3,800 Vulnerabilities Detected In FAA's Web Apps 88
ausekilis sends us to DarkReading for the news that auditors have identified thousands of vulnerabilities in the FAA's Web-based air traffic control applications — 763 of them high-risk. Here is the report on the Department of Transportation site (PDF). "And the FAA's Air Traffic Organization, which heads up ATC operations, received more than 800 security incident alerts in fiscal 2008, but still had not fixed 17 percent of the flaws that caused them, 'including critical incidents in which hackers may have taken over control of ATO computers,' the report says. ... While the number of serious flaws in the FAA's apps appears to be staggering, Jeremiah Grossman, CTO of WhiteHat Security, says the rate is actually in line with the average number of bugs his security firm finds in most Web applications. ... Auditors were able to hack their way through the Web apps to get to data on the Web application and ATC servers, including the FAA's Traffic Flow Management Infrastructure system, Juneau Aviation Weather System, and the Albuquerque Air Traffic Control Tower. They also were able to gain entry into an ATC system that monitors power, according to the report. Another vulnerability in the FAA's Traffic Flow Management Infrastructure leaves related applications open to malware injection."
Re: (Score:2)
Yeah, they're using windows without the .exe/.dll loader component.
BRB Guys (Score:5, Funny)
Re: (Score:1, Offtopic)
-pwnies
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Geeksquad.Gov (Score:4, Funny)
Something perhaps the federal government needs. A pool of IT professionals that are available to all federal agencies, with the full range of clearances to keep critical, and not so critical, networked government information and hardware safe from ill-intentioned eyes.
Re:Geeksquad.Gov (Score:5, Funny)
Re: (Score:1)
We'll get Chuck from the Nerd Herd and he can "flash" 'em.
The fear of being subjected to pasty hairy man boobs just might get the operations team at the FAA to get off their asses and do their job.
Re: (Score:2)
I could be missing the joke, but isn't said agency the NSA [nsa.gov]?
Re: (Score:2)
The NSA developed SELinux, yes? Which is supposed to be an insanely secure Linux for the paranoid (who of course wouldn't download something written by the NSA...).
Since Linux could be written to do pretty much, well, anything, a better investment would be an organization that writes custom OSes for departments. ATTLinux (Air Traffic Control), for example. It can do what it has to do and nothing more. No web browser, for instance, or if it had one only certain ports would work period.
If they keep stuff like
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
The problem is that an operating system is just something you need to get the application to work on the hardware you choose. It might be a small part of the problem. If you decide to create your own custom distro for the purpose of running your application you're going to possibly run into problems getting your application stack to work correctly on top of it or may have problems getting support.
The OS they chose was RHEL [gcn.com] and you can infer some of the rest of the stack from the requirements [74.125.47.132].
Looks like they
Re:Geeksquad.Gov (Score:4, Insightful)
We don't accept binaries from the NSA. Source code is welcome, thus SELinux.
Re: (Score:2)
I trust you haven't looked through the code, then? The first letter of the first few lines spells out "I-A-M-A-T-E-R-R-O-R-I-S-T", and then BAM they have you!
Re:Just read through the PDF (Score:5, Informative)
They do mention a compromised domain controller, which suggests (though doesn't guarantee) Windows.
They also mention DOT, which I believe is heavily into Windows.
In the late 1980s I know there was some UNIX/X11 development going on for ATC in Germany, but I never heard whether it went big time in Europe, much less in the USA.
There are some references on the net from 2007 or so that the FAA was switching from Win to Lin, but I'm not sure what systems those were, or if it really happened. They could easily run a mix of UNIX, Linux, Windows and others on the back end, and mostly Windows on the front end.
Finally, the ATC systems probably run RTOS or a real-time UNIX.
Re: (Score:1)
So what? Properly secured proxies, etc, make Windows a perfectly secure operating system. This isn't 2001, you know.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
No, it really doesn't secure it. Too many network based utilities require far too much privilege to operate, Internet Explorer is a sinkhole of security vulnerabilities, and autorun remains the default for CD's, USB's, and other detachable media. Proxies are like the Maginot Line of security: they provide a useful pretense at security, but only have to be pierced once to allow the invaders to overrun your internal network.
