CISCO PROMISES TO FIX VULNERABILITY IN SOME ROUTERS

Cisco Systems promised to issue firmware updates removing a backdoor from a wireless access point and two of its routers later this month. The undocumented feature could allow unauthenticated remote attackers to gain administrative access to the devices.

The vulnerability was discovered over the Christmas holiday on a Linksys WAG200G router by a security researcher named Eloi Vanderbeken. He found that the device had a service listening on port 32764 TCP, and that connecting to it allowed a remote user to send unauthenticated commands to the device and reset the administrative password.

Linksys WAG200G

It was later reported by other users that the same backdoor was present in multiple devices from Cisco, Netgear, Belkin, and other manufacturers. On many devices this undocumented interface can only be accessed from the local or wireless network, but on some devices it is also accessible from the Internet.

Cisco identified the vulnerability in its WAP4410N Wireless-N Access Point, WRVS4400N Wireless-N Gigabit Security Router and RVS4000 4-port Gigabit Security Router. The company is no longer responsible for Linksys routers, as it sold that consumer division to Belkin early last year.

The vulnerability is caused by a testing interface that can be accessed from the LAN side on the WRVS4400N and RVS4000 routers and also the wireless network on the WAP4410N wireless access point device.

”An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by accessing the affected device from the LAN-side interface and issuing arbitrary commands in the underlying operating system,” Cisco said in an advisory published Friday. “An exploit could allow the attacker to access user credentials for the administrator account of the device, and read the device configuration. The exploit can also allow the attacker to issue arbitrary commands on the device with escalated privileges.”

The company noted that there are no known workarounds that could mitigate this vulnerability in the absence of a firmware update.

The SANS Internet Storm Center, a cyber threat monitoring organization, warned at the beginning of the month that it detected probes for port 32764 TCP on the Internet, most likely targeting this vulnerability.

TROJAN PROGRAM HIJACKS WORLD OF WARCRAFT ACCOUNTS DESPITE TWO-FACTOR AUTHENTICATION

A new Trojan program is targeting users of the popular online role-playing game World of Warcraft and is capable of hijacking accounts even if their owners use two-factor authentication. 

“We’ve been receiving reports regarding a dangerous Trojan that is being used to compromise players’ accounts even if they are using an authenticator for protection,” a technical support representative from Blizzard Entertainment, the game’s developer, said Friday in a message on the Battle.net forums. “The Trojan acts in real time to do this by stealing both your account information and the authenticator password at the time you enter them.”

Battle.net is Blizzard’s online gaming service and the Battle.net Authenticator is a physical token or a mobile application that generates unique codes used as a second factor of authentication in addition to the user password.

By intercepting Battle.net log-in attempts on infected computers, the Trojan program can capture both the regular user names and passwords and the unique codes generated by authenticators. Since the latter are essentially one-time passwords that expire after being used, the legitimate log-in attempts are blocked by the malware, so while victims try to figure out what went wrong, the captured information is sent to the attackers who can then hijack the accounts.

This is similar to how other Trojan programs allow attackers to defeat two-factor authentication used by Internet banking sites.

Signs of infection with this new malware include the presence of a program called “Disker” or “Disker64” in the Windows start-up list. Users can view this list by generating a MSInfo report using instructions on the Battle.net site and then look under the “Startup Program” section.

In a later update on the Battle.net forum, another Blizzard tech support representative said that the company tracked down the source of infection to a fake, but working Curse Client distributed from a fake website. The Curse Client is a third-party application that can be used to install add-ons and modifications for several games including World of Warcraft.

Users who suspect their computers have been infected with this Trojan program were advised to uninstall the Curse Client and then run a scan with Malwarebytes, an anti-malware tool that has a free version. However, most security products should be able to detect the Trojan program by now, the Blizzard representative said.

Uninstalling the rogue Curse Client is an important step because the client is actively trying to hide the malware’s presence.

“For those of you (us) interested in these MitM [man-in-the-middle] style attacks, this is the only confirmed case we’ve seen in several years outside of the ‘Configuring/HIMYM’ trojan in early 2012 that hit a handful of accounts,” the Blizzard representative said. “These sort of outbreaks are annoying, but an Authenticator still protects your account 99 percent of the time.” 

As reported by:

LucianConstantin Reporter, IDG News Service, IDG News Service

HACKERS EASILY HIJACK WINDOWS CRASH REPORTS;REPORT

I believe this report got lot to do with all of us that uses windows and any of its products.

Read along…

Windows’ error- and crash-reporting system sends a wealth of data unencrypted and in the clear, information that eavesdropping hackers or state security agencies can use to refine and pinpoint their attacks, a researcher said.

Not coincidentally, recently the popular German newsmagazine Der Spiegel reported that the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) collects Windows crash reports from its global wiretaps to sniff out details of targeted PCs, including the installed software and operating systems, down to the version numbers and whether the programs or OSes have been patched; application and operating system crashes that signal vulnerabilities that could be exploited with malware; and even the devices and peripherals that have been plugged into the computers.

