Pc-to-Phone vulnerability - broken by design

From: Arthur Hagen (artat_private)
Date: Wed Oct 24 2001 - 23:31:23 PDT

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    Dear Sirs,
    
    This is to report a security vulnerability in DeltaThree's Pc-To-Phone
    product, version 3.0.3 (latest version), and possibly earlier versions.
    This security flaw was first reported to DeltaThree/iConnectHere on October
    3, 2001, where I told the company about the security flaw, how it could be
    fixed, and that I expected a confirmation of the problem within 7 days, and
    that I would disclose the nature of the security flaw to the public after 21
    days.
    
    This is the part of my email contacting DeltaThree/iConnectHere where I
    specified the problem:
    
    > Both the account number AND
    > password is stored in a file "temp.html" in the PC to Phone install
    > directory, which is world readable.  Any user on a multiuser-system
    > can look up the account number and password of any currently logged
    > in user (or the last user in case of a program/system crash)!
    > The same goes for the log and PhoneBook folders, which are *shared*
    > among all users on a system.
    > The program *must* be changed to use "%APPDATA%\PC to Phone\"
    > or similar instead of the install dir for sensitive data
    > (temp.html, log and PhoneBook).
    
    Yesterday, after contacting the Technical VP of DeltaThree, Mark Gazit (who
    should be well known to BugTraq), I got the following answer from the
    company:
    
    --- cut here ---
    Dear Mr. Hagen,
    
    I am the Product Manager for PC2Phone, and I wanted you to know that I
    received your e-mail and that I sincerely thank you for drawing this
    issue to our attention.
    
    deltathree has rallied around solving this issue, and is committed to
    providing a comprehensive and expedient solution.  To update you on our
    progress, it appears that this bug cannot be addressed by a quick hot
    fix; we will need to do some significant development work.  We have
    adjusted our development priorities accordingly and are committed to
    releasing a new version of PC2Phone in the upcoming quarter.
    
    Based on your e-mail, we will have decided to (just this afternoon)
    provide different dialers for multi-user and single-user/secure systems.
    In the latter, the user will be able to store neither the account nor
    the password, thus mitigating the potential security issue you
    identified.  In the multi-user system, we will ensure that all data is
    properly secured.
    
    On behalf of all of deltathree and iConnectHere's customers, I thank you
    for bringing this to our attention.  Based on user feedback, we are able
    to offer ever-improving products and services, and we sincerely
    appreciate this opportunity to serve you better.
    
    Sincerely,
    
    Jennifer Alexander
    Product Manager, Access Devices
    jenniferaat_private
    212-500-4855
    --- cut here ---
    
    
    As PC-to-Phone is a popular service, and many users may not want others to
    see their account details (including account passwords usable for billing
    purposes!) and log of phone calls, I feel that it's appropriate that the
    security flaw now be made public, so people can take necessary precautions
    like installing the program in a secure directory.
    Until a new version is available next quarter, it may be in the public's
    best interest to know.
    
    Regards,
    --
    *Art
    



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