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Chrome OS Remains Undefeated At Pwnium 3

Posted by timothy on from the technical-victory dept.

hypnosec writes "Google has announced that its Chrome OS has managed to remain undefeated during the Pwnium 3 event that was held alongside Pwn2Own. Announced by Google on January 28, 2013 the Pwnium 3 event carried a prize money of $3.14 million. Researchers were asked to carry out attacks against a base Samsung Series 5 chromebook running the latest stable version of Chrome OS. It turns out security researchers were not able to come up with winning exploits even after the competition's deadline was extended. Google Chrome Team has revealed that partial exploit entries have been filled in but, no other details have been released."

44 of 178 comments (clear)

  1. OS that doesn't do anything isn't cracked.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    The OS doesn't really do anything. It's a glorified web browser.

    I'd be more impressed with OpenBSD not being hacked, and even that is essentially just an init process and sshd.

    1. Re:OS that doesn't do anything isn't cracked.. by DCstewieG · · Score: 5, Insightful

      You say that like it's a bad thing. A glorified web browser with incredible security is exactly what a good amount of people should be using. Hell, I know someone who would get along fine if their computer did nothing but Facebook, let alone the rest of the web.

      I find it hard to believe (though it's getting easier) that even geeks who have trouble seeing the world outside their little techy bubble can complain about this. I've seen the idea of an internet "driver's license" come up on these boards but then something that protects people from themselves is shit all over. Well done.

    2. Re:OS that doesn't do anything isn't cracked.. by chill · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Considering how fast the various web browsers fall, it *is* impressive. Chrome OS machines are wonderful for giving to clueless relatives who just browse the web.

      --
      Learning HOW to think is more important than learning WHAT to think.
    3. Re:OS that doesn't do anything isn't cracked.. by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 2

      The OS doesn't really do anything. It's a glorified web browser.

      I'd be more impressed with OpenBSD not being hacked, and even that is essentially just an init process and sshd.

      It is a bit more interesting because Chrome, the browser, was among the fallen on Windows(not sure if they tested it on OSX).

      ChromeOS is, indeed, mostly web browser sitting on top of a sparse-but-nowhere-near-as-weird-as-android linux distribution(Incidentally, might Google be the one to follow through on Mark Andresson's 1995 threat concerning reducing the OS to a collection of poorly debugged device drivers, albeit not the OS he was talking about?); but it wouldn't have struck me as obvious that it would behave notably different from Chrome running elsewhere, for exactly that reason.

    4. Re:OS that doesn't do anything isn't cracked.. by islisis · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Maybe because some of us are still proponents of 'computers', not content-sipping machines. Awareness of computing means more than getting work done or being entertained, it also involves some learning about the nature of how we do these things can and should change over time. Combined with ideas of open access this is important issue; we should all at least be aware of our ability to govern our processing needs, whether we enjoy the idea or not.

    5. Re:OS that doesn't do anything isn't cracked.. by Nimey · · Score: 3, Informative

      Gods yes. My father's Chromebook has probably saved him its price already in visits to the computer shop to get viruses removed.

      --
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    6. Re:OS that doesn't do anything isn't cracked.. by dreamchaser · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Typical geek-elitist drivel. For some (myself included) sure it's important to understand the nature of how computers do things. What you seem to fail to see, or are in denial about, is that computers have become ubiquitous appliances, and the average user doesn't give a shit about the 'nature of how we do these things.' They just want it to work.

    7. Re:OS that doesn't do anything isn't cracked.. by kangsterizer · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I think what's important to note is that "nobody" uses ChromeOS. This means "nobody" researches bugs for it very hard (even thus its relatively well secured, actually).
      All that too say, "nobody pwned haiku either"

    8. Re:OS that doesn't do anything isn't cracked.. by amiga3D · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Yes. Most people don't even have a clue how the light in their room comes on when they flip the switch and could care less about electricity as long as when they flip the switch the light comes on. Almost no one knows anything about internal combustion that drives a car daily they just know that when you turn the key it should start. The how and why is beyond them. Computers are even more complex to these people and it's crazy to think they'll ever know or care how they work.

    9. Re:OS that doesn't do anything isn't cracked.. by hairyfeet · · Score: 5, Informative

      That is why I don't understand why its included....do they include other thin clients? Because that is ALL it is, its a minimal kernel designed to have just enough to launch the browser interface, no different than one of the old Sun Ray thin clients. The ONLY difference between Chrome OS and any other classic thin client is Google provides the infrastructure in return for being able to datamine you for their real customers, which is of course the advertisers.

