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MS Finds Security Flaw In Google Chrome Frame
Christmas Shopping writes with this excerpt from Kaspersky Labs' threatpost: "Back in September, when Google launched the Google Chome Frame plug-in for Internet Explorer users, Microsoft immediately warned that the move would increase the attack surface and make IE users less secure. Now comes word that a security researcher in the Microsoft Vulnerability Research (MSVR) has discovered a 'high risk' security vulnerability that could allow an attacker to bypass cross-origin protections."
"Google has hurried out a patch," he adds.
MS Finds Security Flaw In Google Chrome Frame
Timothy, you owe me a new Transformers t-shirt. I just spat coffee all over myself.
And not wait another week until it's patch-Tuesday.
Internet Explorer less secure? This is really possible?
Religion: The greatest weapon of mass destruction of all time
And Google doesn't have to pay them a cent. :)
Heh. If so, it's a good reason to use Google Chrome Frame. A program that has an active bug-finding team is more trustworthy than one where bugs and security holes are hushed up.
However, I don't think Microsoft would set out to help their competitor in this way.
-- Ed Avis ed@membled.com
At first i thought the "google has hurried out a patch" in the summary was a quote from MS glibly dismissing the notion of fixing the problem in a timely manner, but looking through the article it seems this is a remark made by the submitter.
(1.21 gigawatts) / (88 miles per hour) = 30 757 874 newtons
Hardly, they helped another company secure its product. Everybody wins!
93rd rule of Slashdot: No matter how obvious my sarcasm is, my comment will be taken seriously by someone.
In an attempt at humour I will add that making "IE less secure" seems redundant. Much like this post.
The Long Now Foundation
Sure, since the only reason Google had to create this code in the first place is because Microsoft wouldn't step up to the plate. You can bet that this whole situation is an embarrassment to Microsoft; it took another company to patch their software to work correctly, when they should have been able to do it themselves. Some egos were bruised in the process, and you can be damn well sure that there's a team willing to do everything they can to discredit Googles achievement.
So while I commend Microsoft on doing some testing on Google Frame, I don't commend them on the reason for Google having to write the code in the first place. Not to mention that their motives are suspect as well. If they can find a bug so quickly, what's their excuse for having their other products so buggy?
The Chrome Frame was never a good idea for security. By making it opt-in for sites, like an other plugin, it dramatically increased the attack surface of IE. Now any attacker can exploit holes in IE, holes in the frame, or holes coming from the interactions between the two. If you want the features of the Chrome Frame in a more secure package, use Chrome.
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Sure, since the only reason Google had to create this code in the first place is because Microsoft wouldn't step up to the plate.
Is this a comment about HTML5 support? The standard isn't even established yet so it seems irresponsible for web designers to use that format for their entire framework, and premature to consider it a must-have for web browsers. IE9 will support it, I believe, though MS balked at supporting a non-final language.
I think this is all just an excuse for Google to turn up its nose at Microsoft by making them look like they're dragging their heels. It's a very Google ideal to embrace beta and subject users to technologies while they're still only half baked. Microsoft releases beta software too, but with warnings not to use the software in production. HTML5 is a good example of this difference of philosophy, and certainly so is this Chrome Frame plugin which is essentially a sloppy man-in-the-middle attack vector. It's like one of those obnoxious browser toolbars that acts as an intermediary to hijack all your search queries.
Good thing too. If competitors spent more time actively looking for bugs in each others' software instead of paying their marketroids to spread FUD, everyone would be better off.
Not only does this unholy merge of browsers increase the surface area for attack (though the idea of someone from Microsoft complaining about that is highly ironic), but like other Google software it brings in the Google updater.
For example, FTA: "All users should be updated automatically,"
Google updater allows a web page to push an update on you without any notification. I don't know what the security restrictions on that are, but I can't see what advantage that has over providing a separate update program that would justify the risks.
