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Geolocation XSS Tracker Proof of Concept
Jamie found a bit of a scary link this morning that demonstrates a router XSS getting your MAC address and using it to map your current location. Which I'm sure is totally no big deal for anyone.
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Even worse, with some clever XSS you can make Slashdot post the same story twice!
Oh wait, that's just shitty editing. Sorry.
Apparently my router is currently sitting in the former main office of the major telco for my area. Which is across town from me.
And here I was thinking it was on my desk.
So, fail
Good job, dumbass. Now you are uniquely identifiable.
MAC based geolocation of wireless routers is far more accurate than geolocation using ip alone.
Candy Browser (Graham Cracker OS 4_1) Version/2.7
Hell, it can't be any worse at rendering standard HTML/CSS than IE.
If libertarians are so opposed to effective government, why don't they all move to Somalia?
Apparently 00-de-ad-be-ef-00 is in downtown Toronto.
They say a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, but it's not one half so bad as a lot of ignorance. - Terry Pratchett
In Soviet Los Angeles...
Nope. That's it, that's all I've got. Damn. Seemed so promising.
Welcome to the Panopticon. Used to be a prison, now it's your home.
The XSS FAQ
http://www.cgisecurity.com/xss-faq.html
Believe me, if I started murdering people, there would be none of you left.
NoScript will protect you from this (XSS) - even if you have it set to globally allow javascript.
Dan Brown? Is that you?
I've lost all my marbles except one & It's fun to test angular & centripetal acceleration in my skull
Mine says not found. Probably because I don't have broadcast SSID on my wireless, judging by the procedure he's using (google locator). If this is the case, why does anyone broadcast their SSID to begin with? I never really understood that. There's no benefit for home users, since chances are 99% of the devices you use on a daily basis are not new, and so you only have to take the extra 5 seconds to manually enter the SSID once.
To follow up on my own post:
I just tried the example MAC that is given on the web site, and that one failed as well. Also that same location in Los Angeles, USA.
Not sure what's going on here but as proof of concept it seems to fail pretty miserably for me. Oh and that's with the latest Firefox (v.3.6.10) available on Ubuntu 10.04.
Well, in my case the IP-based location is accurate to 5 miles, while this guy's thingy placed me 50 miles away...
Well, I entered my router's MAC just for giggles, and it said "Sorry, didn't find anything". This router has been continuously connected with a fixed public IP address for over a year.
Then I entered my previous router's MAC, and got the same result. The previous router is in storage in the attic, but was in use with very few brief breaks for about 6 years. Also with a fixed public IP address.
Clearly, their MAC geolocation database has a teeny hole - or more likely loads of vast gaping chasms.
Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. - Voltaire
That's the default for the page - you have to click one of the links on the page to change things.
In Firefox/Opera, click the link in "If you're on Firefox, you can test the Location Services by clicking here. " and the map will change.
I find broadcasting the SSID helps greatly in troubleshooting wireless issues for other people, if nothing else.
If I get called out to the typical home user's place to help them "fix their problems getting on the Internet", they often don't have any clue what their SSID is set to. All they know is that "It worked ever since the Geeksquad guys came out and set it all up for us!" or what-have-you.
On more than one occasion, I discovered the reason someone had issues had to do with neighbors buying new Linksys routers that had default SSID's of "linksys", matching the default of THEIR Linksys router they'd been using for months/years. Sometimes they were actually connecting to a neighbor's unsecured router for quite some time, before that neighbor made changes that booted them out -- and only THEN did they think they had things mis-configured.
I have two Wireless APs -- one of which is only active occasionally for guests. Here's what I got when I entered my MACs:
Everyday (always on) router: It found my city, but the address was about two miles away.
Guest router: It pinpointed my father-in-law's address. This is strange, because my router has never been located at his house. But, HE HAS CONNECTED TO MY ROUTER. Interesting.
I checked the first address again, and this would be a friend's house, who I once connected his laptop to my network when I was fixing it.
I'm not completely familiar with 802.11, but it would appear that computers that had previously connected to my MAC are regularly pinging this MAC in such a way as to be received by the Google drive-by's and recorded as actual MACs of actual APs. Is there another explanation?
sig: sauer
It's worth noting that the presentation titled "Bad Memmories" was presented at the BlackHat conference is very similar to this. PDF available http://media.blackhat.com/bh-us-10/whitepapers/Bursztein_Gourdin_Rydstedt/BlackHat-USA-2010-Bursztein-Bad-Memories-wp.pdf