RE: address.com: email vulnerability

From: Robert Ellis (REllisat_private)
Date: Fri Jan 11 2002 - 12:27:10 PST

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    	I spoke to a responsive person at address.com, and they were very
    concerned. Address.com is giving this issue the attention it deserves
    (verifying, etc...)
    
    	Responsible full disclosure requires that a reasonable attempt is
    made to inform the company of an issue and give them time to respond before
    disclosing the vulnerability publically. I had no problem finding a
    responsive person to inform of this issue. It's likely that the researcher
    ran into a support policy and an uncooperative or unaware support person. In
    my opinion, the researcher's responsibility requires a stronger attempt to
    notify a vendor.
    
    	The company was not given a chance to respond, and the user base may
    have been exposed to a greater threat through early disclosure. In an
    environment where full disclosure is being labeled as part of 'information
    anarchy' by an unethical vendor's propaganda, mishaps like these endanger
    more than individual company and userbase.
    
    Just my opinion.
    
    -----Original Message-----
    From: wannabe anonymousplease [mailto:i_wanna_be_anonymousat_private]
    Sent: Tuesday, January 08, 2002 8:53 PM
    To: bugtraqat_private
    Subject: address.com: email vulnerability
    
    
    www.address.com has a vulnerability that allows
    reading the email of other users. address.com offers,
    among other things, free email (similar to
    hotmail.com). 
    
    However, the registration allows you to overwrite
    existing accounts. If it does, the password is
    overwritten, and the new user takes
    control of the account (the former user will no longer
    know the password).
    
    However, the emails of the former user remain. In
    attempting to ask address.com to look into this issue,
    I was told they couldn't help because I wasn't a
    premium member.
    
    
    
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