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Yahoo Includes Private Key In Source File For Axis Chrome Extension
Trailrunner7 writes "Yahoo on Wednesday launched a new browser called Axis and researchers immediately discovered that the company had mistakenly included its private signing key in the source file, a serious error that would allow an attacker to create a malicious, signed extension for a browser that the browser will then treat as authentic. The mistake was discovered on Wednesday, soon after Yahoo had launched Axis, which is both a standalone browser for mobile devices as well as an extension for Firefox, Chrome, Safari and Internet Explorer. ... Within hours of the Axis launch, a writer and hacker named Nik Cubrilovic had noticed that the source file for the Axis Chrome extension included the private PGP key that Yahoo used to sign the file. That key is what the Chrome browser would look for in order to ensure that the extension is legitimate and authentic, and so it should never be disclosed publicly."
...this is the group of clowns I want developing my browser extensions for me. Amiright?
Without breaking all the ad-ons? This will hurt Chromium browsers too if Google quickly changes the keys as ad-ons will break.
Also what is the change of an ad on installing itself on a drive bye from this? Should I worry about this using Chrome?
http://saveie6.com/
Think about all the free PR from all those signed extensions!
That's how open your source should be.
I almost feel bad for them at this point. They are trying but can't seem to do anything to help themselves.
K Man
Will the exploit still work/exist after Yahoo releases a fix?
Oops
This is great.
It's the final notice that every person with any competency has at Yahoo has left the building (with the fake CS degrees in tow).
Did the hacker exclaim "Yahoo!" after he discovered it?
Would it have been SO FUCKING HARD to link to the original, instead to a site that won't even load as I'm writing this?
http://nikcub.appspot.com/posts/yahoo-axis-chrome-extension-leaks-private-certificate-file
This proves yahoo zombies eat braaaaaaiiiiiiiiinnnnssss
Once again, THIS IS A BROWSER EXTENSION ON THE DESKTOP, and a FRONT END FOR MOBILE SAFARI.
This is not a browser. This is NOT a BROWSER. FOR FUCK SAKES THIS IS NOT A BROWSER
Hey, check out this brand new compiler I wrote! It's called yahoo_compiler.sh
gcc $@
pretty cool huh?
This is exactly what happens when you hire too few senior level technicians.
Yes, they are more expensive than their entry-level counterparts. But as stories like this one show, they are worth it.
Wake up editors:
"Yahoo on Wednesday launched a new browser called Axis and researchers immediately discovered that the company had mistakenly included its private signing key in the source file, a serious error that would allow an attacker to create a malicious, signed extension for a browser that the browser will then treat as authentic"
Okay, perfect so far.
"The mistake was discovered on Wednesday, soon after Yahoo had launched Axis, which is both a standalone browser for mobile devices as well as an extension for Firefox, Chrome, Safari and Internet Explorer."
I already knew the mistake was discovered on Wednesday, soon after Yahoo had launched Axis. This sentence does have some new information though.
"Within hours of the Axis launch, a writer and hacker named Nik Cubrilovic had noticed that the source file for the Axis Chrome extension included the private PGP key that Yahoo used to sign the file. That key is what the Chrome browser would look for in order to ensure that the extension is legitimate and authentic, and so it should never be disclosed publicly."
Yes, I know something happened within hours of the Axis launch. You already told me twice. You also already told me why it's bad that the key was available publicly.
Here's a new summary:
On Wednesday, Yahoo! launched a web browser called Axis, which is both a standalone browser for mobile devices and an extension for popular desktop browsers. Shortly after launch, a writer and hacker named Nik Cubrilovic noticed that the Chrome version of the extension mistakenly included the private PGP key that Yahoo used to sign the file. This file could be used to generate a malicious spoof version of the extension.
Never mind the secondary-source quoting, which is also obnoxious.
Vanilla Ice? Is that you?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1s0hEi8zhmg
Axis is horrible. I installed on Mac/Safari last night, and CANNOT remove it. There's no help/support/FAQ from Yahoo at all. I followed the steps from Apple to remove "Unsupported third-party add-ons" (here: http://support.apple.com/kb/TS3230?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US ) ... but since there's no HOT GARBAGE folder, I cannot locate where Axis is stored. (honestly though, I really cannot locate it, and I'm working on conditional CSS tweaks and that Yahoo turd is in my way.
