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The Freak Attack SSL/TLS Vulnerability

freakattack.com

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Re: The Freak Attack SSL/TLS Vulnerability

#2
I can't believe that they are outright naming vulnerable sites, that is really classless. Even if the data could be gathered by an attacker now that a vulnerability is known, you don't need to go the extra mile to provide it.

Re: The Freak Attack SSL/TLS Vulnerability

#3
post #2

I can't believe that they are outright naming vulnerable sites, that is really classless. Even if the data could be gathered by an attacker now that a vulnerability is known, you don't need to go the extra mile to provide it.

I disagree. If seeing their name on this list lights a fire under them to fix it that much faster, this is a good thing. Besides, if the you are an attacker capable of exploiting this vulnerability in the wild, this is the first and easiest part of the process. Scanning the top 1M sites would take you no time at all.

Edit: what really is annoying is that the sysadmin guide is "Coming Soon!". That is the irresponsible part: "here look we broke TLS, we'll tell you how to fix it at 11!"

Re: The Freak Attack SSL/TLS Vulnerability

#4
post #2

I can't believe that they are outright naming vulnerable sites, that is really classless. Even if the data could be gathered by an attacker now that a vulnerability is known, you don't need to go the extra mile to provide it.

"The idea of a branded exploit – one that is carefully curated for easy consumption – is a new one. Historically obfuscation, either real or inadvertent, has been the watchword in computer security mostly because not everyone cared about major exploits. Heartbleed, in a way, was different. It was worldwide, very dangerous, and oddly photogenic. Whereas a Java exploit or Adobe Reader problem is “invisible” to the average user, the idea of a hacker watching your passwords scroll, Matrix-like without security systems setting off alarm bells is compelling and frightening. By creating a “bugs 2.0″ page for the exploit, Codenomicon inadvertently allowed the average user to understand and potentially react to the problem."

http://techcrunch.com/2014/04/09/heartbleed-the-first-consum...

EDIT: To the OP, I totally misread your point. I thought you were complaining that people were naming vulnerabilities (i.e. FeakAttack, Heartbleed, etc), whereas you said "naming the sites that had such a vulnerability". I agree with you, it's a bit tasteless. My bad! I'm leaving my comment here anyway, because I do think it's worth noting the benefits of branding a known SSL bug/exploit.

Re: The Freak Attack SSL/TLS Vulnerability

#5
post #2

I can't believe that they are outright naming vulnerable sites, that is really classless. Even if the data could be gathered by an attacker now that a vulnerability is known, you don't need to go the extra mile to provide it.

I disagree. If seeing their name on this list lights a fire under them to fix it that much faster, this is a good thing. Besides, if the you are an attacker capable of exploiting this vulnerability in the wild, this is the first and easiest part of the process. Scanning the top 1M sites would take you no time at all. Edit: what really is annoying is that the sysadmin guide is "Coming Soon!". That is the irresponsible…

I really disagree with your perspective here, but I do concur that a fast fix is desirable for any impacted site. Notifying impacted sites ahead of public disclosure would have been a better move, and particularly ahead of public shaming and attacker targeting.

While these notifications may have gone out, there is no reference to any such thing on the page. Also: do they plan to update this list? Or are these sites to be shamed forever?

edit: and yes, the lack of a steps-to-fix is unforgivable. This feels like a race to be first rather than a race to responsibly release and resolve the issue all around.

Especially considering that the fix is beyond trivial:

  Apache: SSLCipherSuite ALL:!EXPORT
  nginx: ssl_ciphers 'ALL:!EXPORT'
(although you shouldn't use ALL, this is just an example; use https://mozilla.github.io/server-side-tls/ssl-config-generat... if you don't know what to do)

Re: The Freak Attack SSL/TLS Vulnerability

#6
post #4
post #2

I can't believe that they are outright naming vulnerable sites, that is really classless. Even if the data could be gathered by an attacker now that a vulnerability is known, you don't need to go the extra mile to provide it.

"The idea of a branded exploit – one that is carefully curated for easy consumption – is a new one. Historically obfuscation, either real or inadvertent, has been the watchword in computer security mostly because not everyone cared about major exploits. Heartbleed, in a way, was different. It was worldwide, very dangerous, and oddly photogenic. Whereas a Java exploit or Adobe Reader problem is “invisible” to the aver…

[deleted]

Re: The Freak Attack SSL/TLS Vulnerability

#8
post #2

I can't believe that they are outright naming vulnerable sites, that is really classless. Even if the data could be gathered by an attacker now that a vulnerability is known, you don't need to go the extra mile to provide it.

Export cipher suites have been known to be weak for years.

Re: The Freak Attack SSL/TLS Vulnerability

#9
post #2

I can't believe that they are outright naming vulnerable sites, that is really classless. Even if the data could be gathered by an attacker now that a vulnerability is known, you don't need to go the extra mile to provide it.

I disagree. If seeing their name on this list lights a fire under them to fix it that much faster, this is a good thing. Besides, if the you are an attacker capable of exploiting this vulnerability in the wild, this is the first and easiest part of the process. Scanning the top 1M sites would take you no time at all. Edit: what really is annoying is that the sysadmin guide is "Coming Soon!". That is the irresponsible…

Just a food for thought (I agree with you that if you call yourself an attacker this is baby stuff enumerating over the top 1M sites): would the author publish google.com or twitter.com if google.com / twitter.com was among one of the affected sites? Would we consider google.com more important than sohu.com and with that we would less likely publish google.com without first notifying Google? You certainly can do your due diligence by notifying everyone on that list, give a one day and then publish the full closure? I don't know. But I am interested in the timeline and looks like this CVE might have been out for a while?

Certainly there is one site ranked #27 but I doubt you will get anything out of reporting that to the site adminstrator. I am pretty sure that site (a Chinese portal and search service) does not have bug bounty.

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