DOUG. SIM swapping, zero-days, the [dramatic voice] P-i-n-g of D-E-A-T-H, and LastPass… once more.
All that, and extra, on the Bare Safety podcast.
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Welcome to the podcast everyone.
I’m Doug Aamoth.
With me, as at all times, is Paul Ducklin.
Paul, how do you do?
DUCK. Very properly, Doug.
You set some excessive drama sound into that intro, I’m happy to see!
DOUG. Effectively, how do you say “Ping of Demise” with out saying [doom metal growl] “P-i-n-g of D-E-A-T-H”?
You may’t simply say [gentle voice] “Ping of Demise”.
You’ve received to punch it a bit bit…
DUCK. I suppose so.
It’s completely different in writing – what have you ever received?
Daring and italics.
I simply went with regular textual content, however I did use capital letters, which helps.
DOUG. Sure, I feel I’d daring and italicise the phrase “loss of life”, so [doom metal again] “The Ping of D-E-A-T-H”.
DUCK. And use a number of colors!
I’ll try this subsequent time, Doug.
DOUG. Get away the outdated <blink> tag in HTML, make it blink a bit bit? [LAUGHS]
DUCK. Doug, for a second, I used to be nervous you have been going to make use of the phrase [LAUGHS] <marquee>.
DOUG. [LAUGHS] We love outdated stuff right here!
And that dovetails properly with our This Week in Tech Historical past phase – I’m enthusiastic about this one as a result of I hadn’t heard about it, however stumbled throughout it.
This week, on 04 December 2001, the Goner worm ransacked the web at a tempo second solely to that of the Love Bug virus.
Goner unfold by way of Microsoft Outlook, and promised unsuspecting victims a enjoyable display saver when executed.
DUCK. Goner…
I feel it received that identify as a result of there was a popup on the finish, wasn’t there, that talked about the Pentagon?
But it surely was meant to be a pun – it was “Penta/Gone”.
That was actually the worm that reminded folks that, actually, Home windows screensavers are simply executable applications.
So, should you have been looking specifically for .EXE information, properly, they might be wrapped up in .SCR (screensaver) information as properly.
In the event you have been solely counting on filenames, you would simply be tricked.
And many individuals have been, sadly.
DOUG. Alright, we’ll go from the old-school to the new-school.
We’re speaking about LastPass: there was a breach; the breach itself wasn’t horrible; however that breach has now led to a different breach.
Or perhaps that is only a continuation of the unique breach?
LastPass admits to buyer knowledge breach attributable to earlier breach
DUCK. Sure, LastPass has written about it primarily as a comply with as much as the earlier breach, which I feel was August 2022, wasn’t it?
And as we stated on the time, it was a really embarrassing search for LastPass.
However as breaches go, it was most likely worse for his or her PR, advertising and (I assume) for his or her mental property departments, as a result of it appears the principle factor the crooks made away with was supply code from their improvement system.
And LastPass was fast to reassure individuals…
Firstly, their investigations advised that, while they have been in there, the crooks weren’t in a position to make any unauthorised adjustments that may later percolate into the true code.
Secondly, entry to the event system doesn’t offer you entry to the manufacturing system, the place the precise code is constructed.
And thirdly, they have been in a position to say it appeared that no encrypted password vaults have been stolen, so the cloud storage of your encrypted passwords was not accessed.
And even when it had been accessed, then solely you’d know the password, as a result of the decryption (what you referred to as the “heavy lifting” once we spoke about it on the podcast) is definitely accomplished in reminiscence in your units – LastPass by no means sees your password.
After which, fourthly, they stated, so far as we are able to inform, because of that breach, a number of the stuff that was within the improvement surroundings has now given both the identical… or probably a totally completely different load of crooks who purchased the stolen knowledge off the earlier lot, who is aware of?
That did enable them to get into some cloud service the place some as-yet apparently unknown set of buyer knowledge was stolen.
I don’t suppose they fairly know but, as a result of it may possibly take some time to work out what really did get accessed after a breach occurred.