Searching for "Delete Yahoo Axis" doesn't have any results yet because we're early adopters. Here— I'll bring folks here with a dash of link-sauce, assuming someone will come-up with a solution... "Deleting Yahoo Axis" "Removing Yahoo Axis" "Uninstalling Yahoo Axis"
Maybe they have a habit of hiring expensive people who claimed they were senior level in their resume?
Although I did not RTFA I must comment that the summary was notably terrible in identifying what was compromised:
"That key is what the Chrome browser would look for in order to ensure that the extension is legitimate and authentic, and so it should never be disclosed publicly."
How about this:
"The value of this key depends solely on everyone else trusting that only Yahoo knows it."
Bent, folded, spindled, and mutilated.
Hi:
I hear they're hiring.
ah... how times change. Or is it now white-hat is a researcher and black-hat is a hacker?
"Axis Chrome extension included the private PGP key that Yahoo used to sign the file. That key is what the Chrome browser would look for in order to ensure that the extension is legitimate and authentic, and so it should never be disclosed publicly."
The Yahoo developer will never get it right by reading /. The public key is used by the browser to verify the extension. The private key is used to sign the extension, not to verify it. The private key is to never be shipped with the browser!
No mater how you impliment it, someone is going to reverse engineer your app (for fun, or profit) and will discover your darkest of dark secrets. Once they find your key the game is over. There is no going back. Whatever that key is protecting is now open to a hackers delight field day worthy of its own Defcon capture the flag compitition. If you are lucky some nice grey-hat hacker will tell you before you get in too much trouble, if not, you are going to have one very bad day (or days) at the office. There are better ways to handle keys, don't act like a yahoo and take the time to learn how to do it right.
Guess Yahoo fired (err let-go) their in house experts for how public keys and private keys work. (bunch of dumb-asses). //gh
My initial reservations to allowing these yahoos handle my browsing experience have been quashed. Only a luser wouldn't trust these 'professionals' with his\her datas.
Imagination drew in bold strokes, instantly serving hopes and fears, while knowledge advanced by slow increments...
As long as amateurs are responsible for making "professional" software, security is an illusion. Utterly pathetic, really.
Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
I'm not sure everyone understands exactly what this file is.
When you create a Chrome extension, if you are not going to submit the Chrome extension to the store, you ask Chrome to package the extension. In this process, Chrome generates a private key. This key has nothing to do with identifying you as the author. It is only used so that you when you update the extension, you can package and sign it using the same key. Everyone has to keep a local copy of this key, because if you lose it, you can never update your extension. It appears Yahoo kept it in their build directory and accidentally packaged it.
Having this private key allows you to build a Chrome extension that when installed overlays the existing Yahoo extension. This is because the private key is how Chrome uniquely identifies an extension.
So yes, this was a dumb mistake. It would allow someone to create an add-on that when installed would overwrite the Yahoo Axis extension. To do this, you would need to create the extension and then convince someone to install it. But if you can convince someone to install it, you can convince them to install any Chrome extension.
This was not giving away "Yahoo's private key," it was giving away "the private key that Chrome generated to allow Yahoo to sign their extension."
There is the remote possibility that Yahoo used a real private key to sign their Chrome extension and not one generated by Chrome. If that's the case, everyone involved in the project should be fired.
Too bad it doesn't default to a red color scheme, so I can drop it 3x faster. Especially since it's dog slow of Firefox...
OpenPGP, PGP and GnuPG / GPG are often used interchangeably - a common mistake.
OpenPGP is technically a proposed standard although it is widely used.
PGP is an acronym for Pretty Good Privacy, a computer program which provides cryptographic privacy and authentication.
GnuPG is an abbreviation for Gnu Privacy Guard, another computer program which provides cryptographic privacy and authentication.
gpg is the name of the binary executable file for GnuPG in Gnu/Linux- and Unix-nased operating systems.
Notepad specialist & FAT administrator, group training available
> Yahoo on Wednesday launched a new browser called Axis
Where is the Allies browser when you need it?
One more piece of evidence that explains Yahoo's long, slow decline as a software enterprise.