vulnerability

SCADA hack talk canceled after U.S., Siemens request

Two researchers say they canceled a talk at a security conference today on how to attack critical infrastructure systems, after U.S. cybersecurity and Siemens representatives asked them not to discuss their work publicly.

"We were asked very nicely if we could refrain from providing that information at this time," Dillon Beresford, an independent security researcher and a security analyst at NSS Labs, told CNET today. "I decided on my own that it would be in the best interest of security...to not release the information."

Beresford said he and independent researcher Brian Meixell planned on … Read more

Report: Windows 7 almost five times more secure than XP

Windows 7 is four to five times less vulnerable to malware infections than is Windows XP.

Those are the findings of Microsoft's latest Security Intelligence Report (PDF), which detailed in depth the state of software vulnerabilities, exploits, security breaches, and malware in 2010.

Overall, the study found that infection rates for newer Microsoft operating systems with the latest service packs are consistently lower than those for older OSes, giving Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 the highest marks for security.

Looking at the number of reported infections per 1,000 computers, Microsoft found that Windows 7 64-bit had … Read more

Serious hole in critical-infrastructure software, says U.S.

The U.S. government is warning critical-infrastructure operators of a serious hole in software used in oil and gas; water; electric utilities; and manufacturing plants around the world.

The stack overflow vulnerability affects the Genesis32 supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) and BizViz software sold by ICONICS, according to an advisory (PDF) released yesterday by the Department of Homeland Security's ICS-CERT (Industrial Control Systems Cyber Emergency Response Team). ICONICS has issued a patch to close the hole, which could allow an attacker to remotely execute code and take control of the computer.

Meanwhile, an exploit targeting the vulnerability was … Read more

Researcher: WebGL poses security threat

A security firm says it's found a vulnerability in the WebGL technology for building accelerated 3D graphics into the Web, a problem that could enable attacks through code executed on a computer's graphics chip.

Attacks could take two basic forms, according to a blog post by Context Information Security. In one, a computer could be rendered useless by visiting a Web page that would execute WebGL software that simply brings the machine to its knees.

In the other, "dangers with WebGL...put users' data, privacy, and security at risk," Context said--specifically, graphics-related information. It posted a … Read more

Skype for Mac requires manual update to fix security vulnerability

Pure Hacking's Gordon Maddern, a tech security writer, has uncovered a zero-day vulnerability affecting Mac users of the popular chat platform Skype. He writes: "About a month ago I was chatting on Skype to a colleague about a payload for one of our clients. Completely by accident, my payload executed in my colleagues Skype client."

Further tests showed that the payload was only executing in Skype clients on Macs. Windows and Linux appeared to be safe. After using metasploit and meterpreter to produce a proof of concept, Maddern was able to gain a shell remotely using the … Read more

Microsoft prepping 17 patches for 64 holes

Microsoft will release 17 bulletins next week to fix 64 vulnerabilities across a swath of products including Windows, Office, and Internet Explorer, the company said in its Patch Tuesday preview.

Of the bulletins, nine are rated "critical" and eight are "important," the company said in a TechNet blog post today.

In addition to all versions of Windows; IE6, IE7, and IE8; numerous versions of Office for Windows and the Mac, affected software includes Visual Studio .NET and Visual C++, according to the advisory.

"This month we'll be closing some issues that Microsoft has already … Read more

U.S. warns of more SCADA software holes

Flaws in SCADA software, used to monitor and control sensors and operations at utilities and other critical infrastructure facilities, seem to keep coming out of the woodwork:

Last week, the U.S. ICS-CERT (Industrial Control System Computer Emergency Response Team) issued several advisories about vulnerabilities exposed in SCADA (supervisory control and data acquisition) software. One was in an ActiveXcontrol in WellinTech KingView V6.53 human machine interface (HMI) software used in power, water, and aerospace industries, mostly in China. The researcher publicly released exploit code for the hole and the vendor released an update that resolves the problem. The second … Read more

U.S. warns SCADA systems at risk

The U.S. government is warning that critical infrastructure systems are at risk of being compromised or attacked in response to the public release of exploits for dozens of holes in four different supervisory control and data acquisition, or SCADA software products.

Saying he had no previous knowledge of SCADA systems before beginning his analysis "some months ago," Italian researcher Luigi Auriemma yesterday posted proof-of-concept software targeting Siemens Tecnomatix FactoryLink, Iconics GENESIS32 and GENESIS64, 7-Technologies IGSS (Interactive Graphical SCADA System) and DATAC RealWin products to the BugTraq security e-mail list.

SCADA systems allow employees at utilities and other … Read more

Adobe fixes critical Flash Player bug affecting Reader

Adobe today released a fix for a critical vulnerability in Flash Player that affects Adobe Reader and Acrobat and which reportedly has been exploited in attacks via Flash files embedded in Excel files distributed via e-mail.

The vulnerability, reported last week, could allow an attacker to crash a system or take control of it. Adobe is not aware of attacks targeting Adobe Reader and Acrobat, the company said, also noting that Adobe Reader X Protected Mode, a sandboxing technique, prevents an exploit of this type from executing.

The bug has been identified in Adobe Flash Player 10.2.152.33 … Read more

Report: Apple to release iOS 4.3.1 within 2 weeks

Apple is reportedly set to release an update to its iOS mobile operating system within the next two weeks to address minor bug fixes and jailbreaking vulnerabilities.

According to Boy Genius Report, Apple's iOS 4.3.1 update should fix some minor bugs and increase stability for iPhones, iPads, and iPod Touches running iOS 4.3. BGR lists several changes, including base-band updates for iPhone 3GS and iPad and an iPad 2 jailbreak vulnerability fix.

Also said to be included in the update:

Fixed memory hang that results in memory corruption when reading large files from USIM filesystem Fixed … Read more