Pwn2Own 2012 Set To Reveal More Browser Vulnerabilities Than In the Past

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Pwn2Own 2012 Set To Reveal More Browser Vulnerabilities Than In the Past

Posted by Soulskill on Monday January 23, 2012 @07:24PM from the quality-over-quantity-but-quantity-is-good-too dept.

darthcamaro writes "In any given year, Slashdot always has stories about how a researcher hacked a browser in only a few minutes at the Pwn2own hacking challenge. This year the rules are a bit different, and instead of hackers winning for just one vulnerability, the rules allow for multiple vulnerabilities to be presented. The winner isn't the first one to hack a browser, but is the one that can hack the browser the most. 'In the past, due to the way the competition was architected, we had lots of sensationalist headlines, things like "Mac hacked in three seconds,"' said Aaron Portnoy, Manager of the Security Research Team at HP TippingPoint. 'We don't think that type of sensationalism was representative of all the research that was going on.'"

14 of 57 comments (clear)

Min score:

Reason:

Sort:

Actually an extremely good point by Riceballsan · 2012-01-23 19:30 · Score: 4, Insightful

The time is pretty irelevant. I mean it isn't like the hackers hadn't seen the OS's or browsers before they set foot on the floor and were going blind. That is like giving someone a sudoku puzzle a month in advance, having him do it from memory and claiming that this guy is so smart he can solve the sudoku puzzle in 30 seconds.
1. Re:Actually an extremely good point by Riceballsan · 2012-01-23 19:47 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  Right, but solving it in an hour or solving it in 30 seconds makes no difference. When the goal of the tournament is who can solve it fastest, it doesn't prove he is any better then the other competitors when the contest ends after the first person solves it
2. Re:Actually an extremely good point by mikael_j · 2012-01-23 20:22 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  It gets even more ridiculous when the Apple or Microsoft brand sudoku puzzle is the first one scheduled to be solved and everyone screams about how this is proof that those puzzles are easier to solve than the Mozilla or Google brand puzzles.
  And yeah, this has happened in previous years, Safari scheduled to be attacked first so the media and anti-Apple people online scream about how Safari is the least secure browser because it was broken "first" (even though if you look at the event schedule this obviously happened because the demonstrations of the browsers were all scheduled at different times with it simply being the first target as opposed to all browsers being attacked simultaneously).
  
  --
  Greylisting is to SMTP as NAT is to IPv4
3. Re:Actually an extremely good point by mjwx · 2012-01-23 20:36 · Score: 4, Interesting
  
  And yeah, this has happened in previous years, Safari scheduled to be attacked first so the media and anti-Apple people online scream about how Safari is the least secure browser because it was broken "first"
  I dont suppose that you've considered that Safari gets broken first and fastest because there are a lot of undiscovered exploits, due largely to the fact that no-one targets safari as a browser due to low usage. Pwn2Own requires an entirely new exploit (otherwise I'm sure IE would be down in a number of nanoseconds)
  
  BTW, Safari was not simply broken first, it was broken fastest, this is important as you pointed out the demonstrations took place at different times.
  
  IE, Chrome and Firefox all have larger user bases, it stands to reason that they will have fewer undiscovered exploits then Safari because they are targeted more often.
  
  --
  Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
4. Re:Actually an extremely good point by Anonymous Coward · 2012-01-23 21:02 · Score: 5, Interesting
  
  Safari scheduled to be attacked first so the media and anti-Apple people online scream about how Safari is the least secure browser because it was broken "first"
  The schedule is not relevant, the Mac was hacked in the shortest amount of time which is why we say it was hacked "first".
  And what pissed all you fanboys off wasn't how fast it got hacked, but the statement by the hacker that he chose the Mac because "it was the easiest to compromise quickly".
  If Apple would stop its misleading marketing campaign, and if Apple's users would stop with the constant "Derp derp my Mac is 100% immune to any and all malicious activity of any kind" then we wouldn't laugh at your ass all the time.
5. Re:Actually an extremely good point by somersault · 2012-01-24 00:00 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  It does if he has a gun pointed to his head while getting a blow job.. man that was an awful film..
  
