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GeneralRe: The culture war at the heart of open source Pin
abmv27-Mar-19 1:09
professionalabmv27-Mar-19 1:09 
GeneralRe: The culture war at the heart of open source Pin
#realJSOP27-Mar-19 1:17
professional#realJSOP27-Mar-19 1:17 
GeneralRe: The culture war at the heart of open source Pin
Mark_Wallace27-Mar-19 12:11
Mark_Wallace27-Mar-19 12:11 
NewsALMA sees 100,000 stellar nurseries in nearby galaxies Pin
Kent Sharkey26-Mar-19 11:00
staffKent Sharkey26-Mar-19 11:00 
GeneralRe: ALMA sees 100,000 stellar nurseries in nearby galaxies Pin
Eddy Vluggen27-Mar-19 3:33
professionalEddy Vluggen27-Mar-19 3:33 
GeneralRe: ALMA sees 100,000 stellar nurseries in nearby galaxies Pin
Mark_Wallace27-Mar-19 12:13
Mark_Wallace27-Mar-19 12:13 
NewsHow Microsoft found a Huawei driver that opened systems to attack Pin
Kent Sharkey26-Mar-19 10:45
staffKent Sharkey26-Mar-19 10:45 
GeneralRe: How Microsoft found a Huawei driver that opened systems to attack Pin
Randor 26-Mar-19 19:48
professional Randor 26-Mar-19 19:48 
I think I was on Windows 2000 or Windows XP circa 2002-2004 the first time I tried to programmatically open C:\Windows\calc.exe with the CREATE_SUSPENDED flag unmap the section view and overwrite it with the contents of what was in c:\Windows\notepad.exe and ... it worked. It was harmless and funny and I laughed. I did not discover this... I learned it was possible in an old netsec IRC channel nearly 20 years ago. I am not sure who discovered it.. but I think it may have been Joachim Bauch around 2003, 2004. I'm not really sure, it was a really long time ago.

Anyway it just seems so strange that nearly 20 years later this is still possible. I can't even think of a legitimate reason why this should be allowed. Especially for signed executables. I am not even sure if the Huawei engineer knew this was possible. This is probably what he was thinking:
  • Only System, Administrator or TrustedInstaller group can write to the protected path C:\Program Files\
  • The executable is code-signed and has a secure ACL owned by TrustedInstaller.
  • If we verify the path from IRP_MJ_CREATE no security boundary can be crossed.
Just like probably 75% of the software engineers here on codeproject he might not have known about the attack vector. In fact even if they would have verified the executable signature the attack would still work. The resource section has already been mapped by the NT loader so initial code-signing checks would pass.

Here is part of the problem: Sites like codeproject want to be responsible. The moderators do not allow the dissemination of any code they deem malicious. Seems like the right thing to do... right? The problem with that philosophy is that 'good-guy' engineers are being less exposed to software security issues.

Is overwriting all of the instructions or replacing entire code sections in an executable malicious? Hell yes. Should programming sites prevent programmers from learning how to do these things? I personally think it's better to allow malicious code to be disseminated as long as it's not a zero-day. This helps software engineers learn what to guard against.

Best Wishes,
-David Delaune
GeneralRe: How Microsoft found a Huawei driver that opened systems to attack Pin
abmv27-Mar-19 1:16
professionalabmv27-Mar-19 1:16 
GeneralRe: How Microsoft found a Huawei driver that opened systems to attack Pin
enhzflep28-Mar-19 14:08
enhzflep28-Mar-19 14:08 
NewsSum-of-three-cubes problem solved for ‘stubborn’ number 33 Pin
Kent Sharkey26-Mar-19 8:45
staffKent Sharkey26-Mar-19 8:45 
GeneralRe: Sum-of-three-cubes problem solved for ‘stubborn’ number 33 Pin
Mark_Wallace26-Mar-19 9:21
Mark_Wallace26-Mar-19 9:21 
GeneralRe: Sum-of-three-cubes problem solved for ‘stubborn’ number 33 Pin
TheGreatAndPowerfulOz26-Mar-19 9:58
TheGreatAndPowerfulOz26-Mar-19 9:58 
GeneralRe: Sum-of-three-cubes problem solved for ‘stubborn’ number 33 Pin
User 991608026-Mar-19 11:03
professionalUser 991608026-Mar-19 11:03 
GeneralRe: Sum-of-three-cubes problem solved for ‘stubborn’ number 33 Pin
PeejayAdams27-Mar-19 0:31
PeejayAdams27-Mar-19 0:31 
GeneralRe: Sum-of-three-cubes problem solved for ‘stubborn’ number 33 Pin
Peter_in_278027-Mar-19 0:49
professionalPeter_in_278027-Mar-19 0:49 
GeneralRe: Sum-of-three-cubes problem solved for ‘stubborn’ number 33 Pin
Kornfeld Eliyahu Peter27-Mar-19 2:17
professionalKornfeld Eliyahu Peter27-Mar-19 2:17 
GeneralRe: Sum-of-three-cubes problem solved for ‘stubborn’ number 33 Pin
PeejayAdams27-Mar-19 2:25
PeejayAdams27-Mar-19 2:25 
GeneralRe: Sum-of-three-cubes problem solved for ‘stubborn’ number 33 Pin
Kornfeld Eliyahu Peter27-Mar-19 2:33
professionalKornfeld Eliyahu Peter27-Mar-19 2:33 
GeneralRe: Sum-of-three-cubes problem solved for ‘stubborn’ number 33 Pin
Daniel Pfeffer27-Mar-19 2:47
professionalDaniel Pfeffer27-Mar-19 2:47 
GeneralRe: Sum-of-three-cubes problem solved for ‘stubborn’ number 33 Pin
PeejayAdams27-Mar-19 3:59
PeejayAdams27-Mar-19 3:59 
GeneralRe: Sum-of-three-cubes problem solved for ‘stubborn’ number 33 Pin
Kornfeld Eliyahu Peter27-Mar-19 4:59
professionalKornfeld Eliyahu Peter27-Mar-19 4:59 
GeneralRe: Sum-of-three-cubes problem solved for ‘stubborn’ number 33 Pin
PeejayAdams27-Mar-19 5:07
PeejayAdams27-Mar-19 5:07 
NewsProfessors from MIT and Boston University discuss why you need to worry about the ‘wrong kind of AI’ Pin
Kent Sharkey26-Mar-19 8:30
staffKent Sharkey26-Mar-19 8:30 
GeneralRe: Professors from MIT and Boston University discuss why you need to worry about the ‘wrong kind of AI’ Pin
Joe Woodbury26-Mar-19 8:37
professionalJoe Woodbury26-Mar-19 8:37 

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