The developer of a Mac OS X worm claims Apple "has a very long way to go" on security.
Identified only as the researcher behind the Information Security Sell Out blog, he or she said on Sunday that a still-unpatched bug in mDNSResponder, a component of Apple's Bonjour automatic network configuring service, could be exploited by a worm. Apple's May security update, dubbed 2007-005, included a fix for the mDNS bug.
The researcher said he or she will report the findings to Apple.
"[My worm] is in the same code base, obviously, but that is where the similarity to the recently patched issues ends," said the Info Sec researcher. "When Apple fixed the previous issues, they did not take care of the entire code base and there are a lot of bugs there...some are exploitable, like the one I am using, while others are not. But the fact remains that Apple did a horrible job in fixing this package."
According to Info Sec, the worm is fully automated and ready to use. "It would be considered a fully weaponised exploit and fully automated," said the researcher. "This is really no different than other worms we have seen [on the Windows platform]. Other than that, I am not able to give any more details."
Another researcher, however, questioned whether Info Sec crafted the worm in only a few hours, as claimed. "Writing the exploit in one day...unlikely for anything other than a stack overflow," said Dave Aitel, the chief technology officer at Immunity, the security company best known for its CANVAS penetration testing (‘pentest’) software. "So most likely he found a stack overflow in mDNS, which is perfectly possible. It is open source, after all."
Info Sec didn't provide details of the Mac vulnerability, but did emphasise that writing the exploit was a breeze. "The hard part is finding the bug," he or she said. "Once you have found it, it is very easy to exploit. The Bonjour (mDNS) service is UDP [User Datagram Protocol, one of the core Internet protocols] Universal as well, making it even more fun for things like worms."
But like other researchers who have grown tired of claims that Mac OS X is more secure than rival operating systems, Info Sec saved a last shot for Apple. Although he/she will report the new-found vulnerability to Apple at some point, there is no timetable for the moment. "I do believe in being responsible and working with vendors," said Info Sec, "but I also feel that some vendors need to be treated like children and learn lessons the hard way. Apple has a very long way to go when dealing with security issues in their products."
Aitel leaned a bit the same way. In a posting to his DailyDave mailing list in which he pointed out the Info Sec exploit, Aitel said: "I note that 'Infosecurity Sellout' is claiming there is another bug in mDNS which is wormable. This is obviously untrue, since there are no more remote bugs in OS X."
That last line was firmly tongue in cheek, Aitel clarified. "No, I'm just being funny. OS X is horribly insecure," he said.
In a statement, Apple spokesman Anuj Nayar rebutted. "Apple takes security very seriously and has a great track record of addressing potential vulnerabilities before they can affect users," he said.
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Comments
Adam said: Im not going to tell you who I am or what Ive done but I call bs if this was true and this flaw was so easily exploitable on a mass scale then why hasnt it hit the wild yet I question the sincerity of any security expert theyre nothing more than self-serving people who preach they work for the greater goodIm not naive I know any operating system can be exploitable but all I know is OS X has been out for what six years now Yet there has been nothing but proof-of-concept exploits OS X is the holy grail of hackers and the like I dont buy into any of the the user base is too small to write malicious code nonsense If someone could have done it they would have by now Period
Bobby said: I found a major exploitable sercurity problem in 90 of all comuters in the world They run some version of windowsNo one says OSX is not exploitable just way more difficult than windowsThe main problem for OSX seems to be security experts they seem to have nothing to do but try and justify their jobs and bad mouthing Apple for advertising that their unix based system still does not have exploits in the wild after all these years of OSX being out therenuff said to you
Synthmeister said: Im not gonna tell you who I am or what Ive done or how I did it but believe me when I tell you that Ive discovered a SERIOUS security problem in OS Xnuff said
ratty said: SoWhat is being said here is that you trawl Apples updates for fixed vulnerabilities and then go back to a previous version to release a bugThis makes virus writing rather easy in that you look to see what is fixed and then develop something around what has been fixed and then say Apple is vulnerable in all versions leading up to the fixStupid
Fred said: I find it peculiar that the hacker claims that hes being compensated for this and also says that vendors like Apple should be treated like children It shows that the antisocial types are the easiest to lure with money And if I was going to treat any groups like children the antisocial types would be way higher on the list than vendors like Apple