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Apple and Mozilla Block Vulnerable Java Plug-ins
hypnosec writes "Following news that a Java 0-day has been rolled into exploit kits, without any patch to fix the vulnerability, Mozilla and Apple have blocked the latest versions of Java on Firefox and Mac OS X respectively. Mozilla has taken steps to protect its user base from the yet-unpatched vulnerability. Mozilla has added to its Firefox add-on block-list: Java 7 Update 10, Java 7 Update 9, Java 6 Update 38 and Java 6 Update 37. Similar steps have also been taken by Apple; it has updated its anti-malware system to only allow version 1.7.10.19 or higher, thereby automatically blocking the vulnerable version, 1.7.10.18."
Here are some ways to disable Java, if you're not sure how.
... and if I need to unblock it, because I need to support shit that runs in these versions?
For large sets, this will be our guide even unto death, for the LORD will work for each type of data it is applied to...
Why after all these years is Java not just blocked by default?
Well, on OS X it is. What Apple just did is turn it back off for everyone who had turned it on ;-)
Sun was either more dedicated or just better at maintaing Java. There were problems, of course, under Sun, but the anti-Java sentiment based on vulnerabilities seems to be mostly post-Oracle (and somewhat justified).
where this shit is cutting edge,
Party like it's 1999?
While Java applets are very rare and not of much use to me personally (I mostly see it used for irc clients and bad web games), it seems a bit of an overstep to disable it completely for everyone due to a 0-day vulnerability. How is anyone supposed to ever use it if web browsers start disabling it for every 0-day vulnerability that pops up. It's not like Firefox and Safari don't also have 0-day vulnerabilities but you don't see them completely shutting themselves down nor do they roll out fixes the same day, so it seems a bit hypocritical. IMO there should be a small grace period of 1-2 weeks where the browser warns people of the known unpatched vulnerability but allows users to choose to load it anyways if they trust the site (yes, most people will just say yes to get past it) to at least give the plugin authors a chance to fix it before it gets completely disabled.
There are many zero-day exploits out there for many applications (and operating systems, etc.). Why does this one deserve special treatment?
It's the second time that I remember Mozilla doing it with Java.
Chrome has a "Click to Play" mode that won't run any plug-ins on a page without user intervention but it's fairly easy (one click) to run the plug-in on content you want to see.
In Chrome select "Settings" from options menu or navigate to "chrome://chrome/settings/"
Click Link "Show advanced Settings"
Click button "Content settings..." under Privacy
Look Under "Plug-ins"
Select the option "Click to play" which will prevent plug-ins from running on a page unless you manually click on a bar which allows them to run.
Description The Oracle Java Runtime Environment (JRE) 1.7 allows users to run Java applications in a browser or as standalone programs. Oracle has made the JRE available for multiple operating systems. The Java JRE plug-in provides its own Security Manager. Typically, a web applet runs with a security manager provided by the browser or Java Web Start plugin. Oracle's document states, "If there is a security manager already installed, this method first calls the security manager's checkPermission method with a RuntimePermission("setSecurityManager") permission to ensure it's safe to replace the existing security manager. This may result in throwing a SecurityException". By leveraging the a vulnerability in the Java Management Extensions (JMX) MBean components, unprivileged Java code can access restricted classes. By using that vulnerability in conjunction with a second vulnerability involving the Reflection API and the invokeWithArguments method of the MethodHandle class, an untrusted Java applet can escalate its privileges by calling the the setSecurityManager() function to allow full privileges, without requiring code signing. Oracle Java 7 update 10 and earlier are affected. This vulnerability is being attacked in the wild, and is reported to be incorporated into exploit kits. Exploit code for this vulnerability is also publicly available.
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
Because you can use the Windows installer to reformat your hard drive before install?
There are two types of people in the world: Those who crave closure
I have java 7u10 plugin installed, and its now disabled (ok, good). So I check the latest version from Oracle so I can install the fixed, safe version.... which is Java 7u10.
ho hum.
Why is no one recommending to raise the security level for Java applets from "medium" to "high" or "very high"?
Since Update 10 there is this new control that could be employed exactly right now:
http://docs.oracle.com/javase/7/docs/technotes/guides/jweb/client-security.html
Because the replacement option is to have users downloading snowflake.exe and running it, possibly with admin creds. Users will have their snowflakes (unless they're a built in aero toy, then the users will want bonzi buddy for 00's nostalgia).
I think this kind of mass disabling should be combined with a list of known "Good" java applets, possibly matched by URL or file hash.
The list doesn't necessarily have to come from some authority from the internet, it could possibly be provided by a company's IT department to run the specific Java applets they need to use.
So when people hit the "good" java applets, their Java plugin isn't disabled, and it runs the applet just like normal.