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First Pwn2Own 2009 Contest Winners Emerge

Posted by timothy on from the good-work-if-you-can-get-it dept.

mellowdonkey writes "Last year's CanSecWest hacking contest winner, Charlie Miller, does it again this year in the 2009 Pwn2Own contest. Charlie was the first to compromise Safari this year to win a brand spankin new Macbook. Nils, the other winner, was able to use three separate zero day exploits to whack IE8, Firefox, and Safari as well. Full detail and pictures are available from the sponsor, TippingPoint, who acquired all of the exploits through their Zero Day Initiative program."

10 of 98 comments (clear)

  1. Let me be the first to say by Jurily · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Nils, the other winner, was able to use three separate zero day exploits to whack IE8, Firefox, and Safari as well.

    Wow.

  2. Re:WTF ? by CannonballHead · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Or both.

  3. Re:WTF ? by JumpDrive · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I think that something is very wrong with the security features of these apps or the OS on which they were run.
    I'd like to see a browser stabilized so that more work can be done on the security. I always wonder, how can they may a secure browser if they are constantly adding features to it?
    What else do we need for a browser to do?
    I'm serious, what else do we really need a browser to do? Can we stop for awhile and work on making one more secure?

  4. Re:WTF ? by doas777 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    it's seems to me to be an indication that we are pushing new functionality before the basis upon which it functions is mature enough to be safely reviewed. the complexity of a given computing environment is increasing at an approximately exponential rate, so there is more and more that need be tested and vetted everyday.
    there are just some things that we need to accept aren't safe yet. As much as I like active web pages like this one, the problems with CGI and javascript persist even today, despite a decade+ of review and testing. I find online banking and drivers license registeration very convient, but at the same time, I firmly believe that there is no way to be safe when performing fiscal transactions online. don't get me wrong, I use these services, but I wish the chaotic computing environment would slow down a bit so we can catch up with the securiy problems of last year, before facing next years.

  5. Or, ... by reiisi · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Once or twice meant something, but now it's an institution.

    Meaning that somebody is going to try to make a career of breaking the easiest part of the system at this contest.

    Meaning that these guys are going to sit on their exploits.

    Meaning that this contest, running at a set time once a year, is now meaningless.

    Except for advertising potential. You know, keeping your product name in the headlines.

    The respective companies should offer a running bounty on exploits on their browsers. Yeah, that would spoil all the pageantry of Pwn20wn, but do we really need another pageant?

    --
    Computer memory is just fancy paper, CPUs just fancy pens with fancy erasers; the 'net is just a fancy backyard fence.
    1. Re:Or, ... by Nazlfrag · · Score: 3, Insightful

      They change the rules and targets each year. Nobody will sit on an exploit all year because there's no way to know what to hang on to, or whether the hole will still be there in a month, let alone a year. It's used to promote the Zero Day Initiative which pays you directly for exploits, no fancy contest needed. The contest serves its purpose perfectly. It's never been a meaningful way to stop exploits anyway, just a promotional vehicle for the conference and the respective companies. Nobody's going to make a career out of this competition. If they were good enough to do that, they could make a comfortable living from the ZDI.

    2. Re:Or, ... by pyrrhonist · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Nobody will sit on an exploit all year because there's no way to know what to hang on to, or whether the hole will still be there in a month, let alone a year.

      That's exactly what happened this year:

      I actually found this bug before last year's Pwn2Own but, at the time, it was harder to exploit. I came to CanSecWest last year with two bugs but only one exploit. Last year, you could only win once so I saved the second bug. Turns out, it was still there this year so I wrote another exploit and used it this year.

      --
      Show me on the doll where his noodly appendage touched you.
    3. Re:Or, ... by Fred_A · · Score: 4, Insightful

      That's exactly what happened this year:

      I actually found this bug before last year's Pwn2Own but, at the time, it was harder to exploit. I came to CanSecWest last year with two bugs but only one exploit. Last year, you could only win once so I saved the second bug. Turns out, it was still there this year so I wrote another exploit and used it this year.

      So in a way what this event did is help keep a known vulnerability open for a year more than it should have been. Which means that there is a fair chance that in the mean time some body else might have found and used it in the wild.

      Brilliant.

      --

      May contain traces of nut.
      Made from the freshest electrons.
  6. Re:Hmmm.... by RiotingPacifist · · Score: 3, Insightful

    thats why its time for andriod style security on the desktop , firefox should ONLY be able to write to a downloads folder & its profile, OO should ONLY be able to read/write to disk, NO network access,.

    --
    IranAir Flight 655 never forget!
  7. Re:No linux? by RiotingPacifist · · Score: 3, Insightful

    firefox is firefox, it runs on linux, it can be exploited on linux. NOSCRIPT FTW

    --
    IranAir Flight 655 never forget!