64-bit 7ista Twice Hacked via both IE 8 and Firefox 3!The End Is Nigh!

I should also mention that both Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard and the iPhone got hacked via Safari. Just doing a little back-at-you priority swapping. These days it is a BIG DEAL when Mac OS X gets hacked because of its reputation as the safest GUI OS on the planet. Hacking Windows is ho hum because it happens every day.

Here are some links to somewhat detailed articles about the Day 1 results from the Pwn2Own contest at CanSecWest 2010 in Vancouver, Canada:

TippingPoint blog.
CNet.
MacWorld.

The contest still has two more days of hacking to go. But here is the current list of winners from Day 1:

PWNED! Vincenzo Iozzo and Ralf Philipp Weinmann - iPhone
PWNED! Charlie Miller - Safari [on Mac OS X 10.6]
Nils - Safari (Prize Claimed) [on Mac OS X 10.6]
PWNED! Peter Vreugdenhil - Internet Explorer 8 [on 7ista]
MemACCT - Internet Explorer 8 (Prize Claimed) [on 7ista]
Anonymous - Nokia
Anonymous - iPhone (Prize already won)
PWNED! Nils - Firefox [on 7ista]

Congratulations to all the hackers and thank you for making it clear that Internet surfing can be dangerous no matter the operating system or web browser. Details of each zero day hack are not published until they have been addressed by the companies or groups in charge of affected programs and operating systems. When the Mac OS X hacks have been published, I'll report them and provide links here.

I'll also post more from CanSecWest as it progresses. Dr. Charlie Miller will be presenting his 20 Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard hacks.

The successful hacking of Windows 7ista is of particular interest because it involved bypassing the much lauded ASLR (Address Space Layout Randomization) and DEP (Data Execution Prevention) built into 7ista. So much for those security technologies!

In each hack the victim computers were directed to websites containing exploit code. I'm going to hazard a wild guess that the sites used code written at least in part in the catastrophic mess known as ECMAScript, aka JavaScript/JScript. Readers of this blog will already know my low opinion of this scripting language and my desire that it be banished from the Internet forever. Listeners to the SecurityNow Podcast know that Steve Gibson of Gibson Research Corporation (GRC) called out ECMAScript as dangerous years ago. He recommends surfing the net with scripting turned OFF in all web browsers by default, only turning it on at trusted websites.

Java exploits are also well known at this time, indicating the need to also turn off Java while surfing the net, except again at trusted websites. What a shame.

(Note that JavaScript and Java have nothing whatsoever to do with each other apart from a similar name caused by a marketing moron deal between Netscape and Sun Microsystems, both companies now defunct).

Pwn2Own Browsers Hacked: IE 8, "Safari" and "Firefox"

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This time of year is now one of traditional contention. It's time for Pwn2Own at CanSecWest. It is a fun contest held among security experts to crack the chosen subjects for each year. This year a selection of web browsers was used.

Of course after the contest there is lots of snickering and gossip. But for better or worse, what exactly happened at the contest is rarely revealed, meaning that the specific cracks used are not allowed to be published so they can be provided to the programmers of the cracked software for consideration and patching.

Questionable aspect of this year's contest: Windows 7ista was used in PC testing. It's in beta.

Losers so far this year:

1) "Safari" for Mac. I use quotes as I have not been able to find what version was used. Presumably it is the latest public release, and not the version 4 beta. It was cracked within 2 minutes. How cracked? Unstated. My speculation: That hell hole known as "JavaScript" which these days includes JScript, a holey mess perpetrated by Microsoft. Apple have consistently had JavaScript security problems, starting with QuickTime in 2006 over at MySpace.

2) "Firefox". Again I use quotes as I have not found the version number. Neither do I know which platform, which may well mean both Mac and PC. How cracked? Unstated.

3) Internet Explorer 8.0. This browser was JUST released. Oops. It should have stayed in beta. Again, specifics of the crack have not been made public.

For further details, keep an eye on the Security Watch blog at PC Magazine and the TippingPoint DVLabs blog. You can also follow TippingPoint's Twittering. The contest will conclude later today (Friday, 2009-03-20).
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