Instant Messenger flaw fixed; hackers criticized for little warning

[InfoSec News <isn () c4i org>]

http://www.nandotimes.com/technology/story/209997p-2027064c.html

By D. IAN HOPPER, Associated Press 

WASHINGTON (January 3, 2002 1:07 p.m. EST) - As AOL Time Warner
engineers opened their presents and spent time with their families, a
team of young hackers planned a holiday surprise: exposing a major
security hole in one of the company's flagship programs.

The international group released a program that turns AOL's Instant
Messenger into a key that could unlock many home computers. Now the
hackers are being criticized by security experts for not giving AOL
sufficient time to react.

The group, founded by a 19-year-old Utah college student, discovered a
security hole in AOL's Instant Messenger program that can let a hacker
take control of a victim's computer, the company confirmed Wednesday.

AOL fixed the problem at its central networks Thursday.

"The issue was resolved early this morning and was handled on the
server side, so users do not have to download anything or take any
other action," AOL spokesman Andrew Weinstein said. "To our knowledge,
no users were affected by this issue prior to its resolution."

The problem affected the newest as well as many earlier versions of
AOL's Instant Messenger program, which boasts more than 100 million
users. Only the Windows version was at risk; Instant Messengers for
Macintosh, Palm and other platforms were not. America Online Internet
access service customers were not affected either.

"You could do just about anything: delete files on the computer or
take over the machine," said Matt Conover, founder of the hackers'
group, "w00w00."

Conover said w00w00 has more than 30 active members from 14 states and
nine foreign countries. Until AOL's fix is released, Conover said,
Instant Messenger users should restrict incoming messages to friends
on their "Buddy Lists."

"It will at least keep someone from attacking you at random," Conover
said. But even that wouldn't help if the attack code were added to a
virus that propagated without the victim's knowledge.

Conover, who attends Utah State University, said the group found the
problem several weeks ago but didn't contact AOL until after
Christmas. The group didn't get any response to an e-mail sent to AOL
during the holiday week, he said, so w00w00 released details - and a
program that takes advantage of it - to public security mailing lists
less than a week later.

The program released by w00w00 remotely shuts down a user's Instant
Messenger program but could be modified to do more sinister things.

That practice is under scrutiny by security professionals. While some
independent researchers argue for a "full disclosure" policy and say
software vendors are trying to hide their mistakes, many companies say
users are better protected if companies have time to react.

"I think that's pretty dangerous," said Chris Wysopal of the security
company AtStake, "especially since they pretty much acknowledged that
they hadn't gotten a response back from AOL yet."

Russ Cooper, who moderates a popular security mailing list and works
for the security firm TruSecure, said Conover's action was
irresponsible because it helped hackers.

"I think it's better to provide details of the exploit and then let
other people write the actual code," Cooper said. "It lets the
technical community have the information they need without letting
idiots have the information they want."

Conover said w00w00 set a New Year's deadline for sentimental reasons,
because it was the anniversary of the group's last major security
release. He defended the disclosure of the attack program because "it
means providing all the information we have available to the security
community."

AOL's Weinstein said the company would have appreciated more warning.

"We'd encourage any software programmer that discovers a vulnerability
to bring it to our attention prior to releasing it," Weinstein said.



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