It only takes one newly installed laptop, exposed to the Internet while pulling down i
Re:Just read through the PDF (Score:5, Insightful)
Karma be damned, but the use of Windows in a secure system is nowhere near as bad as not sanitizing your inputs on any system. No platform can just make up for bad practice. FreeBSD will happily allow someone to guess 'PASSWORD' as the login password (from TFA: "Software configuration involves setting up a software system for one's particular uses, such as changing a factory-set default password of "PASSWORD" to one less easily guessed."). If you're using Oracle DB, MS SQL or MySQL, if you store passwords as plaintext instead of hashes and secure data in plaintext, you will run into problems (TFA: "...hackers had the ability to obtain more than 40,000 FAA user IDs, passwords, and other information used to control a portion of the FAA mission-support network."). Microsoft may not patch in a timely manner, but it doesn't matter what platform you're running if you don't apply the patches (TFA: "...software with known vulnerabilities was not corrected in a timely manner by installing readily available security software patches released to the public by software vendors."). PHP, JSP, ASP, ASP.NET, Ruby, Perl or whatever, if you program poorly, you're going to have problems.
plaintext FreeBS password (Score:2)
Where does it say they were using FreeBSD
'if you store passwords as plaintext instead of hashes and secure data in plaintext, you will run into problems (TFA: "...hackers had the ability to obtain more than 40,000 FAA user IDs, password
Re:Just read through the PDF (Score:5, Insightful)
Windows isn't the weak link here, and properly securing Windows isn't exactly rocket science.
Re: (Score:2)
I saw no mention of how they are using Windows or if they are using Windows at all. Under the recommendations, they made no recommendations to stop using Windows at all.
Actually, it looks like one of these FAA system (Traffic Flow Management System) is running RedHat Enterprise Linux on the servers and workstations with an Oracle backend. The system was migrated from HP/UX to Linux [gcn.com].
Hum... (Score:1)
... and here we have people worried about exploding shoes and finger nail clippers.
Security expert point of view. (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Security expert point of view. (Score:5, Funny)
Re: (Score:2)
I'll get to work on a Google Maps Mash-up right away :D
Re: (Score:2)
Forget that, I want a link to the page where I can control a plane!!
Are you sure you don't want a VB GUI to trace its route? ;-)
Computers and technology in pop culture (Score:2)
(Sorry for the self-reply, but I wanted my two points to be independently moddable; this'll probably get modded OT, but I got karma to burn...)
Speaking of computers and technology in pop culture, I've recently watched Die Hard 4.
In general, it's everything we hate: overblown graphical interfaces ("tracing $BADGUY, [$n percent progress bar]"), interfaces that work the "wrong" way (when your box gets hacked, the screen goes fuzzy like a TV with poor reception), nonsensical terminology ("it's a E-bomb!").
But!
Re:Security expert point of view. (Score:5, Interesting)
I was developing a web app security assessment platform like Metasploit but for web apps...so I had to get a peak at the competition.
So like a good boy I set up a logger on my website and asked a big security firm to demo their own automated web assessment tool on my website.
I received a report of some hundreds of vulnerabilities. Needles to say not one of them was correct. So I e-mailed them back and told them and got a response with an apology.
If they used an automated tool like that it's very probable most of the vulns were false positives.
Oh and by the way, many of these tools detect e-mail addresses or contact info posted on the site as a possible vulnerabilities because they provide "sensitive information".
My point being...don't fully trust the report. Sure they must have some serious security risks on their website but 3.800 seems extravagant.
PS. Sorry to the guy above me with the
I want a link to the page where I can control a plane!!
for removing my mod +1 funny to his comment. I just had to post this reply. hehe
Re: (Score:3)
In this case step 1 of the security assessment, does it need to be connected to the internet, 'NO', then don't connect it. Step 2 risk assessment, just because web apps and the internet are the cheapest way of doing things, is it appropriate where thousands of peoples lives are at risk 'NO', then don't do it as a web app, spend the extra money or eventually the laws will change and you will go to jail for killing people just to save a few bucks.
Re: (Score:1)
Mission critical systems should not be accessible to the outside world.
If you really want to remote control it write your own client/server or whitelist IP addresses, add encryption or just use a VPN.
Scratch that...do all of the above!
I mean which net architect/admin can't set up a simple VPN? That's what they were designed for...that's what they're good at.
You can pick-up any CCNA (yes I know i'm kinda advertising here I don't care) student and he'll do it for you...
Yeah I know if y
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
As a pilot I've had to interact with a lot of the FAA's web presence. Much of this seems to stem from convenience and cost cutting around flight planning.
Currently, the FAA operates a telnet based Direct User Access Terminal, which provides flight planning information (both weather and wind/time calculations) and the ability to file a flight plan over the internet. That system is used by any number of sites to put a pretty face on it and make it more user friendly. In short, a pilot could plan a flight and
You've hit on the question I had right away (Score:2)
This is the question I'm really interested in... are the machines in question (particularly those actually involved in ATC) connected to the internet? If the machines can be hit from the internet, this is a giant problem. But if you have to start with physical access to the network because it's physically isolated from the larger internet, that's not nearly as bad. You still have to worry about an "inside job", but that's a lot less
Re: (Score:2)
The scanner used against you must not have been very good. The most common (and least expensive) vulnerability scanner, Nessus, only generates a very small minority of false-positive results.
automated false positives in FAA report (Score:2)
What was the name of this big security firm, the name of the web assessment tool and the name of your site. And how does this affect the validity or otherwise of the FAA report [dot.gov]?
