Vista's "ultimate" security :)

[Doug Luurs]

The "Proper" way to load Vista ...

http://www.break.com/index/how_to_properly_load_vista.html 

> -----Original Message-----
> From: 
> filepro-list-bounces+doug=borisch.com at lists.celestial.com 
> [mailto:filepro-list-bounces+doug=borisch.com at lists.celestial.
> com] On Behalf Of Fairlight
> Sent: Tuesday, February 06, 2007 9:04 AM
> To: filePro Mailing List
> Subject: OT: Vista's "ultimate" security :)
> 
> Wow, it was released less than a week ago and already it hits 
> SANS with the
> first vulnerability...and an amusing one at that:
> 
> *****
> 07.6.1 CVE: Not Available
> Platform: Windows
> Title: Windows Vista Voice Recognition Command Execution
> Description: Windows Vista is prone to a command execution
> vulnerability because of its built in voice recognition capability.
> When voice recognition is enabled and when the speakers and microphone
> are on and the volume is adjusted appropriately, voice commands given
> via an audio file may be executed by the operating system. Several
> versions of Windows Vista are affected.
> *****
> 
> I just gotta say that, while extremely improbable that it 
> would likely be
> exploited often or easily, this kind of thing is of a large 
> enough scale
> that it should have been thought of during the -years- of 
> security tests
> they did.  All the little things they tweaked, and then this 
> big one slips
> by unnoticed. :)
> 
> Solution:  Disable a major feature of the OS that's possibly 
> a draw for it.
> That's about it, too.  They have no patch available, and I 
> don't know how
> they could possibly get it fixed reasonably without risking more.  I
> know!!!  Make the user have to speak their passwords aloud to 
> proceed!!! :)
> 
> To be fair, it does require certain conditions be met to 
> actually abuse it.
> My own rig would be a potential victim, however, as I always have the
> speakers and mic on.  Details are at:
>      
> http://blogs.technet.com/msrc/archive/2007/01/31/issue-regardi
> ng-windows-vista-speech-recognition.aspx
> 
> I'm not irate with them or anything, I just find it utterly 
> ironic that
> they spent so much attention to fine detail and yet missed a 
> macroscopic
> feature entirely.  And it's been under a week since release, 
> hackers the
> world over are prying at the thing, and it comes down to 
> something this
> simple.  It's easy cannon fodder, and free entertainment in 
> the morning,
> here.
> 
> Again, though, it illustrates the common and continuing trend that the
> potential for an attack is coming more and more from 
> application data--as
> is the case for an Office 2000/2004 arbitrary code execution 
> bug for which
> they have no patch available.  I -do- find it disturbing that 
> traditionally
> and usually the security lists will hold off until the vendor 
> has a patch
> ready before reporting an exploit, and very, very 
> consistently the SANS
> reports say, "Vendor confirmed, no patches available," for Microsoft
> products.
> 
> As for any relevance to fP (well, I did flag this OT, but 
> still...), one
> can be thankful in -some- ways that fP is not SQL compliant.  
> Its lack of
> SQL features means that it's not subject to traditional SQL injection
> attacks.  I guess it's one case where the legacy design works in fP's
> favour, and makes it immune to at least a major vector that's 
> part of the
> overall larger trend.
> 
> I was trying to figure out if there was a way to screw up a 
> key segment
> by injecting specific bytes into an IMPORT, as an example, but since
> it appears to all be based on offsets, I don't think you can do that.
> Thankfully.
> 
> mark->
> -- 
> Fairlight->   ||| "I know when to go out and when to | 
> Fairlight Consulting
>   __/\__      ||| stay in...get things done..." --   |
>  <__<>__>     ||| Bowie                              | 
> http://www.fairlite.com
>     \/        |||                                    | 
> info at fairlite.com
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