You may have seen Ben’s post earlier this week on Firesheep. I am running a Mac and I use FileVault, as I recommend most people do in order to protect their sensitive files. Unfortunately the current release of Firesheep does not support FileVault. That didn’t stop me, here is what you need to get Firesheep running on Firefox 3.6.x on a Mac running FileVault from start to finish. Download the Firesheep .xpi file here. Drag the .xpi file into your Firefox browser window to install it, then quit Firefox. Move the extension folder from your user account to the application folder. The /Users/[youraccount]/Library/Application Support/Firefox/Profiles/[yourprofile]/extensions/firesheep@codebutler.com folder should be moved into the /Applications/Firefox.app/Contents/MacOS/extensions folder. Relaunch Firefox, and you should be good to go. If[…]
Category: hacking
Once upon a time, the Web was filled with static pages of text, hyperlinks, and the occasional image. Security problems existed even back then, but the pages themselves were generally innocuous. As the years went by, however, the Web became a platform for all sorts of communications and services. In time, the mild-mannered web page became a delivery mechanism for large-scale, dynamic applications. Even mobile browsers now include engines for loading powerful object-oriented programs. As the capabilities of websites expanded, the problem of HTML injection, or cross-site scripting (XSS), became a significant threat. Check any recent research on web-based threats, and you’ll find that this type of vulnerability is widespread online. And if the past few weeks are any indication,[…]
Teensy is an interesting device. Not much larger than a quarter, the technology behind it is comprised of a micro controller and other associated electronics (memory, I/O, etc). The result is a very functional, yet flexible, USB thingamabob that can let people program their own logic to run their own routines, commands, and instructions. Teensy was recently used in a unique demonstration of some interesting security implications that arise from exploiting the USB-to-OS trust relationship. By programming Teensy to identify itself as a keyboard, someone could trigger it to send automated keystrokes at will (or set via timer). But this has been possible for years. In fact, for this example in-particular, it’s probably desirable for users to not have to[…]
So you’ve been hearing lately about how some Android applications are going rogue, and being used to steal user’s data and infiltrate their phones, to sit idly by only to wreak havoc when the user least expects it (ok, so maybe I exaggerated a little there). But there has been a lot of buzz lately about certain apps not playing by the rules, or including certain calls to leach user information. A lot of this buzz has been spun as backlash against Google for allowing these types of applications to exist (instead of having some asininely draconian filtering process like some ‘other’ phone provider).
Last year I discovered an unusual but useful method for writing web application code: non-alphanumeric JavaScript. This technique has been pioneered by several script ninjas on the hackers forum sla.ckers.org and lets you write scripts without directly using letters or numbers. Application filters or sandboxes may catch typical attacks by monitoring for requests such as “document.cookie,” but they may let non-alphanumeric code slip through. How does it work? First, you can use blank objects or arrays to generate basic values. For instance, +[] evaluates to the number zero, while !{} returns the boolean value false. You can also combine these simple results to create strings, such as [!{}]+[+[]] == “false0”. By treating these strings as arrays, we can grab individual[…]
A few months ago, I described how the Firefox add-on HttpFox could be used for basic traffic monitoring. Another helpful add-on that complements nicely with HttpFox is called HackBar. HackBar adds a toolbar underneath the main address bar that can be toggled on or off with the F9 key. When enabled, the toolbar provides a miniature console of sorts for various testing tasks. A resizable textbox gives you plenty of room for editing URIs, and you can also issue POST requests or spoof the referrer. Menus across the top of the bar provide common functions for working with different types of data, such as hash algorithms or encoding and decoding in Base64, URI format, and even hexadecimal. Using HackBar has[…]