{"id":3106,"date":"2011-05-10T13:04:54","date_gmt":"2011-05-10T12:04:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.darknet.org.uk\/?p=3106"},"modified":"2015-09-09T19:37:14","modified_gmt":"2015-09-09T11:37:14","slug":"vupen-whitehats-claim-to-have-broken-chrome-sandbox","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.darknet.org.uk\/2011\/05\/vupen-whitehats-claim-to-have-broken-chrome-sandbox\/","title":{"rendered":"VUPEN Whitehats Claim To Have Broken Chrome Sandbox"},"content":{"rendered":"

The big news recently is that someone has finally managed to pop the formidable Chrome<\/a> browser, as we know from following Pwn2Own<\/a> – it’s been safe for 3 years in a row.<\/p>\n

It has a sandbox, ASLR and DEP and that’s a pretty heavy combination to keep users safe from malicious software coming in via the web browser. VUPEN<\/a> (a French infosec consultancy) claims to have broken ALL of these defenses allowing them to execute code using the browser on the latest version of Chrome.<\/p>\n

Do bear in mind however as of now this is just a claim, there’s a video<\/a> of the exploit in action – but that doesn’t prove anything either.<\/p>\n

Researchers say they’ve developed attack code that pierces key defenses built into Google’s Chrome browser, allowing them to reliably execute malware on end user machines.<\/p>\n

The attack contains two separate exploits so it can bypass the security counter measures, which include address space layout randomization (or ASLR), data execution prevention (or DEP), and a \u201csandbox\u201d designed to isolate browser functions from core operating-system operations. So far, there have been relatively few reported exploits that can penetrate the sandbox, and that’s one of the reasons the browser has managed to emerge unscathed during the annual Pwn2Own hacker competition for three years in a row.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile Chrome has one of the most secure sandboxes and has always survived the Pwn2Own contest during the last three years, we have now uncovered a reliable way to execute arbitrary code on any installation of Chrome despite its sandbox, ASLR and DEP,\u201d researchers from France-based Vupen Security wrote in a blog post published on Monday.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The interesting part, and the thing that is causing a lot of debate (as per usual) is the disclosure policy by VUPEN. These guys are not going to tell Google, they say they will tell their clients for attack and defense purposes – but honestly? What good would a working exploit like this be in terms of defense? Unless you can perhaps add it into your IPS\/IDS.<\/p>\n

The only power\/value I can see it having is in attack circumstances and from their attitude it seems like they will sell\/rent this exploit out to the highest bidders. Scruples aside I have to say the bounty offered by Google<\/a> definitely wouldn’t cut it in this case.<\/p>\n