While testing our AcuSensor technology, I downloaded a small PHP blog application from the internet. The installation went smoothly. This particular application was not using a database but it was storing everything in text files. I added a sample blog post and I was ready…
How can low privilege bugs lead to a server compromise?
To address a large number of security concerns, it is often recommended that web applications make effective use of “the principle of least privilege“. The idea is that one should only grant the privileges on the basis that they are needed. In a previous post,…
Updated Acunetix addresses Ananta’s comparison report issues
In just 2 weeks, we released an updated version of Acunetix WVS version 6 to address issues reported in an independent web scanner comparison report published by Ananta. What’s for sure is that now we will do even better than we already did as a…
SQL injection sneaks into Kaspersky’s support website
The recent compromise of Kaspersky’s support database left the company with a bit of explaining to do. The hacker published a blog post on hackersblog detailing stunts with Kaspersky’s USA support website. Kaspersky also published their own account based on their log files and the hacker’s (nicknamed unu) blog post. The following is a summary of what happened and how such attacks can be prevented.
The hidden dangers of XSLTProcessor – Remote XSL injection
Today I’m going to talk about a new vulnerability which I named Remote XSL Injection. I didn’t find any references on the internet about this vulnerability, which I found while auditing some PHP code for a friend. PHP supports XSL transformations using the XSLTProcessor class….
Embedded devices can be hacked through the web interface
Anyone who has tested even a small number of web configuration interfaces on embedded devices, such as managed routers, VoIP gateways and wireless routers, knows that these devices are notorious for web application vulnerabilities. It is not uncommon for these devices to be vulnerable to…
Free Standalone Acunetix Report Viewer available for download
The Acunetix Report Viewer is a free standalone application that can be used to view Acunetix report (.pre) files only. Why should one download the Report Viewer? The report’s Table of Contents is available in the Report Viewer. This is not available when reports are…
Image upload forms used to hijack websites
In the past days I came across a stimulating blog post titled “Dissecting a Multistage Web Attack that uses the recent IE7 0day”. The authors described how a vulnerable web application was then able to infect web browsers visiting the infected website. The attackers, who…
How can any web page log you off all other websites?
A recent post on “Full-Disclosure” mailing list referenced a web page called “Session Destroyer”. This web page is a demonstration by Kristian Erik Hermansen that promises to make logging off various popular websites very easy. How does it work? This static html page simply contains…