Firefox 3.5 new exploit - confirmed
Updated story, thanks to for helping figure it out!
The mozilla security blog confirms an exploit against an unpatched vulnerability Firefox 3.5 exists and has been made public.
Do note that Heisse tried to confirm the vulnerability and only managed a crash on Vista and can't seem to make it work on Windows 7 RC1
http://www.h-online.com/security/First-Zero-Day-Exploit-for-Firefox-3-5--/news/113761
The mozilla blog above has a workaround by temporary disabling the javascript.options.jit.content setting in about:config
Alternatively one could install and use NoSCript to disable all javascript by default.
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UPDATE
Dean wrote in to say that this exploit has been spotted in the wild. The attacked just used Metasploit to create it and put a PoisonIvy client as the payload. Unfortunately, the payload has been packed with a packer that prevented some AV vendors so the detection isn't all that great.
Good news is that NoScript will protect you against it, but also that it takes some time for the exploit to execute (in a lot of cases the user is prompted by Firefox that a script on the page is running too long); it also does not appear to be 100% reliable.
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Bojan
Oracle Black Tuesday
Oracle's quarterly patch release day was today as well.
Oracle keeps details restricted to customers with an account so we only have access to the overview they publish themselves:
http://www.oracle.com/technology/deploy/security/critical-patch-updates/cpujul2009.html
Best approach in my experience is to walk through the list with those managing the products such as DBAs and get an action plan in place.
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ISC DHCP client updated
The Internet Systems Consortium released patches to their dhcp implementation.
The patches fix a stack overflow in dhclient (the dhcp client) CVE-2009-0692.
Expect a large number of unix and linux distributions as well as third party solutions using dhcp to need an update in the coming days. US-CERT tracks vendors in their VU #410676.
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Microsoft July Black Tuesday Overview
Overview of the July 2009 Microsoft patches and their status.
| # | Affected | Contra Indications | Known Exploits | Microsoft rating | ISC rating(*) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| clients | servers | |||||
| MS09-028 | Multiple vulnerabilities exist in DirectX and allow for arbitrary code execution with the rights of the logged on user. Replaces MS08-033 and MS09-011. |
|||||
| DirectShow CVE-2009-1537 CVE-2009-1538 CVE-2009-1539 |
KB 971633 |
Active exploitation of CVE-2009-1537 Addresses SA971778 |
Severity:Critical Exploitability:1,1,1 |
PATCH NOW |
Important | |
| MS09-029 | Multiple input validation vulnerabilities allow for arbitrary code execution with the rights of the logged on user. Replaces MS06-002. |
|||||
| .eot (Embedded OpenType) CVE-2009-0231 CVE-2009-0232 |
KB 961371 | No known exploits | Severity:Critical Exploitability:1,1 |
Critical | Important | |
| MS09-030 | An input validation error allows arbitrary code to be executed with the rights of the logged on user. | |||||
| Publisher CVE-2009-0566 |
KB 969516 | No known exploits | Severity:Important Exploitability:1 |
Critical | Important | |
| MS09-031 | When using Radius OTP authentication, a user can bypass authentication leading to privilege escalation and access to resources. | |||||
| ISA server 2006 CVE-2009-1135 |
KB 970953 | No known exploits | Severity:Important Exploitability:1 |
N/A | Critical (**) |
|
| MS09-032 | Cumulative killbit update, adds killbits for the recently discussed video ActiveX control. Note there are recently discovered killbits one should set that are not included in this update. Replaces MS08-032. |
|||||
| ActiveX killbits CVE-2008-0015 |
KB 973346 | Workaround for active exploitation included SA972890 |
Severity:Critical Exploitability:1 |
PATCH NOW |
Important | |
| MS09-033 | A privilege escalation problem exists in the handling of privileged instructions on the guest OS. | |||||
| Virtual PC, Virtual server CVE-2009-1542 |
KB 969856 | No known exploits | Severity:Important Exploitability:3 |
Important | Important (***) |
|
We appreciate updates
US based customers can call Microsoft for free patch related support on 1-866-PCSAFETY
- We use 4 levels:
- PATCH NOW: Typically used where we see immediate danger of exploitation. Typical environments will want to deploy these patches ASAP. Workarounds are typically not accepted by users or are not possible. This rating is often used when typical deployments make it vulnerable and exploits are being used or easy to obtain or make.
