if the machine's not connected to a network. The amount of 'garbage characters' is too small to encode that kind of text/menu.

Ahhhh. I think that's called incentive. Would you have tried the code otherwise?

Originally posted by Ian McLean
reply to post by deadline527

 

Hi deadline, nice explanation of how implementation flaw allow arbitrary programs to run.

But it doesn't explain how the code sequence in the OP could cause that kind of menu-driven output, if the machine's not connected to a network. The amount of 'garbage characters' is too small to encode that kind of text/menu.

So that would imply that the code being executed through the command is branching to an existing system, built in to Vista, or to some exploit that had previously been installed on the system.

Of course, that's assuming that the OP is accurate, and that behaviour can be demonstrated.

I've searched the net for the phrases found in the OP, and have found no other mention, other than security advisories on the "route" flaw. Anyone else find anything more?

True. That menu output would have to be written in the exploit code. I dont ever remember the route command, in either windows or linux, to have a menu like that. My guess is just to sensationalize the article, make it look more important then it is by not only saying how this is some crazy backdoor built into Vista, but also intended by Microsoft because of the menu being there. Pure bull as it looks to me.

Most exploits do not have them menus anyway, rather the different options are passed through switches such as, ./code -type [proof-of-concept, exploit, denial of service]. So yea, I'd say hes just trying to make his article look better.

Originally posted by pieman
WTF.

what i really want to know is why no-one has invented a programming language called "simple english", which consists of simple english. why in the name of god do people feel it is a good idea to make this stuff so complicated. what are you guys on about?

for example, what exactly is a port and why do i need more than 1?

EDIT: that was a rhetorical question, i don't actually care.

[edit on 5/12/08 by pieman]

Actually, low level programming is often very cryptic. Assembly for example would make you want to tear your hair out. C/C++ is a bit higher then ASM, so a little less crazy but still quite complex. As you keep getting to higher and higher level programming languages, you come to ones such as Java, Perl, Visual Basic - all easier then the one before it. Eventually some of the languages are actually quite similiar to broken english in a way, but the more easier you make a language the more flexability and power you lose. Thats why C is such a popular language. While it may be difficult to learn, once you are able to get the hang of it you can do virtually anything.

For example.

High level language : arrays, objects, easier to understand, little to no knowledge of computers required to program.

Low level language : registers, memory addresses, and requires much more knowledge of how the specific architecture works.


And to answer your question about what is a port and why you need one. Think of a house - the house is your computer. Now, think of a house with no doors - which are the ports, you would never be able to communicate with anyone. You can either have your door open, to allow packets to enter, or closed. Certain applications use standard ports so if you need to connect to another computer using, SSH for example, you know that the "door" you are going to have to go to is number 22. If programs did not have their own ports assigned to them, you would have to guess which one to connect to, and a computer can have over 30,000+ ports. Think of a house with 30,000 doors and you not knowing which door is the one you need to go to. They are there for communication, and standardized for convienence.


[edit on 12/5/2008 by deadline527]

Originally posted by pieman
WTF.

what i really want to know is why no-one has invented a programming language called "simple english", which consists of simple english. why in the name of god do people feel it is a good idea to make this stuff so complicated. what are you guys on about?

for example, what exactly is a port and why do i need more than 1?

EDIT: that was a rhetorical question, i don't actually care.

[edit on 5/12/08 by pieman]

Actually there use to be it was called "Basic"

If you wanted to make the computer print text on the screen you just wrote

Print "blah blah blah"

and blah blah blah would be printed to the screen

It even worked as a calculator you just type in the equation and it would spit out the answer there was a little more to it than that but I was programing computers as a kid using Basic then came along all the other stuff and I totally got lost with C++

This is complete BS. There is no Vista back door. I know because I have been a computer/network professional for 15 years and if there was a Vista back door I would have found it and Vista would be banned from my company. The route add command has nothing to do with opening ports on your computer. The route add command simply adds to or modifies the router table on your PC. A router table tells your computer how to reach an IP address range or VLAN.
You can run the command route print to see the existing router table on your PC. Run the route /? command and it will give you all the options you can do with this command. I recommend not messing with the routing table on you PC unless you know what you are doing because it could render your network connection useless.

Originally posted by Erasurehead
I recommend not messing with the routing table on you PC unless you know what you are doing because it could render your network connection useless.

Surely there is a few people who we would love to encounter such a fortunate mistake

As I stated in my earlier posts, agreed, total bs.

The simple point from this post should be never leave it to Windows when it comes to security. Your best option is to have a physical firewall (checkpoint, juniper, etc.) configured with rules, a DMZ, and VLans.

Unfortunately, most people can't grasp the principles of a firewall, sort of like economics and government, which is too bad.

from 1999....

Source :www.heise.de...

How NSA access was built into Windows
Duncan Campbell 04.09.1999

Careless mistake reveals subversion of Windows by NSA.


A CARELESS mistake by Microsoft programmers has revealed that special access codes prepared by the US National Security Agency have been secretly built into Windows. The NSA access system is built into every version of the Windows operating system now in use, except early releases of Windows 95 (and its predecessors). The discovery comes close on the heels of the revelations earlier this year that another US software giant, Lotus, had built an NSA "help information" trapdoor into its Notes system, and that security functions on other software systems had been deliberately crippled.

The first discovery of the new NSA access system was made two years ago by British researcher Dr Nicko van Someren. But it was only a few weeks ago when a second researcher rediscovered the access system. With it, he found the evidence linking it to NSA.

Computer security specialists have been aware for two years that unusual features are contained inside a standard Windows software "driver" used for security and encryption functions. The driver, called ADVAPI.DLL, enables and controls a range of security functions. If you use Windows, you will find it in the C:\Windows\system directory of your computer.

Now I am seriously thinking of going to ubuntu lol

reply to post by thefreepatriot


Ubuntu is a great distro of Linux if you are coming from Windows. Hell, I've used Linux for the last ten years and still use Ubuntu. Its based on Debian, which is an extremely secure distribution, as well as apt for package management makes it a breeze installing binaries.

One day, people will finally ask themselves why have they bothered with windows for such a long time - bothering with the crashing, spyware, viruses, lack of configuration options, lack of control over the system.

Even if you use Windows, you should download Ubuntu, and try the LiveCD version, able to boot right into it from the CD-ROM without having to do anything to your hard drive. The OS is loaded into memory and you have a fully functional system, without the risk of breaking anything due to the fact that CD-ROMS are read only.

Plus compiz is sexy

Originally posted by deadline527
reply to post by thefreepatriot

 

One day, people will finally ask themselves why have they bothered with windows for such a long time - bothering with the crashing, spyware, viruses, lack of configuration options, lack of control over the system.

Because as configurable as it is, the majority of people have no idea how a computer works, let alone want to fix it when something goes wrong. The lack of compatibility with hardware and limited professional grade software, will keep people on windows.