Re: verizon wireless website gaping privacy holes

From: Gareth Owen (gazat_private)
Date: Sun Sep 02 2001 - 13:31:20 PDT

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    I clicked on the URL which you typed with the sample session ID you
    gave, and it brought up a menu.
    I then clicked on View my recent usage, and it brings up the time
    used in minutes at various times.
    It also shows the customers phone number!!
    
    I cant click view my bill, so what I am assuming is happening is even
    when people have logged out you can
    view their recent usage, but nothing else, but this exposes their
    phone number !
    
    I tried random session IDs and they gave similar results, except the
    minutes used changed, and so did the phone
    number. I think this is a major problem myself. Phone numbers could
    be gathered for marketting etc etc.
    
    
    Cheers
    Gaz
    
    - ----- Original Message ----- 
    From: "Marc Slemko" <marcsat_private>
    To: <bugtraqat_private>
    Sent: Sunday, September 02, 2001 2:36 AM
    Subject: verizon wireless website gaping privacy holes
    
    
    > Verizon Wireless (a fairly large US cell service provider) has a
    > website.  One feature of that website allows you to access your
    > account and do things such as view your bills and recent usage and
    > modify your service.
    > 
    > Cell phone bills are often very interesting things, since they
    > contain names, addresses, and a complete record of calls placed and
    > received, along with the approximate location the user was when the
    > call was made.  I'm sure I'm not alone in expecting my provider to
    > provide a reasonable level of privacy for this data.
    > 
    > A typical URL used by this "my account" service is:
    > 
    > https://www.app.airtouch.com/jstage/plsql/ec_navigation_wrapper.nav_
    > frame_display?p_session_id=3346178&p_host=ACTION  
    > 
    > Note the p_session_id parameter.  This is the only session
    > identifier used.  They are assigned sequentially to each user as
    > they login, and are valid until the user logs out or the session
    > times out.  Obviously, this makes it trivial to access the sessions
    > of other users by guessing the session ID.  Automated tools to grab
    > this information in bulk as users login over time are also trivial.
    > 
    > I notified Verizon Wireless about this on August 19th, telling them
    > that if I did not receive a response within a week that at least
    > indicates they are aware of the problem and are working on it, I
    > would do whatever I could to ensure the public knows about they
    > inexcusable ineptitude, and that verizon wireless customers can
    > take whatever steps possible to protect themselves.  Verizon
    > Wireless has not responded to me, nor have they fixed the problem.
    > 
    > If you are a verizon wireless customer:
    > 
    > 1. Do NOT use their online "My Account" feature.  If you do not
    > login, then this vulnerability can not be used to hijack your
    > session.
    > 
    > 2. Contact them to let them know what you think of their complete
    > lack of attention to the most basic security concepts involved with
    > designing a web application.  I am evaluating other alternatives
    > for cellular service.  
    > 
    > 
    > Note that this application of theirs also appears to have other,
    > potentially far more serious, security flaws.  Looking at the
    > example URL given above, two alarm bells should go off; one because
    > the session ID looks very weak.  I won't name the other, but it
    > (not particular to verizon wireless) has been referenced on bugtraq
    > before and is quite obvious.  I am not discussing the other
    > potential hole both because a user can't protect themself against
    > it (unlike the session ID bug) and because I can not verify if it
    > is actually a hole or not for certain without potentially violating
    > US laws.
    > 
    > Companies need to get it through their heads that they must pay
    > attention to the security of their online offerings.  If they can't
    > do that, then they should just turn the site off and go home.  It
    > is somewhat troubling that, even if a customer does have the
    > technical knowledge required to check for basic security blunders
    > on sites they use, they may be unable to do so in most countries
    > without breaking the law.  The verizon session id bug is different
    > in that I could test it using multiple accounts that I am
    > authorized to access, without incurring any unauthorized access to
    > the accounts of third party "innocents".
    
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