Yes, because if there's one thing people love to do, it's develop  
exploits for patched vulnerabilities.



On Mar 31, 2010, at 11:46 AM, "Larry Seltzer" <[email protected]>  
wrote:

> I have some problems with this scenario.
>
> First if Microsoft patches include unrelated silent patches then I  
> would expect, as you say, people would diff the files and examine  
> the updates to see what it is they are changing and develop POCs for  
> them. I don't ever recall hearing of an exploit for a bug in Windows  
> that turned out to have been silently patched.
>
> Microsoft provides detailed file information the updates (e.g. 
> http://support.microsoft.com/kb/978251 
> ). Since we know exactly which files are being updated, any silent  
> patch would have to be in a file that was being patched for some  
> other reason, or at least closely related enough that it wouldn't  
> arouse suspicion.
>
> This seems like an odd way to go about things, and to what end? It's  
> been suggested to me that Microsoft might hide the fact that they  
> are patching security vulnerabilities that they found themselves to  
> avoid some sort of liability. I don't see why that works, especially  
> when the alternative they chose would be to lie to the customers  
> about what files are being updated for what purpose. The latter  
> seems more likely to get you in legal trouble.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: disco jonny [mailto:[email protected]]
> Sent: Wednesday, March 31, 2010 11:17 AM
> To: Larry Seltzer
> Cc: [email protected]
> Subject: Re: [funsec] Miller, Pwn2Own's winner tells Apple,  
> Microsoft to find their own bugs
>
> isnt this the point of what i said before?
>
> they do do in house security testing after a product has shipped,
> however they do not publically release the information for the
> security bugs they find and patch - they roll them out with the other
> patches. (or service pack)
>
> you can see this if you diff the patches and compare to the
> advisories. it doesnt happen every patch day. but it does happen.
>
> I am sure if you read my previous message about this then you will see
> that i ahve already said this.
>
> On 31 March 2010 13:20, Larry Seltzer <[email protected]> wrote:
>> Can you point me to any disclosures for security vulnerabilities  
>> you found? Or were they patched silently?
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: disco jonny [mailto:[email protected]]
>> Sent: Wednesday, March 31, 2010 8:14 AM
>> To: Larry Seltzer
>> Cc: [email protected]
>> Subject: Re: [funsec] Miller, Pwn2Own's winner tells Apple,  
>> Microsoft to find their own bugs
>>
>> Thats alright then.
>>
>> good to know i didnt look for or find any bugs.  I wonder why they  
>> paid me.
>>
>> On 28 March 2010 23:45, Larry Seltzer <[email protected]> wrote:
>>> I know because I asked them and they gave me an actual response.  
>>> In the last
>>> 18 months they found exactly 1 vulnerability themselves, and they  
>>> found it
>>> ancillary to looking into the Kaminsky DNS bug after Dan Kaminsky  
>>> reported
>>> that to them.
>>>
>>> Larry Seltzer
>>> Contributing Editor, PC Magazine
>>> http://blogs.pcmag.com/securitywatch/
>>> Sent from my BlackBerry
>>>
>>> ----- Original Message -----
>>> From: disco jonny <[email protected]>
>>> To: Larry Seltzer
>>> Cc: [email protected] <[email protected]>
>>> Sent: Sun Mar 28 16:45:51 2010
>>> Subject: Re: [funsec] Miller, Pwn2Own's winner tells Apple,  
>>> Microsoft to
>>> find their own bugs
>>>
>>>> But once the product ships they stop looking.
>>>
>>> rubbish. I have worked there and seen that they do continual vuln
>>> assessment through out a products lifetime. [well for the products i
>>> worked on. (office 2k3 & 2k7)]
>>>
>>> They just dont beat their chest when they patch [they do it silently
>>> and push it out with the disclosed vulns] - reverse a few patches  
>>> and
>>> see how many issues are fixed.  You seem to often think how it is  
>>> then
>>> state that it is like that - as a fact. it really annoys me.
>>>
>>> How do you know what ms does and doesnt do?
>>>
>>>
>>> On 27 March 2010 12:58, Larry Seltzer <[email protected]>  
>>> wrote:
>>>> I wrote about this myself a little while ago:
>>>> http://blogs.pcmag.com/securitywatch/2009/12/does_microsoft_look_for_vul
>>>> ner.php
>>>>
>>>> Microsoft puts a lot of effort into security research for  
>>>> products under
>>>> development. But once the product ships they stop looking. Alex  
>>>> Sotirov
>>>> pointed out that Microsoft's customers, by paying iDefense and
>>>> TippingPoint and the like, end up paying for research Microsoft  
>>>> should
>>>> be doing. Perhaps Microsoft is also a customer of these  
>>>> companies, I
>>>> don't know.
>>>>
>>>> LJS
>>>>
>>>> -----Original Message-----
>>>> From: [email protected] [mailto:funsec- 
>>>> [email protected]]
>>>> On Behalf Of Juha-Matti Laurio
>>>> Sent: Saturday, March 27, 2010 7:24 AM
>>>> To: [email protected]
>>>> Subject: [funsec] Miller, Pwn2Own's winner tells Apple, Microsoft  
>>>> to
>>>> find their own bugs
>>>>
>>>> http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9174120/Pwn2Own_winner_tells_Appl
>>>> e_Microsoft_to_find_their_own_bugs
>>>>
>>>> "The only researcher to "three-peat" at the Pwn2Own hacking  
>>>> contest said
>>>> today that security is
>>>> such a "broken record" that he won't hand over 20 vulnerabilities  
>>>> he's
>>>> found in Apple's,
>>>> Adobe's and Microsoft's software.
>>>>
>>>> Instead Charlie Miller will show the vendors how to find the bugs
>>>> themselves.
>>>>
>>>> Miller, who yesterday exploited Safari on a MacBook Pro notebook  
>>>> running
>>>> Snow Leopard to win $10,000 in the hacking challenge,
>>>> said he's tired of the lack of progress in security. "We find a  
>>>> bug,
>>>> they patch it," said Miller.
>>>> "We find another bug, they patch it. That doesn't improve the  
>>>> security
>>>> of the product."
>>>>
>>>> Juha-Matti
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> Fun and Misc security discussion for OT posts.
>>>> https://linuxbox.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/funsec
>>>> Note: funsec is a public and open mailing list.
>>>>
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> Fun and Misc security discussion for OT posts.
>>>> https://linuxbox.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/funsec
>>>> Note: funsec is a public and open mailing list.
>>>>
>>>
>>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Fun and Misc security discussion for OT posts.
> https://linuxbox.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/funsec
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