Re: Overtaking Google Desktop

["Steven Scheffler" <steven () forwardslash com>]

Hey, there is a passwords.txt showing on the 3rd slide :) intentional?
;)

-----Original Message-----
From: full-disclosure-bounces () lists grok org uk
[mailto:full-disclosure-bounces () lists grok org uk] On Behalf Of pdp
(architect)
Sent: Wednesday, February 21, 2007 5:03 PM
To: Yair Amit
Cc: full-disclosure () lists grok org uk
Subject: Re: [Full-disclosure] Overtaking Google Desktop

This is quite interesting although it is a concept that has been
developed on sla.ckers.org some time ago. I love the presentation...
brilliant.

On 2/21/07, Yair Amit <yairam_ng () watchfire com> wrote:
> Hello,
>
> A new research from Watchfire has revealed a serious vulnerability in
> Google Desktop.
>
> The attack, which is fully presented in a new Watchfire research paper
> released today (available at
> http://www.watchfire.com/resources/Overtaking-Google-Desktop.pdf), can
> allow a malicious individual to achieve not only remote, persistent
> access to sensitive data, but in some cases full system control as
well.
> Google Desktop is a popular freeware desktop search tool which offers
> powerful indexing abilities along with an easy to use interface.
> In many cases, Google Desktop manages highly sensitive information.
> Therefore, the impact of a security breach in it is far-reaching.
>
> Google Desktop contains several protection mechanisms to secure its
> indexed data against remote intruders.
>
> In this paper, we present a step-by-step attack flow that circumvents
> Google Desktop's protection mechanisms and allows a malicious attack
to
> take place against Google Desktop users.
>
> The attack is composed of web-application security flaws found in
Google
> Desktop along with exploitation of Google Desktop's tight integration
> with the Google.com website.
>
> The paper shows that it is possible to achieve a remote and persistent
> access to sensitive data on attacked systems.
> In addition, under certain conditions, it is also possible to covertly
> inject and execute malicious applications on attacked systems, using
> Google Desktop's own features.
>
> The full paper can be found in the following link:
> http://www.watchfire.com/resources/Overtaking-Google-Desktop.pdf
> A demonstration of the attack flow can be found at the same page or at
> the following link:
> http://download.watchfire.com/googledesktopdemo/index.htm
>
> Note:
> -----
> The Google Desktop security flaw was coordinated with the Google
> Security Team.
> Google has been responsive and recently issued a patch which mitigates
> the risk of the attack.
> We highly recommend all Google Desktop users to make sure they have an
> updated version installed on their system.
>
> This vulnerability was discovered by me with the cooperation of Danny
> Allan and Adi Sharabani.
>
> Best regards,
>             Yair Amit
>             Security Team
>             Watchfire (Israel) Ltd.
>
> _______________________________________________
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-- 
pdp (architect) | petko d. petkov
http://www.gnucitizen.org

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