Intel promises fix for new 'Variant 4' Meltdown, Spectre vulnerability: "Industry woes over Meltdown and Spectre continued this week when Google and Microsoft on Monday revealed a newly discovered silicon-level vulnerability impacting chips used in millions of computers, including those marketed by Apple. "

I'm totally cereal about this.

Labels: security fail, security flaw, security is hard, software fail

Every major OS maker misread Intel's docs. Now their kernels can be hijacked or crashed • The Register: "Every major OS maker misread Intel's docs. Now their kernels can be hijacked or crashed"

Wot!

Labels: security flaw, security is hard

More Spectre-style chip flaws discovered in Intel processors: "The eighth vulnerability is apparently an exception, potentially posing a greater threat than Spectre itself, as it could allow an attacker to launch an exploit in a virtual machine (VM) as a way to attack the host system. Largely affecting enterprise, as well as some individual users who operate VMs privately, the vulnerability could also be used to attack other VM instances on the same server, and due to Intel's Software Guard Extensions (SGX) not being "Spectre-safe," it could also intercept passwords and keys transmitted between VM instances. "

"Nobody ever got fired for buying IBM."

Labels: security exploit, security fail, security flaw

Drive-by Rowhammer attack uses GPU to compromise an Android phone | Ars Technica: "Over the past few years, there has been a steady evolution in Rowhammer, the once largely theoretical attack that exploits physical defects in memory chips to tamper with the security of the devices they run on. On Thursday, researchers are unveiling the most practical demonstration yet of Rowhammer's power and reach: an exploit that remotely executes malicious code on Android phones by harnessing their graphical processors."

Yo! Hammer! Can't touch this...

Labels: security flaw, security is hard

Guilty: NSA bloke who took home exploits at the heart of Kaspersky antivirus slurp row • The Register: "Kaspersky Lab has denied any wrongdoing in the matter or illicit ties to Russian intelligence. The security vendor also pointed out Pho's machine was infected with loads of malware, meaning any miscreant could have stolen Uncle Sam's cyber-weapons."

At the very least Kaspersky needs a new publicist.

Labels: security flaw, security is hard

Exploit goes public for severe bug affecting high-impact sites | Ars Technica: "The critical vulnerability is located in Apache Struts 2, an open-source framework that large numbers of enterprise-grade organizations use to develop customer-facing Web applications. The bug, which has been active since 2008, allows end users to execute malicious code or commands by plugging maliciously modified data into search boxes or similar features hosted on the site."

Not invented here syndrome may have some unexpected benefits.

Labels: security exploit, security fix, security flaw

Rowhammer RAM attack adapted to hit flash storage • The Register: "It's Rowhammer, Jim, but not as we know it: IBM boffins have taken the DRAM-bit-flipping-as-attack-vector trick found by Google and applied it to MLC NAND Flash."

Just when you thought it was safe to get back in the pool.

Labels: security flaw, security is hard

Suspected sextortionist hiding behind Tor is outed by booby-trapped video | Ars Technica: "The FBI used a booby-trapped video to identify a California man who allegedly used the Tor network to anonymously extort sexually explicit material from minors online."

Score one for the good guys!

Labels: security exploit, security flaw, security policy

Banking trojan executes when targets hover over link in PowerPoint doc | Ars Technica

Whoa!

Labels: security flaw, security is hard

How to remote hijack computers using Intel's insecure chips: Just use an empty login string • The Register: "Intel provides a remote management toolkit called AMT for its business and enterprise-friendly processors; this software is part of Chipzilla's vPro suite and runs at the firmware level, below and out of sight of Windows, Linux, or whatever operating system you're using. The code runs on Intel's Management Engine, a tiny secret computer within your computer that has full control of the hardware and talks directly to the network port, allowing a device to be remotely controlled regardless of whatever OS and applications are running, or not, above it."

Geez Louise!