      Now does this mean ChomeOS is "bad"? Of course not, if a thin client is all your company needs I would be happy to set one up, for some jobs a thin client is really all that is needed....BUT, and its a BIG BUT, there are a HELL of a lot of tasks that thin clients just aren't built for which is why I just don't get marketing this to consumers. Hell even my most boring home customers have SOME software they want to run, take the little old lady that was my last customer of the day, I had to load the little software that comes with her wireless printer into her new system because she uses that to make little announcements for her family, calendars made out of pictures of the new grandbaby, anniversary party invites, that kind of stuff. If she couldn't have her little software? The PC might as well be a paperweight for all the good it would do her.

      So I really don't get why these rags keep lumping in ChromeOS with Windows and OSX because its really nothing like them at all, those are your classic "fat client" full OS while Chrome is a classic thin client "browser in a box". Hell feature wise its got less going for it than Android, Android you can side load and run third party programs easily and from what I've seen Chrome is strictly web based which is why they can get by with such little space on the drive, everything is supposed to be hosted by Google and run in the browser.

      It just makes no sense at all to run a test of fat clients with Chrome, to use a /. car analogy it would be like having a test on which truck gets the best mileage and entering a moped. Sure its gonna get the best mileage but so what? It doesn't actually DO the jobs that you need a truck for in the first place!

      --
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    10. Re:OS that doesn't do anything isn't cracked.. by YukariHirai · · Score: 2

      No-one's saying that all computers should be "content-sipping machines", just that such machines should be available to those who only ever sip content and want to remain absolutely clueless about how they work, rather than them get their shit exploited because they don't (and probably never will) know how to secure something themselves. "Proper" computers and operating systems should still be available to those of us who want them and can handle the responsibility.

    11. Re:OS that doesn't do anything isn't cracked.. by Clarious · · Score: 2

      It seems that ChromeOS is based on hardened gentoo (clues can be found here https://sites.google.com/site/chromeoswikisite/home/what-s-new-in-dev-and-beta/shell-acess-with-verified-boot), and hardened gentoo is.... hard (grsec + pax + some kind of MAC mechanism). And while I agree that ChromeOS is very basic, just a browser on top of it. But all other browsers were successfully attacked, it means that the OS has protected the browser.

    12. Re:OS that doesn't do anything isn't cracked.. by McFadden · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Your point is typical of the smart-ass remarks that get thrown around on site like this to score cheap points, that have no fucking relevance at all when they're actually considered. The responsibility for knowing how your car works, or ensuring your electricity functions correctly has been taken out of your hands and is handled by the people who made the vehicle or the house. Just like providing people with a simple, secure computing platform that does enough to satisfy their needs is not a bad idea.

    13. Re:OS that doesn't do anything isn't cracked.. by gman003 · · Score: 3, Interesting

      The difference is that Chrome OS is a consumer-grade "thin client". It is aimed mainly at home and educational use, not the big corporate or government use most other thin clients aim for.

      As such, yes, it makes sense to compare it to other consumer-grade operating systems. The results won't be quite comparable, as many duties normally handled by the OS are done remotely, in "the cloud", but it's still a worthwhile comparison.

    14. Re:OS that doesn't do anything isn't cracked.. by ozmanjusri · · Score: 2

      do they include other thin clients?

      Such as?

      CromeOS is on laptops that ordinary people can walk in, pick up from store shelves, buy and use right now. Of course it should be compared to Windows and OSX - it's competing with them. And those ordinary people want to know if it's a better choice for their purposes.

      --
      "I've got more toys than Teruhisa Kitahara."
    15. Re:OS that doesn't do anything isn't cracked.. by stretch0611 · · Score: 4, Informative

      Maybe because some of us are still proponents of 'computers', not content-sipping machines. Awareness of computing means more than getting work done or being entertained, it also involves some learning about the nature of how we do these things can and should change over time.

      So my mother who does nothing but play games and email should have a general purpose computer because you think a device should do more than just suck content?

      we should all at least be aware of our ability to govern our processing needs, whether we enjoy the idea or not.

      Yet you just said that everyone needs more than just content machines. My mom is aware of her needs, yet you want to force something more on her...

      I am a developer. Unlike the masses, I need a general purpose computer. There will always be a market for them no matter how much we flood the market will less versatile devices like tablets and smartphones (which is where I believe the market is heading.)

      For personal use, many people do not need a full computer, lets give them something simpler that better fits their needs. Even some business purposes can be done on a tablet now. Why should we force them to buy something more?

      25 years ago would you have suggested that we all continue to use dumb terminals hooked up to mainframes? The modern computer decimated the market for mainframes, supercomputers, and minicomputers. Today, the market share of these large and powerful machines is significantly diminished, yet they still exist for the people have a need for them that a normal computer can not fulfill.