  --
  which is totally what she said
6. Re:Actually an extremely good point by drsmithy · 2012-01-24 00:42 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  Shush, this is Slashdot. Marketshare and userbase are never factors.
7. Re:Actually an extremely good point by drsmithy · 2012-01-24 00:44 · Score: 2
  
  Big hairy deal. I'm not concerned until we see a mac drive by that also escalates to root.
  Nothing on my computer I care about, needs root privileges to access.
8. Re:Actually an extremely good point by tlhIngan · 2012-01-24 04:45 · Score: 3, Interesting
  
  I dont suppose that you've considered that Safari gets broken first and fastest because there are a lot of undiscovered exploits, due largely to the fact that no-one targets safari as a browser due to low usage. Pwn2Own requires an entirely new exploit (otherwise I'm sure IE would be down in a number of nanoseconds)
  
  Possible, but given it's Pwn2Own, the machine you "pwned" is the machine you win.
  And given in the past you had a choice of Macbook Pro (OS X), a Sony Vaio (Windows) and sometihng else (for Linux), and had the ability to choose what computer you wanted, what would you go for?
  Most would go for the Macbook purely because it's a nice decent machine that happens to look and function great (and runs Windows and Linux). If I had a series of exploits that worked on all three platforms, I'd go after the Mac first just to win that over a Sony. Then I'd go for the Sony next (if it wasn't for the crapware, at least they're nice looking machines).
  Once that was won, people concentrated on the next machine that was second on their list, etc. Smart contestants go after the computer no one is breaking in as they have a greater chance of winning a free computer.
  And despite the /. crowd chanting "FUNCTION FIRST, not form", most people seem to consistently go for the Macs.
  Given the machines are all around the same value, perhaps a fairer comparison would be if everyone of them was a Macbook Pro or so, running the OS of choice (after all, Windows and Linux run great on a Macbook Pro - I know Ubuntu has a EFI installer that boots natively).
Also helps with vulnerability hoarding by slimjim8094 · 2012-01-23 19:36 · Score: 5, Informative

I heard that it's been the case before that discovered vulnerabilities would be kept secret so that they could be used across multiple years. This changes the incentive to reward whoever's found the most, which is what the point was all along - exposing as many vulnerabilities as possible.

--
I have developed a truly marvelous proof of this comment, which this signature is too narrow to contain.
1. Re:Also helps with vulnerability hoarding by robbak · 2012-01-23 20:11 · Score: 3, Interesting
  
  As well, all contestants should reveal all techniques they intend to use a part of their application. All these reports would be provided to the vendors after the competition.
  
  --
  Prediction for end of Universe #42: Fencepost error in Quantum_bogosort.cpp
My plan by Anonymous Coward · 2012-01-23 19:42 · Score: 2, Funny

1. Hack the browser once using a single vulnerability.
2. Install lots of new vulnerabilities on the compromised machine.
3. Win the contest by exploiting each of those vulnerabilities.
4. PROFIT!!!
The only targets are OS X Lion or Windows 7 by Sits · 2012-01-24 01:50 · Score: 3, Interesting

Where does it say you can't use Linux for browser testing?
From the rules page:

The targets will be running on the latest, fully patched version of either Windows 7 or Lion.
Back in 2008, Linux was a available as a target in Pwn2Own but in an interview Aaron Portnoy of TippingPoint explained that Linux is now not included in Pwn2Own to avoid controversy.
Re:No longer Linux by Krneki · 2012-01-24 02:57 · Score: 2

Since they no longer do it with Linux, who cares. Could it be that 2008 Firefox on Ubuntu was un-hacked? It's not good advertisement if a open source system can't be hacked, while the two commercial systems are hacked in seconds?
Last year neither firefox nor Chrome on Windows OS were hacked.

--
Love many, trust a few, do harm to none.