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Zero Day

Ryan Naraine, Emil Protalinski and Dancho Danchev

Google zaps 'PinkiePie' zero-day flaws in Chrome

By | March 13, 2012, 8:37am PDT

Summary: Google is withholding technical details of the vulnerabilities and exploit technique, which has been described as “a beautiful piece of work.”

Google has wasted no time fixing the security vulnerabilities exploited during last week’s CanSecWest Pwnium hacker contest.

The company shipped Chrome version 17.0.963.79 on (Windows, Mac, Linux and Chrome Frame) as a “critical” update and confirmed the $60,000 cash award to the researcher who asked to be identified only as PinkiePie.follow Ryan Naraine on twitter

Google is withholding technical details of the vulnerabilities and exploit technique, which has been described as “a beautiful piece of work.”

  • [Like a b-b-b-b-boss!!! $60,000] [117620] [117656] Critical CVE-2011-3047: Errant plug-in load and GPU process memory corruption. Credit to PinkiePie.

[ SEE: Ten little things to secure your online presence ]

During the contest, PwniePie told me he exploited three different Chrome vulnerabilities but Google’s advisory on the fix only lists two bugs and a solitary CVE identification.

PinkiePie’s submissions followed a similar drive-by download/code execution issue that won Russian researcher Sergey Glazunov the maximum $60,000 award.  Both hacks included a full bypass of the Chrome sandbox.

Google’s Jason Kersey said the two Pwnium vulnerability submissions are “works of art that deserve wider sharing and recognition.”

“We plan to do technical reports on both Pwnium submissions in the future,” Kersey said.

A third Chrome hack, believed to be linked to the Flash Player plugin, remains unpatched.

Previous Pwn2Own/Pwnium coverage:

  • Teenager hacks Google Chrome with three 0day vulnerabilities
  • Pwn2Own 2012: Google Chrome browser sandbox first to fall
  • CanSecWest Pwnium: Google Chrome hacked with sandbox bypass
  • Charlie Miller skipping Pwn2Own as new rules change hacking game
  • CanSecWest Pwn2Own hacker challenge gets a $105,000 makeover
  • How Google set a trap for Pwn2Own exploit team
  • Researchers hack into newest Firefox with zero-day flaw
  • Video: Microsoft responds to Pwn2Own IE hack
  • Kick off your day with ZDNet's daily e-mail newsletter. It's the freshest tech news and opinion, served hot. Get it.

    Topics

    Ryan Naraine is a journalist and social media enthusiast specializing in Internet and computer security issues.

    Disclosure

    Ryan Naraine

    The most important disclosure is of my employment with Kaspersky Lab as a member of the global research and analysis team. Kaspersky Lab is a global company specializing in anti-malware and secure content management technologies. I do not own stocks or other investments in any technology company.

    Biography

    Ryan Naraine

    Ryan Naraine is a journalist and social media enthusiast specializing in Internet and computer security issues. He is currently security evangelist at Kaspersky Lab, an anti-malware company with operations around the globe. He is taking a leadership role in developing the company's online community initiative around secure content management technologies.

    Prior to joining Kaspersky Lab, Ryan was Editor-at-Large/Security at eWEEK, leading the magazine's and Web site's coverage of Internet and computer security issues and managing the popular SecurityWatch blog, covering the daily threats, vulnerabilities and IT security technologies. He also covered IT security, hacker attacks and secure content management topics for Jupiter Media's internetnetnews.com.

    Ryan can be reached at naraine SHIFT 2 gmail.com. For daily updates on Ryan's activities, follow him on Twitter.

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    Is the flaw OS-specific?
    davidr69 2 days ago
    Is the same vulnerability present on every OS Chrome supports? I totally agree with the OS having a sandbox and running apps within that sandbox. Fortunately, such an OS already exists.
    0 Votes
    + -
    Can Google Chrome Sandbox Itself and the Kernel?
    Dietrich T. Schmitz * Your Linux Advocate 2 days ago
    Answer: No
    That's why Linux Security Modules exist (LSM)

    Sandbox that App with Ubuntu Linux and LSM.

    The safest operating system on the Planet.

    I stake my reputation on it.
    Kudos to the Chrome team for the patch.
    0 Votes
    + -
    Is the flaw OS-specific?
    davidr69 2 days ago
    Is the same vulnerability present on every OS Chrome supports? I totally agree with the OS having a sandbox and running apps within that sandbox. Fortunately, such an OS already exists.

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