      Plain and simple, not everyone needs a "computer" just because you think that they do. There will be a need for them and computers will not go extinct, but fewer and fewer people (as a percentage) will have that need and smaller devices will displace computers in the market.

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    16. Re:OS that doesn't do anything isn't cracked.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Look under the hood. Chrome OS is just as capable of running X11 apps as your off the shelf distro. Granted, it's not designed to so it's difficult to make it do so, damn near impossible (as seen in article) without switching developer mode on.

      But, switch developer mode on, turn off rootfs verification, remount as RW, and dump binaries on that it'll happily run. I don't typically categorize thin clients as a system running GNU/Linux w/ X11 support.

      I think the ace in the hole for ChromeOS security is that any partitions writable are mounted noexec. Any partition mounted exec, is read only. How do you get around that without attacking the kernel itself?

    17. Re:OS that doesn't do anything isn't cracked.. by Bert64 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      The problem is 'computers' are far too complex devices for the average end user, it is irresponsible to let most people connect such a complex device to a public resource when they have no idea how it works.
      Content-sipping machines managed by a third party are what the average user should have, 'computers' should be reserved for geeks who understand how to use them.

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    18. Re:OS that doesn't do anything isn't cracked.. by Bert64 · · Score: 2

      ChromeOS shares enough similarities with Linux and the Chrome browser that people will already have a decent level of familiarity with it... And $3.14 million is a pretty decent incentive to try.

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    19. Re:OS that doesn't do anything isn't cracked.. by mianne · · Score: 2

      Chrome OS seems geared to those same folks who'd otherwise install trojans, spyware, etc. for the sake of getting an animated cat to chase their cursor. So these users are protected from themselves in not directly hosing their OS from sheer ignorance, and the geeks who purchased these systems might now be lulled into complacency in knowing that they aren't likely to need to LLF the drive and then explain to their relatives where all their funny pictures went...

      The problem I foresee is that a user of Chrome OS will therefore have a large target painted on them they they'll be much more likely to fall prey to a phishing campaign. Have you trained Aunt Mabel well enough to know that when she receives that "Important message regarding your mortgage account" informing her that her payment wasn't properly credited, she won't immediately be clicking through to log into her account or calling the "customer service hotline" for assistance?

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    20. Re:OS that doesn't do anything isn't cracked.. by ozmanjusri · · Score: 2

      you should know *exactly* what that magneto does.

      Good advice for drivers in the 1930's...

      --
      "I've got more toys than Teruhisa Kitahara."
    21. Re: OS that doesn't do anything isn't cracked.. by programmerar · · Score: 2

      No, the average user should not have to understand what an administrative user is. No one outside of geekdom cares about different types of users. Compare it to a VCR, would you expect average users to log in as admin to. VCR? No. And computers are going the same route, thet are expected to just work, no fuss.

      --
      Waiting for you by the bridge
    22. Re:OS that doesn't do anything isn't cracked.. by Curupira · · Score: 2

      "Nobody" uses ChromeOS? Perhaps this will make you should rethink your conclusion...

    23. Re:OS that doesn't do anything isn't cracked.. by BasilBrush · · Score: 3, Insightful

      No. Should they understand that giving a program administrative access means you're giving it full control of all your private information? Yes.

      No. That's like saying that anyone who needs to drive a car need to understand how the choke works. The choke. Remember that? Back in the 1980s and earlier when you learned to drive, you had to learn to use it to start your car when the engine was cold. It altered the fuel/air mix by means of a valve in the carburettor. Everyone had to know what you needed to do with the choke, but only a minority knew what it was doing inside the engine. It became automated and then obsoleted when fuel injection replaced carburettors. In the modern car, the computer (engine management system) performs the same action of making a richer air/fuel mix when the engine is cold. And very few people realise that's happening.

      That's the proper use of a computer in a consumer product. To reduce the amount of detail the user has to know about.

      Consumers should not be expected to know about types of users. Ideally they shouldn't need to know the concept of user accounts at. The computer should just know who's operating them, and what they should have access to in the same way that a human clerk would. For the moment that may require credentials (bank card/username and pin/password) but biometrics that are more secure than that are probably not so far away.

    24. Re:OS that doesn't do anything isn't cracked.. by BitZtream · · Score: 2

      Right, because that story wasn't completely full of out of context bullshit that made it look like it was far more impressive than it was, when in reality it wasn't even a little bit.

      Combined Chromebook sales beat sales of SOME single models of other laptops ... of course those other models where in a completely different class and price range, but you know, totally truthful article!