Labels: security fail, security flaw, x86

Inside the 'Stalkerware' Surveillance Market, Where Ordinary People Tap Each Other's Phones - Motherboard: "John is just one of tens of thousands of individuals around the world who are unwitting targets of powerful, relatively cheap spyware that anyone can buy. Ordinary people—lawyers, teachers, construction workers, parents, jealous lovers—have bought malware to monitor mobile phones or computers, according to a large cache of hacked files from Retina-X and FlexiSpy, another spyware company."

Dang!

Labels: security flaw

We Were Warned About Flaws in the Mobile Data Backbone for Years. Now 2FA Is Screwed. - Motherboard: "For years, researchers, hackers, and even some politicians have warned about stark vulnerabilities in a mobile data network called SS7. These flaws allow attackers to listen to calls, intercept text messages, and pinpoint a device's location armed with just the target's phone number. "

Tick tock tick tock.

Labels: security flaw, security is hard

Interpol unplugs nearly 9,000 Asian command and control networks • The Register: "An Interpol investigation has revealed a worrying degree of insecurity in sout-east Asian countries, with even government-operated Web servers infected to operate as command and control systems for bot-herders."

Wordpress! Whodathunkit?

Labels: security fail, security flaw

Script kiddies pwn 1000s of Windows boxes using leaked NSA hack tools • The Register: "Tentler reckons that when the Shadow Brokers' arsenal hit the web on Easter weekend, script kiddies around the world grabbed the cyber-arms, went out, and infected everything they could find."

The gift that keeps on giving...

Labels: security fail, security flaw

Leaked documents show breadth of iPhone data accessible by Cellebrite forensic tool: "Cellebrite is one of a number of firms specializing in cellphone cracking technology, or more specifically mobile device intrusion and data retrieval software and hardware. The company claims its UFED tool can bypass passcode locks, extract and decode almost all data from hundreds of smartphone and tablet models, including Apple hardware. "

More things that go hmmmm in the night.

Labels: security flaw

Slack adds group & individual video calls to workplace chat platform: "Slack on Tuesday announced the launch of video calling for its popular workplace collaboration platform, which is rolling out to Mac, Windows, and Chrome users over the next few days."

Is it WebRTC or the revenge of the plug-in. Eventually JavaScript is not enough and then the browser (Web App) exposes a new attack surface with a huge user base. Maybe the browser should run in it's own VM. Now where have I heard that before?

Labels: security flaw

P0wnographer finds remote code exec bug in McAfee enterprise • The Register: ""At a first glance, Intel's McAfee VirusScan Enterprise for Linux has all the best characteristics that vulnerability researchers love: it runs as root, it claims to make your machine more secure, it's not particularly popular, and it looks like it hasn't been updated in a long time," Fasano writes."

The problem with a protection tool like this is that exposes another attack surface.

Labels: security flaw, security policy, security research

Sony kills off secret backdoor in 80 internet-connected CCTV models • The Register: "Sony has killed off what, charitably, looks like a debug backdoor in 80 of its web-connected surveillance cameras that can be exploited to hijack the devices."

Apparently, a new meaning for the term secret.

Labels: security flaw

Buffer overflow exploit can bypass Activation Lock on iPads running iOS 10.1.1 | Ars Technica: "The feature has been difficult to crack, but a new exploit disclosed by Vulnerability Lab security analyst Benjamin Kunz Mejri uses a buffer overflow exploit and some iPad-specific bugs to bypass Activation Lock in iOS 10.1.1."

iPhones are what's at risk for snatchey-time.

Labels: security flaw, security policy, security research

This evil office printer hijacks your cellphone connection | Ars Technica: "Oliver built his spy printer from easy-to-buy hardware: A Raspberry Pi minicomputer, a BladeRF software-defined radio, two GSM antennae and of course, a Hewlett Packard Laserjet 1320 printer. He’s also released the code for Stealth Cell Tower on his website."

Whoa!

Labels: security fail, security flaw, stingray