So I feel it’s truthful to say that is type of the B-side of the unique breach.
DOUG. All proper, we advise that should you’re a LastPass buyer, to keep watch over the corporate’s safety incident report.
We are going to keep watch over this story because it’s nonetheless creating.
And should you, like Paul and I, struggle cybercrime for a dwelling, there are some wonderful classes to be realized from the Uber breach.
In order that’s a podcast episode – a “minisode” – with Chester Wisniewski that Paul has embedded on the backside of the LastPass article:
Heaps to study on that entrance!
DUCK. As you say, that’s an important pay attention, as a result of it’s, I imagine, what is thought in America as “actionable recommendation”, or “information you should utilize”.
DOUG. [LAUGHS] Great.
Talking of news-you-can’t-really-use, Apple is usually tight-lipped about its safety updates… and there was a safety replace:
Apple pushes out iOS safety replace that’s extra tight-lipped than ever
DUCK. Oh, Doug, that’s considered one of your best… I like that segue.
DOUG. [LAUGHS] Thanks; thanks very a lot.
DUCK. Sure, this shocked me.
I believed, “Effectively, I’ll seize the replace as a result of it sounds critical.”
And I gave myself the explanation, “Let me do it for Bare Safety readers.”
As a result of if I do it and there are not any side-effects, then I can not less than say to different individuals, “Look, I simply blindly did it and no hurt got here to me. So perhaps you are able to do it as properly.”
I simply all of the sudden seen that there was an iOS 16.1.2 replace out there, though I had had no safety advisory e-mail from Apple.
No e-mail?!
That’s bizarre.. so I went to the HT201222 portal web page that Apple has for its safety bulletins, and there it was: iOS 16.1.2.
And what does it say, Doug, “Particulars will comply with quickly”?
DOUG. And did they comply with quickly?
DUCK. Effectively, that was greater than every week in the past, they usually’re not there but.
So are we speaking “quickly” which means hours, days, weeks, or months?
In the meanwhile, it’s wanting like weeks.
And, as at all times with Apple, there’s no indication of something to do with every other working methods.
Have they been forgotten?
Do they not want the replace?
Did in addition they want the replace, but it surely’s simply not prepared but?
Have they been dropped out of assist?
But it surely did appear, as I stated within the headline, much more tight-lipped than ordinary for Apple, and never essentially probably the most useful factor on the earth.
DOUG. OK, excellent… nonetheless some questions, which leads us to our subsequent story.
A really attention-grabbing query!
Typically, if you join a service and it enforces two-factor authentication, it says, “Do you need to get notified by way of textual content message, or do you need to use an authentication app?”
And this story is a cautionary story to not use your telephone – use an authentication app, even when it’s a bit bit extra cumbersome.
It is a very attention-grabbing story:
SIM swapper despatched to jail for 2FA cryptocurrency heist of over $20m
DUCK. It’s, Doug!
In the event you’ve ever misplaced a cell phone, or locked your self out of your SIM card by placing within the PIN incorrectly too many occasions, you’ll know that you may go into the cell phone store…
…and often they’ll ask for ID or one thing, and also you say, “Hey, I would like a brand new SIM card.”
They usually’ll generate one for you.
If you put it into your telephone, bingo!… it’s received your outdated quantity on it.
So what which means is that if a criminal can undergo the identical train that you’d to persuade the cell phone firm that they’ve “misplaced” or “damaged” their SIM card (i.e. *your SIM card*), they usually can get that card both handed to, or despatched to, or given to them someway…
…then, after they plug it into their telephone, they begin getting your SMS two-factor authentication codes, *and* your telephone stops working.
That’s the dangerous information.
The excellent news on this article is that this was a case of a chap who received busted for it.
He’s been despatched to jail within the US for 18 months.
He, with a bunch of accomplices – or, within the phrases of the Division of Justice, the Scheme Members… [LAUGHS]
…they made off with one specific sufferer’s cryptocurrency, apparently to the tune of $20 million, should you don’t thoughts.
