Re: bug in iChat 3.0 (maybe others)

From: Steve Kann (stevekat_private)
Date: Thu Sep 10 1998 - 06:51:42 PDT

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    On Wed, Sep 09, 1998 at 04:19:28PM -0700, Jon Beaton wrote:
    > Hi,
    >
    > The iChat (http://www.ichat.com/) ROOMS server runs as 'nobody', and on
    > port 4080 as default. From what I've noticed, it just uses http, and has
    > a bug which lets following /../../../ be ran on the URL using any web
    > browser.  For example, something like:
    >
    > http://chat.server.com:4080/../../../etc/passwd
    
    They (ichat) know about this problem, and have fixed it in versions
    greater than 3.00.  It's a pretty stupid problem to have in the first
    place, though.
    
    What really irked me about this when I found out about it was this:
    
    1) I found out about it as it was being exploited by an I-chat technical
    support representative, who was using it to read certain configuration
    files on my machine.  He wasn't necessarily being malicious, but he
    _was_ accessing files on my machine, using a security flaw in their
    software, without my consent.  Not exactly an experience that gives one
    a "warm/fuzzy feeling".
    
    2) They released a version 3.00 for linux, but did not release a fixed
    version for linux.  So, users running it on linux were forced to either
    stop using it altogether, or live with the problem.  The third
    possibility, running it in a protected chrooted environment, is what I
    chose for the period of time that I needed to continue running the
    software.  I figured that if they had this kind of bug, who knows how
    many exploitable buffer overflows there are.
    
    -SteveK
    
    --
         Steve Kann - Horizon Live Distance Learning - 841 Broadway, Suite 502
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