Full Disclosure mailing list archives

Re: Google Accounts Security Vulnerability


From: "Thor (Hammer of God)" <thor () hammerofgod com>
Date: Tue, 15 May 2012 17:57:25 +0000

I'm not sure I understand the issue here - the requirement for someone "happening to come across your username and 
password" is a pretext.  

Logging on to the web interface where you can change password and other personal information as well as verify existing 
site cookies affords the service the ability to check these sorts of things.  But you logged on via IMAP, which is its 
own service just like POP3 or SMTP.   These services can't check where you are or for the existence of a cookie, so I'm 
not really sure what your expectation is, or why this is being presented as an issue.   Am I missing something?

Timothy "Thor"  Mullen
www.hammerofgod.com
Thor's Microsoft Security Bible



-----Original Message-----
From: full-disclosure-bounces () lists grok org uk [mailto:full-disclosure-bounces () lists grok org uk] On Behalf Of 
Jason Hellenthal
Sent: Saturday, May 12, 2012 9:32 AM
To: Michael J. Gray
Cc: full-disclosure () lists grok org uk
Subject: Re: [Full-disclosure] Google Accounts Security Vulnerability


LMFAO!

On Sat, May 12, 2012 at 04:22:30AM -0700, Michael J. Gray wrote:
Effective since May 1, 2012.

Products Affected: All Google account based services

 

Upon attempting to log-in to my Google account while away from home, I 
was presented with a message that required me to confirm various 
details about my account in order to ensure I was a legitimate user 
and not just someone who came across my username and password. Unable 
to remember what my phone number from 2004 was, I looked for a way around it.

The questions presented to me were:

    Complete the email address: a******g () gmail com

    Complete the phone number: (425) 4**-***7

 

Since this was presented to me, I was certain I had my username and 
password correct.

From there, I simply went to check my email via IMAP at the new location.

I was immediately granted access to my email inboxes with no trouble.

 

From there, I attempted to log-in to my Google account with the same
username and password.

To my surprise, I was not presented with any questions to confirm my 
identity.

This completes the steps required to bypass this account hijacking 
counter-measure.

 

This just goes to show that even the largest corporations that employ 
teams of security experts, can also overlook very simple issues.


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_______________________________________________
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Charter: http://lists.grok.org.uk/full-disclosure-charter.html
Hosted and sponsored by Secunia - http://secunia.com/


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