Security
Details of major Internet flaw posted by accident
A computer security company on Monday inadvertently published details of a major flaw in the Internet's Domain Name System (DNS) several weeks before they were due to be disclosed.
Related links
Story tools
Sponsored by:
E-Mail article
|
|
Print article
|
|
Contact author
|
|
AIM article
|
del.icio.us |
Reddit
|
Digg
|
Stumble
|
Slashdot It!
|
Podcast: DNS flaw-fix hype addressed
The flaw was discovered several months ago by IOActive researcher Dan Kaminsky, who worked through the early part of this year with Internet software vendors such as Microsoft, Cisco and the Internet Systems Consortium to patch the issue.
The companies released a fix for the bug two weeks ago and encouraged corporate users and ISPs to patch their DNS systems as soon as possible. Although the problem could affect some home users, it is not considered to be a major issue for consumers, according to Kaminsky.
At the time he announced the flaw, Kaminsky asked members of the security research community to hold off on public speculation about its precise nature in order to give users time to patch their systems. Kaminsky had planned to disclose details of the flaw during a presentation at the Black Hat security conference set for Aug. 6.
Some researchers took the request as a personal challenge to find the flaw before Kaminsky's talk. Others complained at being kept in the dark about the technical details of his finding.
On Monday, Zynamics.com CEO Thomas Dullien (who uses the hacker name Halvar Flake) took a guess at the bug, admitting that he knew very little about DNS.
His findings were quickly confirmed by Matasano Security, a vendor that had been briefed on the issue.
"The cat is out of the bag. Yes, Halvar Flake figured out the flaw Dan Kaminsky will announce at Black Hat," Matasano said in a blog posting that was removed within five minutes of its 1:30 p.m. Eastern publication. Copies of the post were soon circulating on the Internet, one of which was viewed by IDG News Service.
Matasano's post discusses the technical details of the bug, saying that by using a fast Internet connection, an attacker could launch what's known as a DNS cache poisoning attack against a Domain Name server and succeed, for example, in redirecting traffic to malicious Web sites within about 10 seconds.
| Use this form to start a public discussion with other Linux World users on this article. Log In | Register for an account (Why you should) |
Note: Register to have your user name appear; otherwise your comment will show up as "Anonymous."
*Anonymous comments will only appear once they are approved by the moderator.
• Dell puts Linux and Atom in Vostro PCs
• Mozilla names best Firefox 3 add-ons
• Torvalds: Fed up with the 'security circus'
• Dell Latitude ON - big win for Linux
• Open source advocates hail appeals court ruling
LinuxWorld Conference and Expo San Francisco, August 4-7, 2008.
Linux Plumbers Conference Portland, OR, Sept. 16-19, 2008.
FreedomHEC Santa Monica, November 8-9, 2008.