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Security group going to the dogs after hoax alert & Phony CERT Advisory
From: William Knowles <wk () C4I ORG>
Date: Fri, 14 Jul 2000 12:53:59 -0500
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1003-200-2249491.html?tag=st.ne.1430735..ni By Stephen Shankland Staff Writer, CNET News.com July 12, 2000, 5:15 p.m. PT Ordinarily it's hard to find people more serious than the technicians, academics and bug experts who vigilantly comb the world for potential attacks on computer networks. But not this week. In a parody of the warnings issued by the Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT), an anonymous correspondent posted a joke warning on Bugtraq, an electronic mailing list frequented by computer security professionals. The hoax alert, disguised as an official CERT announcement, warns that hackers have devised a way to remotely take over Sony's Aibo robot dog and command it to attack, among other unpleasant actions. "The buffer used to hold the variable MyOwner in the functionprocess_face() can be overflowed, reverting Aibo into experimental AiboPitBull code," the mock warning said. Other malicious programs circulating on the Internet to exploit the compromised Aibo include "PeeOnRug(), ShoeChew() and KillTheCat()." In addition, "owners who accidentally have left their television on late at night have reported incidents of AIBO attacking their small children and pets within minutes of the airing of 'Tom Vu's Real Estate Seminar,'" the parody said. CERT, a serious organization not given to such levity, took the posting in stride. "This is, of course, a forgery, but nonetheless pretty amusing," replied Shawn Hernan, who noted that real CERT advisories are electronically signed. While unsigned, the anonymous author had the terminology down. In reality, buffer overflows are a genuine way to take over computers. In a buffer overflow, an attacker types in too much text in an input area such as a password field. Under some circumstances, a computer will execute the extra text as a program, a method that a clever programmer can use to run programs without authorization. Explosive reactions to Tom Vu, however, have been known to be generated by other methods. But the Aibo joke didn't top a similar forgery in 1996, Hernan added. "The state of the art in forged CERT advisories remains the Independence Day Advisory from a few years ago," Hernan said. The warning referred to the movie "Independence Day," in which actors Will Smith and Jeff Goldblum destroy a flock of alien spacecraft by infecting the fleet's main computer with a virus that disabled defense shields. "The CERT Coordination Center has received reports of weaknesses in Alien/OS that can allow species with primitive information sciences technology to initiate denial-of-service attacks against MotherShip(tm) hosts. One report of exploitation of this bug has been received," the joke said. "The vulnerability allows the insertion of executable code with root access to key security features of the operating system. In particular, such code can disable the NiftyGreenShield(tm) subsystem, allowing child processes to be terminated by unauthorized users." *-------------------------------------------------* "Communications without intelligence is noise; Intelligence without communications is irrelevant." Gen. Alfred. M. Gray, USMC --------------------------------------------------- C4I Secure Solutions http://www.c4i.org *-------------------------------------------------* http://www.securityfocus.com/frames/?content=/templates/archive.pike%3Flist%3D1%26date%3D2000-07-08%26msg%3D20000710160016.A24976%40next.hway.net To: BugTraq Subject: CERT Advisory CA-2000-69 Date: Mon Jul 10 2000 04:00:16 Author: Jamie Rishaw Message-ID: <20000710160016.A24976 () next hway net> CERT Advisory CA-2000-69 AIBO Authentication Algorithm Corruption Vulnerability Original Release Date: July 10, 2000 Last Revised: -- Source: CERT/CC A complete revision history is at the end of this file. Systems affected * AIBO ERS-110 Aperios OS * AIBO ERS-111 Aperios OS Overview A vulnerability involving the Visual authentication algorithm has recently been identified in the Sony, Inc. "AIBO" Entertainment Robot. Owners of AIBO Robots are encouraged to upgrade their Aperios DogOS soon as possible. The AttackBite() control has a serious vulnerability that allows remote intruders within earshot of AIBO to execute arbitrary code. Scripts are proliferating the Internet with new routines such as PeeOnRug(), ShoeChew(), KillTheCat() and AttackOwnersGenitals(). The latter, classified by CERT as a "Denial of Service" attack, is most vicious, and for this reason CERT encourages immediate patch implementation. Some common cicrumstances under which this vulnerability can be exploited are addressed by the Sony patch; others are not. I. Description There are at least three distinct vulnerabilities in the ERS-110 