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MacBook/Safari Hacked in 10 Seconds

Next news
9:51 AM - March 19, 2009 by Jane McEntegart

The annual PWN2OWN contest is really popular. It’s a friendly contest that offers cash prizes to computer experts who can successfully hack fully patched machines.

While it all sounds a little sinister, the competition is actually part of CanSecWest,  a security conference in Vancouver and is sponsored by a security company (Tipping Point). Last year the MacBook Air was broken in about 2 minutes and was the first to go. As if that weren’t embarrassing enough, the same guy this year hacked a fully up to date MacBook in a reported 10 seconds by exploiting a vulnerability in the Safari browser.

“It took a couple of seconds. They clicked on the link and I took control of the machine,” Charlie Miller said, according to ZDNet. Miller won himself $10,000 and got to hold onto the MacBook. He also said he came to CanSecWest with the intention to hack into Safari and tested the exploit to make sure it worked first time around.

Another hacker, who refers to himself as Nils, was second to break Safari. He also managed to exploit Internet Explore 8 (running on a Windows 7 machine) and later turned his double win into a hat trick by felling Mozilla’s Firefox.

Details of the vulnerabilities are being kept quiet until patches are released. But according to Tipping Point, Nils IE8 bug was “brilliant."

Check out the full stories on ZDNet.

Source : Tom's Hardware US

Talkback
Add your comment
SneakySnake 03/19/2009 4:21 PM
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one-shot 03/19/2009 4:27 PM
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-9+

I laughed when I saw the link under this one saying IE8 is ready to download. I guess it was already ready to be hacked.

Mr_Man 03/19/2009 4:27 PM
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duckmanx88 03/19/2009 4:33 PM
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-20+

SneakySnake :
PC fanboys cometh



so its ok for users of Macs to be smug, standing on a pedestal and mocking windows users, but if something comes along to shake your balance, and we acknowledge it, we're "fanboys"?

Anonymous 03/19/2009 4:51 PM
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-7+

>This just goes to show that the majority of hacks and viruses
>happen because of how many people use the software/OS, not what
>the software/OS is.

That is true in real life, but does it also apply when professional people hack in a contest?

magnus962 03/19/2009 5:24 PM
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-7+

My favorite part was the picture of Hackers, being the best picture for this article...

one-shot 03/19/2009 5:26 PM
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-10+

A hat trick usually refers to a hockey player scoring three goals in a game. A double win plus one more amounts to three which therefore equals a hat trick.

JMcEntegart 03/19/2009 5:31 PM
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@one-shot: I was actually thinking of football (soccer) when I wrote the article but it works for both. Go flames! :)

SAL-e 03/19/2009 5:34 PM
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tipoo 03/19/2009 5:35 PM
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-11+

So THATS what hackers look like.

SAL-e 03/19/2009 6:01 PM
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-6+

SAL-e :
Last year Ubuntu PC was hacked through FF and Adobe Flash. What happen this year? Is Ubuntu PC still standing? I wish TH gives better coverage.


OK. Looks like this year they don't have OS hacking day. So no Linux PC for hacking. They are concentrating on browsers. In the past browser was on the second day of competition. Last year no one was able to hack the OS (Win, Mac or Linux) itself on day one. So I guess the OS is not the problem that much any more, but the user and the web itself.

FlayerSlayer 03/19/2009 6:02 PM
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-4+

duckmanx88 :
so its ok for users of Macs to be smug, standing on a pedestal and mocking windows users, but if something comes along to shake your balance, and we acknowledge it, we're "fanboys"?



Quote for truth.

SneakySnake 03/19/2009 6:18 PM
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nelson_nel 03/19/2009 6:28 PM
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Mr_Man :
Don't you mean "turned his hat trick into a double win"?This just goes to show that the majority of hacks and viruses happen because of how many people use the software/OS, not what the software/OS is.



Um, don't you think it has a little to do with both... I get the point you're trying to convey but you kind of just make your side of the arguement sound dumb when its actually a really good opportunity to enjoy it...

norbs 03/19/2009 6:35 PM
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-0+

duckmanx88 :
so its ok for users of Macs to be smug, standing on a pedestal and mocking windows users, but if something comes along to shake your balance, and we acknowledge it, we're "fanboys"?



Eh with the MS Army over here i think he knew it was comming. I am a 75% PC user and 25% mac user and people here call me a fanboy just for saying what i like about macs. It gets kinda old when a bunch of people who never took the time to use or learn an OS can have so much to say about it. MacOS is not a cure-all or miracle, but there are many things i rather do on it compared to a XP and expecially a vista PC. Besides, who uses safari on OSx anyways...