Google seems to be in the same state of denial about secure design that Microsoft was in in 1997. Let's hope they catch on... Microsoft really never has recovered from that era.
We have early word that the security vulnerability goes by the name "Internet Explorer". Details are thin at this time, but we'll have more as the story develops. Janet, back to you in the studio.
I am willing to bet good money that Microsoft formed a team responsible for finding bugs in Google frame just to discredit them.
In that case, why didn't Microsoft loudly announce it to the world and shame Google?
Instead, they quietly reported it to Google so that they could fix the problem. Once the bug was fixed, Google acknowledged the security researcher who discovered the bug. This is exactly how the system is supposed to work so that everybody wins - we get safer software, Google doesn't have to "hurry out a patch" (without proper testing) and Microsoft gets the credit for the discovery. The bug gets fixed without tipping off the malware writers.
And why does everybody act so responsibly? Because next time it might be a Google employee that finds a bug in Microsoft's products. Microsoft would like to be afforded the same courtesy. Similarly, if Google didn't acknowledge Microsoft, then the next security researcher who finds a bug in Chrome may decide to get their credit by going public rather than following protocol. Remember that this public recognition is the same as an academic being published in a journal. It is how they build their reputation, and ultimately how they will get future employment.
Microsoft didn't make any noise about this at all. The only reason you know MS discovered it was because google credited them in the update. So what exactly would shutting up do? Would you prefer them not to have told google at all perhaps?
Consider the landscape of alternatives, though.
Web designers have, for years, been depending on functionality that isn't even on any kind of standards track, much less maturely standardized. We call it Flash(and to a lesser extent other "rich content" plugins; but mostly Flash). Web designers have, frequently, depended on it for all kinds of things, it is often considered a must-have for web browsers, and is every bit as ghastly, if not considerably more so, in implementation.
By comparison, HTML5 is positively civilized. Chrome Frame is basically just an "HTML 5 Player" plugin, whose necessity will hopefully evaporate over time. It is, certainly, a kludge; but there are presently no alternatives to that. You can either give up broad swaths of web application features entirely, and deal with the oh-so-standard world of native application development; or base your webapp features on one or more plugins(flash, java, silverlight, etc.), or you can use HTML5 stuff.
It's been reported that Google will pay Microsoft in adwords coupons.
Why can't vendors implement their own Patch Tuesdays? That is, Microsoft would release patches any time, and large vendors would simply allow them to accrue until their internal "Patch Tuesday" came around, at which time they'd test and apply the patches.
The vulnerability that the patch fixes is often disclosed along with the patch. So by the time the vulnerability becomes public, the script kiddies are likely already exploiting the vulnerability against targets with their own patch schedules.
... Microsoft security researcher confirms advantages of open source transparency
You had me right up until "just to discredit them".
Microsoft clearly was concerned that Frame would add to the possible attack vectors into IE. They've certainly said as much. And that is a valid concern, frankly. Due to that concern, they had their research team test for security vulnerabilities in Frame, obviously with particular focus on ones that could compromise a Windows system.
And, whaddya know, they found one.
Now, if they were trying to discredit Google, the first place they'd go is (MS)NBC and put out headlines "Google Chrome Frame Has a security breach! Look at those losers!"
Instead, we see an announcement from Google that they have a patch for the defect, and acknowledging Microsoft as having found the bug and reported it to them.
Sounds to me like Microsoft was acting out of enlightened self-interest, and is demonstrating good team-playing skills by telling Google about it in enough detail for Google to come out with a fast fix.
Kudos to Microsoft for extending their security research beyond their own software and to external sources they might consider a threat. Further kudos to Microsoft for reporting the issue to Google with enough detail to make a fix possible, without exposing it to the black hats so this never became a zero-day attack.
Kudos to Google for getting a fix out there quickly. Further kudos to Google for having the respect to acknowledge Microsoft's contribution.
I'd say this is a perfect example of vendors being good players in the security arena, and respectful competitors.
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