TechBlog

The Chrome developers at Google have released version 27 of their browser to the Stable release channel for Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, and Chrome Frame for Internet Explorer. The new version, Chrome 27.0.1453.93, includes performance improvements with a new scheduler and fixes a number of security vulnerabilities – most of them rated as High – that Google’s bug bounty program rewarded with almost $15,000 in total. Chrome 27 also introduces a filesystem API that allows the browser to synchronise application data through the Google Drive service. Among the bug fixes, a dependency problem which stopped Chrome being easily installed on Ubuntu 13.04 has also been fixed, one release earlier than Canonical was expecting. ...

Malicious browser extensions are trying to hijack Facebook profiles, according to a warning from Microsoft’s Malware Protection Center. The extensions, first discovered in Brazil and dubbed JS/Febipos.A by Microsoft, are targeted at Chrome and Mozilla Firefox and appear to be installed by a custom trojan dropper. Microsoft first reported on the trojans in April, but it seems that a recent update to the trojans warrants bringing further attention to them. The trojan extensions themselves monitor users’ browser activity to see if they are logged into Facebook and then retrieve a configuration file from a site, disguised as a .php file, which contains commands for the extension. The extension is able to like pages, share pages, post, join groups, invite friends to groups, chat to friends or comment on posts. The Microsoft researchers have witnessed the extension posting messages (in Portuguese) about teen suicides with a video link that sends users to a malicious site, liking and commenting on a Facebook page apparently belonging to a car company, and sending out a variety of messages via chat, posts or comments. Links to other Facebook profiles are also posted by the extension in messages. ...

US domain registrar and web hosting service Name.com has fallen victim to a hacker attack. In a recent email, the company informed its customers of an incident that potentially enabled unknown attackers to gain access to “email addresses, encrypted passwords and encrypted credit card details”. The registrar says that the private crypto keys that are required to decrypt the stolen credit card details are stored on a separate system that wasn’t compromised. ...

Microsoft has confirmed a bug in Internet Explorer 8, CVE-2013-1347, which exposes user machines to remote code execution. In an advisory, Microsoft says the vulnerability “exists in the way that Internet Explorer [accesses] an object in memory that has been deleted or has not been properly allocated.” That, in turn, opens the door to memory corruption and remote code execution in the current user context. According to this blog post by Eric Roman: “A use-after-free condition occurs when a CGenericElement object is freed, but a reference is kept on the document and used again during rendering, an invalid memory that’s controllable is used, and allows arbitrary code execution under the context of the user.” ...

Canonical has released Ubuntu 13.04 Raring Ringtail, most likely the last release of Ubuntu that will primarily cater for laptop and desktop users. For Ubuntu 13.04, Canonical focused on tightening up the core of the OS and polishing the Unity interface in preparation for Ubuntu’s smartphone and tablet debut, which is slated to occur in October with the release of version 13.10. There’s also the usual slew of package updates, a new Linux kernel, and a couple of new features, too. ...

Cross-posted from PCMag SecurityWatch: Last week independent antivirus lab AV-Comparatives released the results of an on-demand antivirus detection test. The fact that Microsoft came in near the bottom wasn’t big news; the fact that Symantec scored even lower was surprising indeed. In a blog post released today, Symantec decried the entire practice of performing on-demand malware scanning tests, calling it “misleading.” In the early years of antivirus testing, every test was an on-demand scanning test. Researchers would assemble a collection of known malware, run a full scan, and record the percentage of samples detected. Modern labs work hard to devise tests that more closely reflect a user’s real-world experience, taking into account the fact that the vast majority of infections enter the computer from the Internet. Symantec contends that only the real-world sort of test is valid; I don’t entirely agree. ...

Microsoft is making another attempt to close the privilege elevation hole in the NTFS filesystem’s kernel driver for Windows 7 and Server 2008, including R2. The new patch, 2840149, supersedes security update 2823324, which Microsoft released on its April Patch Tuesday. However, shortly after releasing it, the software giant had to recall the first update because it caused problems with various third-party programs; it crippled computers and triggered error messages. Kaspersky’s anti-virus programs also started acting up once the update was installed, erroneously assuming that they no longer had a valid licence and discontinuing operation. When re-releasing the update, Microsoft didn’t clarify whether this was the reason for the system malfunctioning. ...

A new security report points the finger at China as the main source of malicious computer attacks — and puts the United States in second. In a report due to be released today by Akamai Technologies, the security firm says that the Asian country is accountable for 41 percent of all global computer-attack traffic. As reported by Bloomberg, the latest statistic suggests that cyberattacks from China have risen over three times from last year. In addition, there has been a 33 percent hike from the last quarter. ...

Adam Gowdiak, who has made a name for himself by finding flaws in Java, has reported a new vulnerability. Security issue 61, according to Gowdiak’s tally, affects current versions of Java SE 7, including the very latest release version 1.7.0_21-b11. The hole is once again present in the Reflection API and allows attackers to completely bypass the language’s sandbox to access the underlying system. Gowdiak has not published any further details about the vulnerability in order to give Oracle time to patch the problem. This means that there are now three vulnerabilities discovered by Gowdiak that still require fixes: problems 54, 56 and 61 as numbered by him. ...

Code could be injected through (fake) custom locations Facebook has closed various cross-site scripting (XSS) holes that were discovered by security firm Break Security and which have now been described in greater detail. Break Security’s CEO, Nir Goldshlager, explains that the social network was vulnerable to attacks through its Chat feature as well as its “Check in” and Messenger for Windows components. In the Chat window, for example, attackers were able to share links that weren’t adequately checked by Facebook. This enabled attackers to add disguised JavaScript commands to links that were then automatically inserted into href parameters by the Chat client. When users clicked on these specially crafted messages, the injected code was executed on their systems. ...