Live data from Hacker News

Chrome 0-day exploit used in Operation WizardOpium

securelist.com

31–40 of 159 posts

Re: Chrome 0-day exploit used in Operation WizardOpium

#31

As I understand these RCEs (in general; perhaps not this particular one), a frequent root cause seems to be saving instruction pointer on the stack adjacent to untrustworthy data which may have propagated down the call chain. Are there no initiatives being attempted to change this convention? Like not save the IP on the stack? Perhaps at the CPU architecture level or at the compiler level?

[deleted]

Re: Chrome 0-day exploit used in Operation WizardOpium

#32

As I understand these RCEs (in general; perhaps not this particular one), a frequent root cause seems to be saving instruction pointer on the stack adjacent to untrustworthy data which may have propagated down the call chain. Are there no initiatives being attempted to change this convention? Like not save the IP on the stack? Perhaps at the CPU architecture level or at the compiler level?

This is completely unrelated to this class of issue. You’re thinking of stack-based buffer overlows. This is all about heap manipulation, and doesn’t involve an overflow. Not in that sense anyway.

Re: Chrome 0-day exploit used in Operation WizardOpium

#33

As I understand these RCEs (in general; perhaps not this particular one), a frequent root cause seems to be saving instruction pointer on the stack adjacent to untrustworthy data which may have propagated down the call chain. Are there no initiatives being attempted to change this convention? Like not save the IP on the stack? Perhaps at the CPU architecture level or at the compiler level?

Wikipedia ROP article has a whole section on defense techniques

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Return-oriented_programming

Note that this was a heap attack (free after use)

Re: Chrome 0-day exploit used in Operation WizardOpium

#35
post #6

I wonder if this exploit would be possible if Chrome was packaged using the UWP Desktop Bridge on Windows 10. I doubt the sandbox prevents UAF, but surely it would have prevented executing an EXE file.

I wonder the same thing with Linux contained executables, such as snap.

(not sure if chrome is available as an official snap)

Re: Chrome 0-day exploit used in Operation WizardOpium

#36
post #9

Tragedy of our generation is that people who are so smart and determined to find and exploit these vulnerabilities, can't find better uses for their talents.

In this day and age, it could also be well paid nation state hackers. It is well understood that places like the NSA actively seek out zero day exploits and use them to perform whatever operations they need to do. They don't report them to software devs that can patch them.

Re: Chrome 0-day exploit used in Operation WizardOpium

#38
post #6

I wonder if this exploit would be possible if Chrome was packaged using the UWP Desktop Bridge on Windows 10. I doubt the sandbox prevents UAF, but surely it would have prevented executing an EXE file.

I wonder the same thing with Linux contained executables, such as snap. (not sure if chrome is available as an official snap)

It's my understanding that this particular exploit only targeted Windows, but the underlying UAF vulnerability affected all Chrome variants.

Re: Chrome 0-day exploit used in Operation WizardOpium

#39
post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or maybe society isn't providing them an accessible application for their talents.

Don't improve the product, just find dumber customers! Don’t lose weight, just buy bigger trousers! Don’t take personal responsibility, just blame society!

Of course it's both.

Personal responsibility is important. And even if you're bored, there are things to do other than hacking.

But working mind-numbing jobs , way below one's skills and talents happens to such a large share of people.

Maybe it's a sign to a problem with society ?

Re: Chrome 0-day exploit used in Operation WizardOpium

#40
post #9

Tragedy of our generation is that people who are so smart and determined to find and exploit these vulnerabilities, can't find better uses for their talents.

In this day and age, it could also be well paid nation state hackers. It is well understood that places like the NSA actively seek out zero day exploits and use them to perform whatever operations they need to do. They don't report them to software devs that can patch them.

His statement remains true.
Post reply on HN