DOUG. Oof!
DUCK. So he agreed to plead responsible, take a jail sentence, and instantly forfeit… the quantity was [reading carefully] $983,010.72… simply to forfeit that instantly.
So, presumably, he had that mendacity round.
And he apparently additionally has some form of authorized obligation to refund over $20 million.
DOUG. Good luck with that, everybody! Good luck.
His different [vocal italics] Scheme Members may trigger some points there! [LAUGHS]
DUCK. Sure, I don’t know what occurs in the event that they refuse to cooperate as properly.
Like, if they only dangle him out to dry, what occurs?
However we’ve received some suggestions, and a few recommendation on the right way to beef up safety (in additional methods than simply the 2FA you employ) within the article.
So go and browse that… each little bit helps.
DOUG. OK, talking of “little bits”…
…this was one other fascinating story, how the lowly ping can be utilized to set off distant code execution:
Ping of loss of life! FreeBSD fixes crashtastic bug in community device
DUCK. [Liking the segue again] I feel you’ve bettered your self, Doug!
DOUG. [LAUGHS] I’m on a roll right now…
DUCK. From Apple to the [weak attempt at doom vocals] Ping of D-E-A-T-H!
Sure, this was an intriguing bug.
I don’t suppose it’s going to actually trigger many individuals a lot hurt, and it *is* patched, so fixing it’s straightforward.
However there’s an important writeup within the FreeBSD safety advisory…
…and it makes for an entertaining, and, if I say so myself, a really informative story for the present technology of programmers who might have relied on,”Third-party libraries will simply do it for me. Coping with low stage community packets? I by no means have to consider it…”
There are some nice classes to be realized right here.
The ping utility, which is the one community device that just about everyone is aware of about it, will get its identify from SONAR.
You go [makes movie submarine noise] ping, after which the echo comes again from the server on the different finish.
And this can be a function that’s constructed into the Web Protocol, IP, utilizing a factor referred to as ICMP, which is Web Management Message Protocol.
It’s a particular, low-level protocol, a lot decrease than UDP or TCP that persons are most likely used to, that’s just about designed for precisely this sort of factor: “Are you really even alive on the different finish, earlier than I’m going worrying about why your net server isn’t working?”
There’s a particular form of packet you possibly can ship out referred to as “ICMP Echo”.
So, you ship this tiny little packet with a brief message in it (the message will be something you want), and it merely sends that exact same message again to you.
It’s only a primary approach of claiming, “If that message doesn’t come again, both the community or your complete server is down”, slightly than that there’s some software program drawback on the pc.
By analogy with SONAR, this system that sends out these echo requests known as… [pause] I’m going to do the sound impact, Doug … [fake submarine movie noise again] ping. [LAUGHTER]
And the thought is, you go, say, ping -c3 (which means verify thrice) nakedsecurity.sophos.com.
You are able to do that proper now, and it’s best to get three replies, every of them one second aside, from the WordPress servers that host our website.
And it’s saying the positioning is alive.
It’s not telling you that the net server is up; it’s not telling you that WordPress is up; it’s not telling that Bare Safety is definitely out there to learn.
But it surely not less than it confirms that you may see the server, and the server can attain you.
And who would have thought that that lowly little ping reply might journey up the FreeBSD ping program in such a approach {that a} rogue server might ship again a booby trapped “Sure, I’m alive” message that would, in principle (in principle solely; I don’t suppose anybody has accomplished this in observe) set off distant code execution in your laptop.
DOUG. Sure, that’s superb; that’s the superb half.
Even when it’s a proof-of-concept, it’s such a small little factor!
DUCK. The ping program itself will get the entire IP packet again, and it’s speculated to divide it into two elements.
Usually, the kernel would deal with this for you, so that you’d simply see the info half.
However if you’re coping with what are referred to as uncooked sockets, what you get again is the Web Protocol header, which simply says, “Hey, these bytes got here from such and such a server.”