”This information would definitely give an attacker a significant advantage. It would give them a blueprint of the [targeted] network,” said Alex Watson, director of threat research at Websense, which published preliminary findings of its Windows error-reporting investigation. Watson will present Websense’s discovery in more detail at the RSA Conference in San Francisco on February 24.

Sniffing crash reports using low-volume “man-in-the-middle” methods—the classic is a rogue Wi-Fi hotspot in a public place—wouldn’t deliver enough information to be valuable, said Watson, but a wiretap at the ISP level, the kind the NSA is alleged to have in place around the world, would.

”At the [intelligence] agency level, where they can spend the time to collect information on billions of PCs, this is an incredible tool,” Watson said.

And it’s not difficult to obtain the information.

NO ENCRYPTION DURING TRANSIT

Microsoft does not encrypt the initial crash reports, said Watson, which include both those that prompt the user before they’re sent as well as others that do not. Instead, they’re transmitted to Microsoft’s servers “in the clear,” or over standard HTTP connections.

If a hacker or intelligence agency can insert themselves into the traffic stream, they can pluck out the crash reports for analysis without worrying about having to crack encryption.

And the reports from what Microsoft calls “Windows Error Reporting” (ERS), but which is also known as “Dr. Watson,” contain a wealth of information on the specific PC.

When a device is plugged into a Windows PC’s USB port, for example—say an iPhone to sync it with iTunes—an automatic report is sent to Microsoft that contains the device identifier and manufacturer, the Windows version, the maker and model of the PC, the version of the system’s BIOS and a unique machine identifier.

By comparing the data with publicly-available databases of device and PC IDs, Websense was able to establish that an iPhone 5 had been plugged into a Sony Vaio notebook, and even nail the latter’s machine ID.

If hackers are looking for systems running outdated, and thus, vulnerable versions of Windows—XP SP2, for example—the in-the-clear reports will show which ones have not been updated.

Windows Error Reporting is installed and activated by default on all PCs running Windows XP, Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 8.1, Watson said, confirming that the Websense techniques of deciphering the reports worked on all those editions.

Watson characterized the chore of turning the cryptic reports into easily-understandable terms as “trivial” for accomplished attackers.

More thorough crash reports, including ones that Microsoft silently triggers from its end of the telemetry chain, contain personal information and so are encrypted and transmitted via HTTPS. “If Microsoft is curious about the report or wants to know more, they can ask your computer to send a mini core dump,” explained Watson. “Personal identifiable information in that core dump is encrypted.”

CRASH DATA DETERMINES FIXES

Microsoft uses the error and crash reports to spot problems in its software as well as that crafted by other developers. Widespread reports typically lead to reliability fixes deployed in non-security updates.

The Redmond, Washington company also monitors the crash reports for evidence of as-yet-unknown malware: Unexplained and suddenly-increasing crashes may be a sign that a new exploit is in circulation, Watson said.

Microsoft often boasts of the value of the telemetry to its designers, developers and security engineers, and with good reason: An estimated 80 percent of the world’s billion-plus Windows PCs regularly send crash and error reports to the company.

But the unencrypted information fed to Microsoft by the initial and lowest-level reports—which Watson labeled “Stage 1” reports—comprise a dangerous leak, Watson contended.

”We’ve substantiated that this is a major risk to organizations,” Watson said.

Error reporting can be disabled manually on a machine-by-machine basis, or in large sets by IT administrators using Group Policy settings.

Websense recommended that businesses and other organizations redirect the report traffic on their network to an internal server, where it can be encrypted before being forwarded to Microsoft.

But to turn it off entirely would be to throw away a solid diagnostic tool, Watson argued. ERS can provide insights not only to hackers and spying eavesdroppers, but also the IT departments.

”[ERS] does the legwork, and can let [IT] see where vulnerabilities might exist, or whether rogue software or malware is on the network,” Watson said. “It can also show the uptake on BYOD [bring your own device] policies,” he added, referring to the automatic USB device reports.

SECURE CHANNEL URGED

Microsoft should encrypt all ERS data that’s sent from customer PCs to its servers, Watson asserted.

A Microsoft spokesperson asked to comment on the Websense and Der Spiegel” reports said, “Microsoft does not provide any government with direct or unfettered access to our customer’s data. We would have significant concerns if the allegations about government actions are true.”

The spokesperson added that, “Secure Socket Layer connections are regularly established to communicate details contained in Windows error reports,” which is only partially true, as Stage 1 reports are not encrypted, a fact that Microsoft’s own documentation makes clear.

”The software ‘parameters’ information, which includes such information as the application name and version, module name and version, and exception code, is not encrypted,” Microsoft acknowledged in a document about ERS. 

This is a peep into Microsoft's work...