- Critical: Anything that needs little to become "interesting" for the dark side. Best approach is to test and deploy ASAP. Workarounds can give more time to test.
- Important: Things where more testing and other measures can help.
- Less Urgent: Typically we expect the impact if left unpatched to be not that big a deal in the short term. Do not forget them however.
- The difference between the client and server rating is based on how you use the affected machine. We take into account the typical client and server deployment in the usage of the machine and the common measures people typically have in place already. Measures we presume are simple best practices for servers such as not using outlook, MSIE, word etc. to do traditional office or leisure work.
- The rating is not a risk analysis as such. It is a rating of importance of the vulnerability and the perceived or even predicted threat for affected systems. The rating does not account for the number of affected systems there are. It is for an affected system in a typical worst-case role.
- Only the organization itself is in a position to do a full risk analysis involving the presence (or lack of) affected systems, the actually implemented measures, the impact on their operation and the value of the assets involved.
- All patches released by a vendor are important enough to have a close look if you use the affected systems. There is little incentive for vendors to publicize patches that do not have some form of risk to them
(**): Assuming a worst case scenario
(***): If you use virtual server to create a shared environment and have users accessing virtual machines while not allowing them to manage the system, make that critical.
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Infocon returning to green from MS Advisory 973472
After the rush of the new vulnerability being published, exploits in the wild, and malware being distributed it is time to return the Infocon to normal status. Hopefully it has served its purpose of raising awareness of the Vulnerability in Microsoft Office Web Components Control Could Allow Remote Code Execution CVE-2009-1136 and Microsoft advisory 973472.
Cheers,
Adrien
Recent attacks and a false sense of security
With the most recent ActiveX vulnerability (CVE-1136-2009) still very fresh and the attacks still evolving out there, reactive protection mechanisms need to update for such exploits rapidly, and as the exploit is quite easy to modify and obfuscate they have their work cut out for them.
Still some out there might get lulled into feeling safe and above all of this e.g.:
- IPS (or IDS) users e.g. might feel their device will protect them. Let's see: will it protect you if the (hacked) website your user visits is of the https kind ? I'd not be convinced at all.
Yet the link to a fortinet advisory sent in by Juha-Matti states: "Fortinet customers who subscribe to Fortinet’s intrusion prevention (IPS) service should be protected against this remote code execution vulnerability"
Hmm. do get that killbit out there nonetheless, it'll help much more fundamentally. - The same goes for other IDS/IPS vendors and most likely for AV vendors as well. Let's not forget there is a metaploit module for this and most of the signature makers I've talked to consider it too hard to make a signature for all possible exploits from metaploit.
- Then there is those of us who simply don't use windows and/or IE and hardly are surprised ActiveX once again is an attack vector cutting deep. But let's not forget other browsers have their vulnerabilities too. A popular exploit site e.g.mentions a new Firefox Firefox Memory Corruption Vulnerability. And Secunia seems to be confirming it as well (Thanks for the anonymous reports).
So what would I do in a corporate setting?
- Get the killbit set ASAP
- Provide staff up front with a choice of 2 browsers, make sure they know they have a choice (and keep both up to date). This yield diversity which is a good thing. Most importantly be ready to forbid and technically block either one as you need it to keep them safe should it get out of control anyway. Such a measure can be part of your BCP/DRP.
- Make sure nobody sees this as a reason not to have things like AV and IDS as they will catch some of it, maybe enough, but even more so because too often the AV on a desktop is the only line of defense (e.g. with encrypted traffic)
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