      --
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    25. Re:OS that doesn't do anything isn't cracked.. by inasity_rules · · Score: 2

      While I'm a proponent of "if you can't design your own processor, you shouldn't be permitted to run one"(and yes, I have) I'll be the first to admit it is a stupid unpractical philosophy. Still, it is nice to dream... :P

      --
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  2. Does it do anything at all? by CharredMetal · · Score: 2

    I mean Does chrome OS runs /have anything of value at all? all the data is kept on the server side. Most of the processing happens through browser. so if session is closed there is nothing of value left on the machine unless you re-login. Is that correct?

    1. Re:Does it do anything at all? by CannonballHead · · Score: 4, Interesting

      From what I understand, there are, at the very least, local caches (similar to Google Drive/Docs/Email offline). Also, there would be all the info that Chrome keeps locally.

    2. Re:Does it do anything at all? by Kenja · · Score: 2

      In this case, the target was a Samsung Series 5 Chromebook which has 16GB of local storage. In theory, you could in theory get it to run code that could return data to you. However since the OS itself doesn't really run any services to exploit, you would have to do it via the browser.

      Previous pwn2own contests have required someone on the notebook to open a URL emailed to them in order to initiate the attack. It is unclear form this article what the rules where in this case.

      --

      "Have you ever thought about just turning off the TV, sitting down with your kids, and hitting them?"
    3. Re:Does it do anything at all? by SpectreBlofeld · · Score: 3, Informative

      To anyone who wants to play around with it: there are Chromium OS VM builds out there you can play with in VMWare or Virtualbox (legal, it's all opensource).

      I tried it out a few weeks ago. It really *is* just a web browser. I have trouble understanding why someone would spent $1300 for a Pixel unless they planned to install a real OS on it. Yeah, I get that the display is nice, but for that kind of money I should be able to... I dunno... maybe run the aforementioned VMWare, like I do now on the $599 laptop I virtualized Chrome (and Win7 and PC-BSD) on. And played Portal on, etc.

    4. Re:Does it do anything at all? by simonbp · · Score: 3, Informative

      Posting this from my series 5. :)

      It runs Ubuntu/Xubuntu 13.04 quite nicely booting off an SD card. You'd be hard pressed to get a better laptop for the money, and it's massively more useful than any table I've ever used.

    5. Re:Does it do anything at all? by simonbp · · Score: 5, Funny

      Tablet, I mean. It's not as useful as a table.

    6. Re:Does it do anything at all? by dgatwood · · Score: 2

      I think that the thought is that with the addition of NaCl apps, WebGL, and WebRTC on a fast enough machine, that you can have most of those apps in a sandboxed environment. And there is merit to that... considering how many people now use their tablet as their primary device.

      Not really. I'm pretty sure there's a graveyard somewhere with the bones of all the companies who thought a browser would make a perfectly good OS and did not realize their mistake in time.

      Odds are good that Chrome OS will fail to gain significant traction for exactly the same reason: HTML and CSS are really, really terrible for complicated user interfaces. Things that take fifteen seconds in Interface Builder can take hours or even days to do correctly with HTML/CSS, assuming you're designing to accommodate variably sized browser windows. And making what rightfully ought to be a tiny design change can force you to do a massive redesign of the CSS and HTML.

      Speaking as somebody who has written some pretty complex web apps over the years, I've concluded that the state of web UIs is so horribly primitive compared with the state of native UIs in terms of the amount of effort required to get a usable result, and the documentation for the various toolkits is so mind-bogglingly poor compared with docs for pretty much any of the native UI systems, that I can't imagine anybody being crazy enough to think a web-based OS would succeed, particularly after Apple AND Palm/HP tried it and concluded that it wasn't practical.

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    7. Re:Does it do anything at all? by pushing-robot · · Score: 4, Funny

      Be careful. That typo set Microsoft's Surface tablet project back several years.

      --
      How can I believe you when you tell me what I don't want to hear?
    8. Re:Does it do anything at all? by Bert64 · · Score: 2

      For a lot of people, the interfaces they use on a daily basis have already been written in HTML and CSS...
      I know many people who use a computer for:

      email (webmail)
      facebook
      twitter
      occasional searches for information via google
      im (usually the one provided by facebook)
      porn

      All of these are usable via chromeos right now, and enable someone to just get on with it without having to worry about malware or keeping their os up to date (or even caring what an os is).

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    9. Re:Does it do anything at all? by Lincolnshire+Poacher · · Score: 2

      In short, if you're spending $1300 for a laptop to put Linux on, you can do better - a MacBook would be a better deal, in terms of what hardware you get for the money.

