Researchers Uncover Multiple OS X and Safari Exploits at Pwn2Own 2016

[DCIFRTHS]

I also have "block everything" enabled. I wanted to support Macrumours and tried to whitelist, to the effect I had to allow 12 (!) different trackers. That is not an option to me.

Checked a link to Wired today, they stopped allowing ad-blocking and became a pay-to-view site, goodbye Wired. Your content is not worth the security risk.

Little Snitch is good for blocking doubleclick.net and similar as well.

At last a non political thread i'm allowed to post into...


In the end if you're not using a good threat protection software on your PC, be it mac, windows or whatever flavour of linux you are a fan of you are putting yourself at risk. I've cleaned up relative's computers which were so messed up it was a "change your password for every freaking online system you use" situation because they thought it was a great idea to install every possible toolbar in their browser all the while not using any AV software... Some people should just pack up their computer and ship it back...

I recently dropped NAV for OS X due to the fact that it's latest release won't run if Little Snitch is installed (and a couple of other reasons). I have been looking for a replacement, but have been unable to find one that I trust.

Any suggestions on anti-malware / anti-virus programs for OS X?

 

[RightMACatU]

Oh boy! Here comes seeds 12,13,14

 

[chama98]

Now that they have shown the world these vulnerabilities are they now going to fix them? Why all the coding has to be shown on a youtube video I don't understand.

 

[lowendlinux]

Now that they have shown the world these vulnerabilities are they now going to fix them? Why all the coding has to be shown on a youtube video I don't understand.

If by they you mean Apple, I'm sure it will be fixed

 

[You are the One]

I recently dropped NAV for OS X due to the fact that it's latest release won't run if Little Snitch is installed (and a couple of other reasons). I have been looking for a replacement, but have been unable to find one that I trust.

Any suggestions on anti-malware / anti-virus programs for OS X?

Malwarebytes?

 

[CylonGlitch]

This is a reminder of the reason why, even though you have a Mac, you should be careful about browsing shady websites.

Typically the exploits at Pwn2Own have been local side, and not remote exploits. What I mean by this is that the hackers have access to the machine and typically a user account. From there they find holes to escalate their privileges to administrator. That is what seems to be the case today (not 100% on that though). Rarely have they found a remote access method of gaining access to the computer. It is a big difference, but yes, someone having access to the machine makes it much easier than across the internet.

Now I don't know the details of the exploits found, but from the brief snippets it sounds like this is the case here as well. But one cannot be sure until the details are known (hopefully not until they are patched).

But yeah, always practice safe browsing.

 

[lowendlinux]

Typically the exploits at Pwn2Own have been local side, and not remote exploits. What I mean by this is that the hackers have access to the machine and typically a user account. From there they find holes to escalate their privileges to administrator. That is what seems to be the case today (not 100% on that though). Rarely have they found a remote access method of gaining access to the computer. It is a big difference, but yes, someone having access to the machine makes it much easier than across the internet.

Now I don't know the details of the exploits found, but from the brief snippets it sounds like this is the case here as well. But one cannot be sure until the details are known (hopefully not until they are patched).

But yeah, always practice safe browsing.

I don't think so...

 

[You are the One]

I don't think so...

The methods could always be combined.

 

[thederby]

The system has many weakness, I remember a few years back someone in one of these conferences hacked it in less than a minute.

I believe that was via a vulnerability in adobe flash, not the operating system itself.

 

[Perry Rhodan]

I recently dropped NAV for OS X due to the fact that it's latest release won't run if Little Snitch is installed (and a couple of other reasons). I have been looking for a replacement, but have been unable to find one that I trust.

Any suggestions on anti-malware / anti-virus programs for OS X?

I use SEP, works fine with Little Snitch and it's much better than NAV...

 

[An-apple-a-day]

It was not featured.

One change in the 2016 event is that the Mozilla Firefox Web browser is no longer part of the contest.
"We wanted to focus on the browsers that have made serious security improvements in the last year".