And then you definately get a factor referred to as the “ICMP Echo Reply”, which is the second half of the packet you get again.
Now, these packets, they’re sometimes simply 100 bytes or so, and if it’s IPv4, the primary 20 bytes are the IP header and the rest, no matter it’s, is the Echo Reply.
That has a number of bytes to say, “That is an Echo Reply,” after which the unique message that went out coming again.
And so the apparent factor to do, Doug, if you get it, is you cut up it into…
…the IP header, which is 20 bytes lengthy, and the remaining.
Guess the place the issue lies?
DOUG. Do inform!
DUCK. The issue is that IP headers are *nearly at all times* 20 bytes lengthy – actually, I don’t suppose I’ve ever seen one which wasn’t.
And you may inform they’re 20 bytes lengthy as a result of the primary byte will probably be hexadecimal 0x45.
The “4”” means IPv4, and the “5”… “Oh, we’ll use that to say how lengthy the header is.”
You are taking that quantity 5 and also you multiply it by 4 (for 32-bit values), and also you get 20 bytes..
…and that’s the dimension of most likely six sigma’s value of IP headers that you’ll ever see in the entire world, Doug. [LAUGHTER]
However they *can* go as much as 60 bytes.
In the event you put 0x4F as a substitute of 0x45, that claims there are 0xF (or 15 in decimal) × 4 = 60 bytes within the header.
And the FreeBSD code merely took that header and copied it right into a buffer on the stack that was 20 bytes in dimension.
A easy, old-school stack buffer overflow.
It’s a case of a venerable community troubleshooting device with a venerable sort of bug in it. (Effectively, not any extra.)
So, when you’re programming and it’s important to take care of low-level stuff that no person’s actually considered for ages, don’t simply go along with the obtained knowledge that claims, “Oh, it’ll at all times be 20 bytes; you’ll by no means see something greater.”
As a result of at some point you may.
And when that day comes, it is likely to be there intentionally as a result of a criminal made it so on function.
So the satan, as at all times, is within the programming particulars, Doug.
DOUG. OK, very attention-grabbing; nice story.
And we are going to stick with regards to code with this ultimate story about Chrome.
One other zero-day, which brings the 2022 whole to 9 occasions:
Quantity 9! Chrome fixes one other 2022 zero-day, Edge patched too
DUCK. [Formal voice, sounding like a recording] “Quantity 9. Quantity 9. Quantity 9, quantity 9,” Douglas.
DOUG. [LAUGHS] Is that this Yoko Ono?
DUCK. That’s Revolution 9 off the Beatles “White Album”.
Yoko will be heard riffing away in that music – that soundscape, I imagine they name it – however apparently the bit at the start the place there’s any individual saying “Quantity 9, quantity 9” time and again, it was, actually, a take a look at tape they discovered mendacity round.
DOUG. Ah, very cool.
DUCK. An EMI engineer saying one thing like, “That is EMI take a look at tape quantity 9” [LAUGHTER], and apparently I don’t even suppose anybody is aware of whose voice it was.
That has *nothing* to do with Chrome, Doug.
However provided that any individual commented on Fb the opposite day, “That Paul man is beginning to appear to be a Beatle”… [quizzical] which I discovered barely odd.
DOUG. [LAUGHS] Sure, how are you speculated to take that?
DUCK. …I figured I might dine out on “Quantity 9”.
It’s the ninth zero-day of the yr to date, it appears, Doug.
And it’s a one-bug repair, with the bug recognized as CVE 2022-4282.
As a result of Microsoft Edge makes use of the Chromium open-source core, it too was weak, and a few days later, Microsoft adopted up with an replace for Edge.
So that is each a Chrome and an Edge challenge.
Though these browsers ought to replace themselves, I like to recommend going to verify anyway – we present you ways to try this within the article – simply in case.
I gained’t learn out the model numbers right here as a result of they’re completely different for Mac, Linux and Home windows on Chrome, they usually’re completely different once more for Edge.
