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Nmap Featured in The Matrix Reloaded

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the ain't-that-special dept.

rajiv was among dozens to report that unlike most "Hacks" in film, The Matrix reloaded actually has an ounce of reality where other films would rely on fancy 3D graphics. You can see more at Insecure.org where they have screenshots. It's only on screen for a split second, but Tritnity uses Nmap to find a vulnerable SSH server, and then exploits it using the SSH1 CRC32 exploit from 2001.

5 of 574 comments (clear)

  1. Private Network! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

    Now we know that we cannot hack into the Matrix from our Personal Computer:

    As you can see on the screenshot, the IP is 10.2.2.2, which is on the 10.0.0.0/255.0.0.0 network reserved for private usage.

    It's impossible to reach such an IP directly (without hacking their server / router / firewall first) from an arbitrary point of the Internet.

    Damn!

  2. Before you say it... by tbmaddux · · Score: 5, Informative
    ...exploits it using the SSH1 CRC32 exploit from 2001.
    I'm sure there will be lots of funny jokes posted about using a 2001 exploit far into the future, patching systems, etc. etc. However, while the Matrix films are set in the future, the Matrix is set in the present, at the "peak of your civilization" according to Agent Smith. So it is appropriate for Trinity to hack a present-day system using a present-day exploit. She could even be ahead of her time, if the first movie was set in 1999 and it's only 6 months later, then the Matrix might not even have gotten through Y2K yet (did I just spoil the third movie).

    Aside from the amusing idea of having someone hack a computer program using their avatar inside the computer-generated construct of the Matrix, this sameness of the Matrix over long time periods raises an unanswered question in my mind. Why don't the people notice the lack of advancement in the Matrix? Over a hundred years of 1999-ness... no stunning advances in CGI, or science, or anything!

    --
    Can't you see that everyone is buying station wagons?
  3. Re:Uhm... by marx · · Score: 5, Informative
    So in several hundred years time people STILL won't have patched their bloody SSH holes?
    Inside the Matrix it's present time, and the exploit was launched against a standard power plant computer, not against a Matrix computer.

    So it's accurate.

  4. Well that's why she had to BREAK INTO the office! by cculianu · · Score: 5, Informative

    If you will remember the movie, that computer _was_ on a private network. She had to break into this private secure office building before she even began hacking. So she was behind the firewall already because she was physically in the building.

  5. Re:Uhm... by soulsteal · · Score: 4, Informative

    While you're correct in saying that mission-critical private servers don't belong on public networks, look at the circumstances:

    She's IN the power plant.
    She's running the attack on a PRIVATE IP address.

    Personally, I think she wasn't on "teh Intarweb!!1"