and ERS-111 implementation of the Aperios software. All of these vulnerabilities may be exploited to effect Quicker-Picker-Upper and Owner Discomfort attacks with varying degrees of severity. Owners are advised, until patch completion, to guard themselves, and to have extra paper towels on hand. - The AIBO Sound Controller, when configured to play Britney Spears' "Oops, I Did It Again," will cause AIBO to lift a hind leg and spontaneously leak battery juice on the floor, simulating a urination (female ERS-110 models "squat" during this exploit). - The buffer used to hold the variable MyOwner in the function process_face() can be overflowed, reverting AIBO into experimental AiboPitBull code. When combined with the Sound Controller's Performance Mode signal, unpatched AIBO units can receive arbitrary code, and multiple reports of owner emasculation have been reported. - (Unverified) Owners who accidentally have left their television on late at night have reported incidents of AIBO attacking their small children and pets within minutes of the airing of "Tom Vu's Real Estate Seminar," The Story of A Vietnamese Immigrant's rags-to-riches Infomercial. - Two reports have been submitted where a race condition involving Tom Vu's Real Estate Seminar and presence of Richard Simmons' "Farewell to Fat" have caused AIBO units to "die". We are still investigating this. II. Impact Depending on the version of AIBO, the environment in which it is running, and the particular vulnerability that is exploited, a remote attacker can cause one or more of the following: - The AIBO to attack its owner, - The AIBO to wake, walk off its base station and attack children/pets, - The AIBO to generate Cyber-Body-Fluid and/or Excretion, and/or - The AIBO to die. III. Solution Upgrade your version of AIBO Aperios DogOS If you are running vulnerable Aperios and cannot upgrade, you are strongly advised to remove the battery from AIBO's behind and contact Sony for more assistance. Appendix A. Vendor Information Sony, Inc. Please see http://www.world.sony.com/robot/aperios_vuln.htm Richard Simmons Please see http://www.richardsimmons.com/shop/info.idc?id=08-00164 _________________________________________________________________ The CERT Coordination Center thanks your Mom and Eva Peron for their help in developing this advisory. _________________________________________________________________ Author: Jamie Rishaw <jamie () arpa com> _________________________________________________________________ This document is available from: http://arpa.com/advisories/CERT-2000-69.html _________________________________________________________________ (This is a spoof, if you haven't gotten it by now) _________________________________________________________________ CERT/CC Contact Information Email: cert () cert org Phone: +1 412-268-7090 (24-hour hotline) Fax: +1 412-268-6989 Postal address: CERT Coordination Center Software Engineering Institute Carnegie Mellon University Pittsburgh PA 15213-3890 U.S.A. CERT personnel answer the hotline 08:00-20:00 EST(GMT-5) / EDT(GMT-4) Monday through Friday; they are on call for emergencies during other hours, on U.S. holidays, and on weekends. Using encryption We strongly urge you to encrypt sensitive information sent by email. Our public PGP key is available from http://www.cert.org/CERT_PGP.key If you prefer to use DES, please call the CERT hotline for more information. Getting security information CERT publications and other security information are available from our web site http://www.cert.org/ To be added to our mailing list for advisories and bulletins, send email to cert-advisory-request () cert org and include SUBSCRIBE your-email-address in the subject of your message. * "CERT" and "CERT Coordination Center" are registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. * "CERT" and "CERT Coordination Center" had absolutely nothing to do with this advisory, and do not support it. It's a parody. NO WARRANTY Any material furnished by Carnegie Mellon University and the Software Engineering Institute is furnished on an "as is" basis. Carnegie Mellon University makes no warranties of any kind, either expressed or implied as to any matter including, but not limited to, warranty of fitness for a particular purpose or merchantability, exclusivity or results obtained from use of the material. Carnegie Mellon University does not make any warranty of any kind with respect to freedom from patent, trademark, or copyright infringement. _________________________________________________________________ Conditions for use, disclaimers, and sponsorship information Revision History July 10, 2000: Initial Release ISN is hosted by SecurityFocus.com --- To unsubscribe email LISTSERV () SecurityFocus com with a message body of "SIGNOFF ISN".
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- Security group going to the dogs after hoax alert & Phony CERT Advisory William Knowles (Jul 14)