If anyone cares I have:
1 Vista machine used as a media center
3 XP machines; 2 at work 1 at home for games
1 MacOS Hackintosh (dell d620)

They all have their purpose and I don't go around calling the guy who doesn't use a mac a fanboy. Maybe it's just he uneducated people... whatever.

bounty 03/19/2009 6:40 PM
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Mr. The Plague is probably still working on the Ubuntu box.

nelson_nel 03/19/2009 6:43 PM
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norbs :
Eh with the MS Army over here i think he knew it was comming. I am a 75% PC user and 25% mac user and people here call me a fanboy just for saying what i like about macs. It gets kinda old when a bunch of people who never took the time to use or learn an OS can have so much to say about it. MacOS is not a cure-all or miracle, but there are many things i rather do on it compared to a XP and expecially a vista PC. Besides, who uses safari on OSx anyways...If anyone cares I have:1 Vista machine used as a media center3 XP machines; 2 at work 1 at home for games1 MacOS Hackintosh (dell d620)They all have their purpose and I don't go around calling the guy who doesn't use a mac a fanboy. Maybe it's just he uneducated people... whatever.



Noone cares.

jsloan 03/19/2009 6:53 PM
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-11+

what about all that apple false advertising, 10 seconds, nice...

hellwig 03/19/2009 7:30 PM
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Really, if Apple itself didn't say its computers were more secure, I wouldn't care that it could be hacked. No one cares that Windows or IE were hacked, it happens all the time. If Apple just admitted there are probably some security holes in their software (just as with any software on any platform), then maybe they'd get a little less egg on their face when their browser is hacked in 10 seconds.

I wonder what the competition entails. Obviously these guys knew the vulnerabilities they were going to exploit ahead of time. Did this guy really only take 10 seconds to create a webpage that could attack Safari, or did it take him 10 seconds to type in a URL to a webpage that took him a few hours to code-up before the competition?

bounty 03/19/2009 9:11 PM
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uhhh, hellwig ???

"He also said he came to CanSecWest with the intention to hack into Safari and tested the exploit to make sure it worked first time around."

hellwig 03/19/2009 10:29 PM
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Oh, thanks bounty, but I would still like to know what it took only 10 seconds to do. Type up a webscript, or just redirect to a website he alread had setup.

hellwig 03/19/2009 10:29 PM
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--2+

Oh, thanks bounty, but I would still like to know what it took only 10 seconds to do. Type up a webscript, or just redirect to a website he alread had setup.

Anonymous 03/19/2009 10:39 PM
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-0+

Hellwig, Apple (to my knowledge) never made the claim that their computers are unhackable, just that because their platform is less popular, fewer viruses/malware/etc. are written to attack their platform. Before anyone starts with the "fanboy" accusations, I do not use Macs.

jsloan 03/19/2009 11:03 PM
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Underseer :
Hellwig, Apple (to my knowledge) never made the claim that their computers are unhackable, just that because their platform is less popular, fewer viruses/malware/etc. are written to attack their platform. Before anyone starts with the "fanboy" accusations, I do not use Macs.



becareful of what you say, i said the same thing last week end got over -20 from a bunch of facist nazi's trying to shut me up... :-)

SneakySnake 03/20/2009 12:11 PM
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Kingssman 03/20/2009 12:17 PM
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-0+

It terms of "apple claims" when browsing. I'm kinda glad that my mac doesn't read or open .exe files I have been led to crashing pages that would destroy my browser and open scripts on my computer but nothing terms surrendering complete control. I also notice a lack of spyware and adware on my mac which somehow phantomly installs on my PC machine. The internet is scary. I've dedicated a partition of my hardrive with a fresh windows install for gaming only and I disabled as much of the internet i could. (blocking lots of ports on my firewall including 80). No machine is unhackable, especially loops in browsers that allow installation of programs or executions of applications. Like how you can click a link and it will open iTunes

randomizer 03/20/2009 1:23 AM
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Safari is the worst mainstream browser bar none. Please let it die Apple, please. I might even buy an Apple case sticker if you do.

SneakySnake 03/20/2009 1:31 AM
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Quote :Safari is the worst mainstream browser bar none. Please let it die Apple, please. I might even buy an Apple case sticker if you do.


It certainly isn't the best but Safari 4 beats IE8 soundly. I'm a Chrome/Firefox man myself but I run Safari 4 beta and the IE8 beta as well. Chrome 2.0 is quite good

randomizer 03/20/2009 1:36 AM
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-2+

Chrome still has annoying problems with some addons like Flash that I can't stand, so I'm a FF man myself. IE7 is the worst browser that I use on a semi-regular basis. I've always found Safari to be slow and unstable so rarely if ever use it.

vaskodogama 03/20/2009 2:52 AM
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-2+

this article shows, that Safari on Mac OS is soooooo weak in security that it can be hacked with just one click and BOOM! hacked!
and for IE 8 that hacked, it's a shame for MS too!
IMO, they have to hire these hackers to only hack their products and give them loads of money, because, bad security equals bad reputation!
I hope you get my point!

jsloan 03/20/2009 3:02 AM
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-1+

vaskodogama :
and for IE 8 that hacked, it's a shame for MS too!



yeah it's kinda leaves you wondering what the *&%!, after all the talk, and money spent, ie is still like being hacked by people who don't have access to the source code, imagine if they did...


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