Ubisoft "Uplay" DRM exposed as rootkit • Hacker News Board

Re: Ubisoft "Uplay" DRM exposed as rootkit

#71

Post by [deleted] » Mon, Jul 30, 2012, 11:34 AM UTC

Zolomon wrote: post #49

pilif wrote: post #45

I wouldn't say that this is a rootkit (there's no kernel-based magic or even just privilege elevation going on), nor that this was done with bad intentions. This is just inexperienced developers («it's "encrypted" using base64 - we're fine!!») that had a "great idea" (= launch games from an embedded IE control) that has, kinda, backfired. The sad thing is that it would be trivial (I'm using the word "trivial" here ar…

Just for your information; rootkits can exist in any of the rings[1]. However, kernel-mode rootkits are most often harder to detect and get rid off. There are several definitions of a rootkit, a common definition is "software designed to hide the existence of certain processes or programs from normal methods of detection and enable continued privileged access to a computer."[2] [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ring_(…

[deleted]

Re: Ubisoft "Uplay" DRM exposed as rootkit

#72

Post by rmc » Mon, Jul 30, 2012, 11:34 AM UTC

wseymour wrote: post #42

Paul_S wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't subscribe to "never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity". I'm not citing sources - hence it's just my opinion. Reminds me of google wifi slurping and hundreds of other cases where everyone plays dumb and swears it was all a misunderstanding. It never is. Until you get caught. And if not that it's a rogue trader, rogue reporter, rogue programmer, rogue scapegoat.

"I can't prove it through fact, but I feel it to be true."

That's not how reality (or science) works.

Re: Ubisoft "Uplay" DRM exposed as rootkit

#73

Post by DavidPP » Mon, Jul 30, 2012, 11:37 AM UTC

alexanderpas wrote: post #57

ewillbefull wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What makes you believe they put it there on purpose? It appears to have a genuine (if insecure) purpose. Even the researcher's message on seclists implies he thought of it as a bug.

it's completely unneeded. I can launch Steam games from my browser without any plugins. https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Steam_browser_proto...

Well those games are not only sold through Steam you know so they still "needed" this feature to work without Steam.

Re: Ubisoft "Uplay" DRM exposed as rootkit

#74

Post by rmc » Mon, Jul 30, 2012, 11:38 AM UTC

mikeymeows wrote: post #28

Wow, well I already knew ubisoft were fisting me, but two hands? cmon.

Oh please, I know you're being light hearted, and repeating common cultual memes, but please keep the "recieving anal is submission" to your self. It's often used as an excuse to call gay men "not real men" or effeminit. People (of all genders & sexualities) who like fisting are not evil either.

Re: Ubisoft "Uplay" DRM exposed as rootkit

#75

Post by efdee » Mon, Jul 30, 2012, 11:40 AM UTC

rogerbraun wrote: post #59

This does not 'install a backdoor that allows any website to take over your computer', right? It just makes it possible to launch any previously installed executable if you know the path.

If it can execute cmd.exe, it can do pretty much anything it wants, including but not limited to downloading other apps and running them.

Re: Ubisoft "Uplay" DRM exposed as rootkit

#76

Post by rmc » Mon, Jul 30, 2012, 11:41 AM UTC

Foy wrote: post #34

jiggy2011 wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hate the hoop jumping in modern games. I was playing Street Fighter 4 recently and it comes up with "oh, you want to save your single player game? You have to create a MicrosoftWindowsBingGamesPhone8ForXboxLive.Net account" . Then of course you have to wait for the damn thing to sign in every time you want to play the game "Connection failed, do you want to retry?"

Short of doing extensive background research on a title, Steam has no indication of a game's dependence on some third party launcher or cloud service, so every time I run a new game for the first time I have to clench and pray the Windows Live overlay doesn't drop down. Meaning: I feel your pain, brother.

Couldn't Steam pull the game from their shop? Prevent new people from buying it and remotely de-activate/remove existing installs of the game?

Proponants of the walled garden 'App Store' model point out how it's good for users, since it's more secure. Well, is this a case for that? Will the closed app store model step up to the plate now?

Or is the walled garden no better for users, but much better for the sellers of software?

Re: Ubisoft "Uplay" DRM exposed as rootkit

#77

Post by betterth » Mon, Jul 30, 2012, 11:42 AM UTC

wlesieutre wrote: post #52

Foy wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Short of doing extensive background research on a title, Steam has no indication of a game's dependence on some third party launcher or cloud service, so every time I run a new game for the first time I have to clench and pray the Windows Live overlay doesn't drop down. Meaning: I feel your pain, brother.

You sure about that? Section 8: Prejudice [1] (the only GFWL game I own) lists Games for Windows Live under 3rd party DRM. On the other hand, the Batman: Arkham Noun games [2,3] list SecuROM in 3rd party DRM but not GFWL. I'm told that these games are both GFWL titles. I don't know what's going on there, but it looks inconsistent. [1] http://store.steampowered.com/app/97100/ [2] http://store.steampowered.com/app/3514…

Arkham City requires GFWL, almost made me quit the game I bought and go pirate it. Still considering it, honestly.

Not only did it fail to log me in the first time and totally dropped my first hour of gameplay, but I ended up having to reset a password and spend over half an hour trying to get Arkham City and GFWL live to work together.

I lost over 1.5 hours of time to that bullshit, and a pirate would have lost 0 hours.

I am ONCE AGAIN bitten in the ass for being a legitimate customer instead of a dirty pirate.

Re: Ubisoft "Uplay" DRM exposed as rootkit

#78

Post by elmindreda » Mon, Jul 30, 2012, 11:45 AM UTC

Thank you for expanding the list of games I should never buy.

Re: Ubisoft "Uplay" DRM exposed as rootkit

#79

Post by nl » Mon, Jul 30, 2012, 11:51 AM UTC

quadhome wrote: post #47

kevingadd wrote: post #7

Why does Tavis Ormandy ( http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2012/Jul/375 ) keep putting fully usable proof of concept exploits out for widely deployed software without giving a vendor time to prepare a patch, or in this case, even notifying them? Off the top of my head, I remember he did this for the windows help center exploit and the java web start exploit. I can't understand why you would do this. You could at lea…

The full disclosure debate goes back a long time. I recommend doing some light Googling to understand some of the counterpoints. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Full_disclosure As for your "raging hacker who ...," dig, consider the idea that malware authors already knew about the vulnerability and have been using it.

consider the idea that malware authors already knew about the vulnerability and have been using it.

Do you have any evidence that is the case? The original post didn't mention it.

Otherwise it just sounds like excusing irresponsible disclosure.

Re: Ubisoft "Uplay" DRM exposed as rootkit

#80

Post by cabirum » Mon, Jul 30, 2012, 11:59 AM UTC

UBI is not alone doing this.

Battlefield 3 also installs it's plugin ("ESN Launch Mozilla Plugin") in all browsers on a pc. It's capable of running EA's Origin service, so does it present the same threat?