Re: (Score:1)
I am very familiar with White Hat. They use a combination of internally developed tools and real live thinking human beings really actively trying to exploit code and logic flaws in the environment.
In my experience, they are very sharp and very (exhaustively) comprehensive.
This is not a handful of "audit kiddies" who barely know how to install and run their tools let alone understand what those tools find.
Re: (Score:2)
Nessus circa 2001 was well-known for its many false positives and warnings, although there was useful information in there if you went through it.
the average ISP has better security (Score:2)
Any 'security engineer' who is responsible for such a system should be fired and face criminal charges. The average ISP has better security.
PDF Report (Score:5, Funny)
The PDF report itself tests for the 3801st vulnerability.
You don't say? (Score:5, Insightful)
Jeremiah Grossman, CTO of WhiteHat Security, says the rate is actually in line with the average number of bugs his security firm finds in most Web applications.
Oh, well that makes it OK then.
After all, when a Chinese or Russian hacker out to prove a point wreaks havok by exploiting one of these, they can always just say "Don't worry, we're no worse than blogger.com!"
Re: (Score:2)
I have never seen a company with a security department large enough to realistically keep the number of publicly-discoverable/exploitable vulneraiblites in a network to near zero. Most companies have just enough IT security staff to fill checkboxes on some auditor's clipboard. Companies with relatively "good" security may have enough staff to actually address the most severe and easily exploited problems with their networks. In such a "good" company, any hacker who wants to break in to that company will be
Ineptitude confirmed. (Score:1)
Programming (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Programming (Score:5, Insightful)
The lowest bidder, of course!
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
This is a myth about government contracts. While cost is of course a major factor in government bids, they are also required to take into account factors like service, company reputation, and proven technical ability to do the job at the cost quoted.
Of course, there is also the good-ole boy factor...
Mod parent up (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
A CIP Device (Score:1)
I love these hard-hitting reports (Score:2, Interesting)
What apps? What vulns?
Surely they've all been fixed/replaced by now (if not, why not?), so why not let the rest of us know what was discovered?
It's not just the systems, it's the people (Score:1)
Please try to remember... (Score:1)
First question (Score:5, Insightful)
Why does the FAA have web based air traffic control applications?!
Re: (Score:2)
Insightful?
So as to keep hardware costs down, make the systems easily scalable, and speed up development and upgrade timescales?
Re: (Score:2)
Web based can be easy to develop UI wise, and flexible client wise (no need to install client software, easy maintenance of the software server side only).
The big question to me would be: how can a hacker get access to flight control in the first place? There is no need for those computers to be exposed to the Internet - and definitely not for those web servers to talk to anyone outside their own subnet. I do assume at least we're not talking about hackers that have gained physical access as then there is
Re: (Score:2)
Because a manager wanted it to run on his iPhone.
Re: (Score:1)
Why does the FAA have web based air traffic control applications?!
It makes it easier to file a flight plan. Instead of calling up a flight service station on the phone and going through the error prone process of giving them my flight plan, I can do it online. I find it to be easier and the government likes it because it is cheaper.
Different Article; Same Report (Score:5, Informative)
Sounds vaguely familiar [slashdot.org]...
Note that, although this is not a good thing, we're not actually talking about the ATC system here. We're talking about administrative web applications that employees can access from home, web sites that provide information about air traffic services to employees and to the public, power monitoring applications, things like that. Some are pretty serious, but most are not that serious. And none of them are the ATC system itself.
obligatory (Score:2)
Scan Complete!
423,827
Viruses Found!
A New Record!!
"Waaugh! That is not a small number!! That is a big number!!! What'm I gonna do?!"
Aiding and abetting (Score:1)
hackers took over FAA computers in Alaska (Score:2)
the solution is obvious (Score:2)
I just hope Obama steps in! (Score:2)
I would love for Obama to step it up a notch and force these guys to adopt better policies for their ATC units.
This is surprising? (Score:2)
I'm the last person to defend a federal agency, but if you run any large application through something like Fortify this will happen and this is 70 applications being tested for the first time.
High and medium vulns need to be addressed very quickly, and there were 1267 of those. Of those, 381 were on public facing systems. The remaining were "low" which are often things like "your server appears to be running Apache" or on internal systems, which while bad, is not as bad as stuff in your DMZ.
This headline i