[Neowin] Vista's Security "Completely Game Over" - Overclock.net

Sparhawk · 08-08-08

Quote:

Mark Dowd of IBM Internet Security Systems (ISS) and Alexander Sotirov, of VMware Inc. have discovered a technique that can be used to bypass all memory protection safeguards that Microsoft built into Windows Vista. These new methods have been used to get around Vista's Address Space Layout Randomization (ASLR), Data Execution Prevention (DEP) and other protections by loading malicious content through an active web browser. The researchers were able to load whatever content they wanted into any location they wished on a user's machine using a variety of scripting languages, such as Java, ActiveX and even .NET objects. This feat was achieved by taking advantage of the way that Internet Explorer (and other browsers) handle active scripting in the Operating System.

While this may seem like any standard security hole, other researchers say that the work is a major breakthrough and there is very little that Microsoft can do to fix the problems. These attacks work differently than other security exploits, as they aren't based on any new Windows vulnerabilities, but instead take advantage of the way Microsoft chose to guard Vista's fundamental architecture. According to Dino Dai Zovi, a popular security researcher, "the genius of this is that it's completely reusable. They have attacks that let them load chosen content to a chosen location with chosen permissions. That's completely game over."

Quote:

It currently isn't known whether these exploits can be used against older Microsoft Operating Systems, such as Windows XP and Windows Server 2003, but since these techniques do not rely on any one specific vulnerability, Zovi believes that we may suddenly see many similar techniques applied to other platforms or environments.

Read more about it here.

Kinda scary, hope they release a patch

http://www.neowin.net/news/main/08/0...by-new-exploit

Sorry the link loads really slowly

Psycho666 · 08-08-08

thank god i`m using Ubuntu 8.04 more than Vista

Playapplepie · 08-08-08

Crap now I'm wishing I didn't read this.

RonindeBeatrice · 08-08-08

Quote:

Originally Posted by Playapplepie

Crap now I'm wishing I didn't read this.

"People with guns have bullets that can hurt you; stay in the house: News at 11"

AMD+nVidia · 08-08-08

So it's a problem with INTERNET EXPLORER. And ActiveX! NOT Vista!

Mach 5 · 08-08-08

Quote:

Originally Posted by AMD+nVidia

So it's a problem with INTERNET EXPLORER. And ActiveX! NOT Vista!

Read the damn article before flapping your lips.

If there is the possibility that this could be used against older versions of windows, why the hell would they make it public....

Peroxide · 08-08-08

Quote:

Originally Posted by AMD+nVidia

So it's a problem with INTERNET EXPLORER. And ActiveX! NOT Vista!

What?

The problem is the way Vista handles Internet Explorer and ActiveX seeing that this only works on Vista, so I think that would put Vista at fault.