      Perhaps it would be a better deal, but do you not understand that there are a significant number of people who refuse to give Apple any money?

      For us, the Chromebook Pixel is that machine for which we have been waiting several years.

  3. Don't overvalue this by gweihir · · Score: 3, Insightful

    It only means that Chrome OS is not too badly engineered. As Chrome OS is pretty new, the number of people that had an in-depth look will be smaller. As it is quite a bit different from other OSes and offers a lot less functionality on the application side, other approaches may be required to crack it.

    One could object to that that the kernel is still Linux. True, but the Linux kernel is one tough nut to crack. Even local exploits are in the vast majority not kernel-based, but some application messing up. If they are kernel based, it is typically a specific driver. I do not remember any remote exploits for the kernel at all in the last few years, except one in an exotic network protocol, and Chrome OS has no reason to enable anything in that class.

    So while this is a good initial result, do not overvalue it. It is possible that Chrome OS gets broken in the next few years when people get more experience with it. Die to its limited functionality, it is also possible that it will remain very hard to break into or that nobody manages it. Personally, I would welcome a main-stream secure browsing solution establishing itself, but remember that you cannot do most things with Chrome OS that you can do with other OSes.

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  4. It's an "OS" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    Chrome OS is more barebones than my phone.

  5. Re:Stick it online for four hours by dririan · · Score: 2

    A router only to wifi to the Chrome OS and no active prevention measures (human intervention). If it's still standing securely after that time then I'll be impressed. Until then this is just great advertisement for the Chrome OS and nothing more.

    To the best of my knowledge, Chrome OS doesn't listen on any ports out of the box. Even DMZing it would do nothing, because there's nothing for attackers to connect to. Perhaps you should learn more about Chrome OS before you come up with ideas like this.

    Researchers is a broad term and the conditions kept many away.

    Which explains why everything else there was broken, right? Nope, wait, also complete nonsense.

  6. I just bought a chrome book last week. by 140Mandak262Jamuna · · Score: 4, Informative
    Quick review: When there is a network connection, it is a solid browser. It synched with my Chrome browser customizations from my previous use of chrome using windows or linux boxes. Including flashblock and adblock.

    But what about off line? Google docs off line lets you edit documents and presentations off line. They sync when you get the connection. When it first came it had no off line edits. Then they have introduced doc and presentations. Spreadsheets would be next I guess. Or may be not. Gmail offline can be customized to keep last so many days worth of email in the local cache. Google calender works off line, ( I think, need to go back and check.).

    Off line music player works, off line video play back works. Source of the media could be the internal drive or any USB drive, including the USB powered hard disks. Kindle off line reader works, three books cached very quickly. Apps exist like "Read this link later" that works off line.

    So off line, you can watch video, listen to music, read books, cached web pages. You will have read/access to all the google drive docs. And write access to docs and presentations. I think for 200$ it is way more than what I expected.

    --
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  7. Prehacked by Frankie70 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Chrome OS is prehacked. It comes installed with a trojan/bot which collects all your information and sends it to Google.

  8. So many uninformed comments by daboochmeister · · Score: 5, Interesting

    A major theme here is "it doesn't run many apps, that's why it's secure". Yeah, that must be it - it probably has absolutely nothing to do with the way they've implemented Mandatory Access Controls in a rigorous fashion, and the way they isolate resources with heavy use of cgroups, and the read-only root filesystem and tmpfs /tmp, and how they've made every binary use ASLR and NX and DEP, and how they've rewritten several major typically-vulnerable daemons to not run as root, and how they've developed userland daemons to broker access to hardware, and how they don't allow any files in user home dirs to be executables, or how they've started to sandbox device drivers, or the way they implemented separate processing stacks for HTTP and HTTPS, or how they verify not just the boot record but the whole boot stack and partition table and nv ram on every boot and and and ...

    Yeah, all those things probably don't matter. They probably don't play any role in exploits that work on Windows-based Chrome failing on Chrome OS. It's not more inherently secure than any other OS, riiiggghhhhhttttt ...

    --
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    1. Re:So many uninformed comments by ThorGod · · Score: 2

      Well, it's a question of "what the end user sees". So far it boils down to:

      -Everything your browser can do (while connected to the web).
      -Ability to play media online and offline (from another commenter).
      -Very strong system security.

      The /. crowd have a problem because they can't fire up actual applications or games like Quake 4 - I'm guessing.

      --
      PS: I don't reply to ACs.
  9. Whilst that is impressive... by smash · · Score: 2

    .... did they hold the competition at the same time as pwn2own to ensure that the people who may be able to break it were otherwise engaged at a different event?

    --
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