To elaborate a bit further on what vault said, see:
https://it.slashdot.org/story/16/02/12/034206/pwn2own-2016-wont-attack-firefox-because-its-too-easy

Lol.

 

[Carlanga]

I believe that was via a vulnerability in adobe flash, not the operating system itself.

uno, you rethinking of another one, this one was in safari itself
http://www.computerworld.com/article/2536327/security0/mac-easiest-to-hack--says--10-000-winner.html

 

[bernuli]

I'm very tempted to say something trollish about how SIP was supposed to make us so safe that we couldn't even do stuff as root ourselves.

For me, SIP just went from pretty annoying to totally frustrating.

 

[Shirasaki]

They just plan on slapping them with a warrant courtesy of the AWA and the friendly Judge.
This way it's forced and free

Yeah, at least FBI is die trying this approach. And once it is succeeded...I cannot imagine even further. Horrible.

I also have "block everything" enabled. I wanted to support Macrumours and tried to whitelist, to the effect I had to allow 12 (!) different trackers. That is not an option to me.

Checked a link to Wired today, they stopped allowing ad-blocking and became a pay-to-view site, goodbye Wired. Your content is not worth the security risk.

I don't know much about Macrumors, but I cannot see any ads when using IE. Maybe because I have opened track protection? And that is much easier than installing an Ad blocker.

And, WIRED can be viewed from Apple News almost ad-free. I sometimes read articles from there. Not really bad, when comparing its content with ABC, or news.com.au.

 

[justperry]

I use SEP, works fine with Little Snitch and it's much better than NAV...

I don't even get it that there are still people who use Symantec products on a Mac, that software (Company) really sucks big time.(And Adobe)

 

[Perry Rhodan]

I don't even get it that there are still people who use Symantec products on a Mac, that software (Company) really sucks big time.(And Adobe)

Their consumer products are poor on any platform imhe. On the enterprise side they offer better AV protection without all the bloatware. The Mac version of SEP is still behind in manageability compared to the Windows version so at times that's annoying but something I can live with.

 

[sudo1996]

I also have "block everything" enabled. I wanted to support Macrumours and tried to whitelist, to the effect I had to allow 12 (!) different trackers. That is not an option to me.

Checked a link to Wired today, they stopped allowing ad-blocking and became a pay-to-view site, goodbye Wired. Your content is not worth the security risk.

Little Snitch is good for blocking doubleclick.net and similar as well.

Yeah, I'd totally make an exception for MacRumors if I could guarantee that their ads were nothing but images, nothing animated or trying to track me, and that they were all actually hosted on macrumors.com instead of random other domains. It's not the privacy I'm concerned about but the possibility of attackers somehow using that against me (e.g. if a security bug in Safari involving cookies or rendering is discovered). I like my bases being covered.

 

[nt5672]

I'm very tempted to say something trollish about how SIP was supposed to make us so safe that we couldn't even do stuff as root ourselves.

I don't think you understand, you are the problem. Wanting to mess with Apple system yourself? How dare you, you can't be trusted to that level!

 

[You are the One]

I like my bases being covered.

Have you tried rkHunter? Good community of professionals, driven by John Horne and others. They are very helpful and very courteous. Mailing list here.
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Lol.

While Microsoft Edge, Google Chrome and Apple Safari are targets, Firefox isn't because it's apparently too easy and not keeping up with modern security: "'We wanted to focus on the browsers that have made serious security improvements in the last year,' Brian Gorenc, manager of Vulnerability Research at HPE said."

 

[sudo1996]

Have you tried rkHunter? Good community of professionals, driven by John Horne and others. They are very helpful and very courteous. Mailing list here.

I'd never heard of it. Thanks, I'm giving it a try.

 

[jnpy!$4g3cwk]

I always thought 64bit Chrome was "safer", or rather less vulnerable, than its 32bit counterpart.

ASLR and DEP stop classes of "easy" attacks, but, control-flow attacks are still possible. In fact, attacks are still possible even with partial Control Flow Integrity (CFI):

http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?arnumber=6956588