Re: White paper: Exploiting the Win32 API.

[slack3r <slack3r () boy-genius net>]

Bugtraq,

I've been following this posting on the exploitation of the Win32 API
with interest. I think that Chris was correct in saying the following
from his original posting:

        5)  This is not a bug.  This is a new class of vulnerabilities, like a
        buffer overflow attack or a format string attack.  As such, there is
        no specific vendor to inform, since it affects every software maker
        who writes products for the Windows platform.  A co-ordinated release
        with every software vendor on the planet is impossible.

I think the point has been made that there are ways to fix this problem,
but the point is, this is a very real way of exploiting poorly written
applications. It's no different than exploiting, as he said, a buffer
overflow, or format strings, vulnerabilities of which abound throughout
the Internet. Though there may be a way to prevent these
vulnerabilities, the same could be said for, say, a buffer overflow, and
yet they're found all over the place. I think Chris has a valid point in
bringing this forward, and it's something that every Win32 programming
should take into account, while trying to write secure applications.
This is a topic that needed to be addressed.

-Bryan

P.S. I think it'd be interesting to see how many (if any) Microsoft
programs are affected by this type of vulnerability, even though they
"have known about these vulnerabilities for some time".