Like Apple, Google’s being a bit tight-lipped about this one.
It was discovered by considered one of their risk searching staff, I do imagine.
So I think about they discovered it whereas investigating an incident that occurred within the wild, and due to this fact they most likely need to hold it below their hat, despite the fact that Google often has quite a bit to say about “openness” with regards to bug-fixing.
You may see why, in a case like this, you may want a bit little bit of time to dig a bit bit deeper earlier than you inform everyone precisely the way it works.
DOUG. Glorious… and we do have a reader query that’s most likely a query lots of people are considering.
Cassandra asks, “Are the bug finders simply getting fortunate at discovering bugs? Or have they struck a ‘seam’ stuffed with bugs? Or is Chromium issuing new code that’s extra buggy than regular? Or is one thing else occurring?”
DUCK. Sure, that’s an important query, really, and I’m afraid that I might solely reply it in a barely facetious type of approach, Doug.
As a result of Cassandra had given selections A), B) and C), I stated, “Effectively, perhaps it’s D) The entire above.”
We do know that when a bug of 1 specific type reveals up in code, then it’s cheap to imagine that the identical programmer might have made comparable bugs elsewhere within the software program.
Or different programmers on the similar firm might have been utilizing what was thought-about obtained knowledge or customary observe on the time, and will have adopted go well with.
And an important instance Is, should you look again at Log4J… there was a repair to patch the issue.
After which, after they went wanting, “Oh, really, there are different locations the place comparable errors have been made.”
So there was a repair for the repair, after which there was a repair for the repair for the repair, If I keep in mind.
There’s, in fact, additionally the difficulty that if you add new code, you could get bugs which are distinctive to that new code and are available about due to including options.
And that’s why many browsers, Chrome included, have an if-you-like “barely older” model that you may persist with.
And the thought is that these “older” releases… they’ve not one of the new options, however all the related safety fixes.
So, if you wish to be conservative about new options, you will be.
However we actually know that, generally, if you shovel new options right into a product, new bugs include the brand new options.
And you may inform that, for instance, when there’s an replace, say, in your iPhone, and also you get updates, say, for iOS 15 and iOS 16.
Then, if you take a look at the bug lists, there are few bugs that solely apply to iOS 16.
And also you suppose, “Whats up, these have to be bugs within the code that weren’t there earlier than.”
So, sure, that’s a chance.
And I feel the opposite issues which are occurring will be thought-about good.
The primary is that I feel that, notably for issues like browsers, the browser makers are getting significantly better at pushing out full rebuilds actually, actually shortly.
DOUG. Fascinating.
DUCK. And I feel the opposite factor that’s modified is that, prior to now, you would argue that for a lot of distributors… it was fairly tough to get individuals to use patches in any respect, even after they got here out solely on a month-to-month schedule, and even when they’d a number of zero-day fixes in them.
I feel, perhaps it is also a response to the truth that increasingly more of us are increasingly more seemingly not simply to just accept, however really to *count on* computerized updating that’s actually immediate.
So, I feel you possibly can learn some good things into this.
The very fact not solely that Google can push out a single zero-day repair nearly instantaneously, but in addition that persons are keen to just accept that and even to demand it.
So I prefer to see that challenge of, “Wow, 9 zero-days within the yr fastened individually!”…
…I like to consider that extra as “glass half fill and filling up” than “glass half empty and draining by way of a small gap within the backside”. [LAUGHTER]
That’s my opinion.
DOUG. Alright, excellent.
Thanks for the query, Cassandra.
You probably have an attention-grabbing story, remark or query you’d prefer to submit, we’d like to learn it on the podcast.
You may e-mail suggestions@sophos.com, you possibly can touch upon any considered one of our articles, or you possibly can hit us up on social: @NakedSecurity.
That’s our present for right now; thanks very a lot for listening.
For Paul Ducklin, I’m Doug Aamoth, reminding you: Till subsequent time…
BOTH. Keep safe!
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