How will knowledge of control blocks, SVCs, etc., allow you to escalate your 
privileges beyond those assigned to your userid and groupid?


--
Shmuel (Seymour J.) Metz
http://mason.gmu.edu/~smetz3

________________________________________
From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List <[email protected]> on behalf of Tom 
Brennan <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, May 6, 2019 9:27 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: mainframe hacking "success stories"?

Ok, but why is Windows easier to hack than the mainframe?

Personally, I'd find a mainframe far easier to hack because I know a
little bit about control blocks, APF auth, SVC's, subsystems, address
spaces, RACF, etc., and I know far less about the equivalents on
Windows.  But of course the first step is to get any kind of userid, and
that's done by pretty-much the same methods - regardless of platform.

On 5/6/2019 1:18 PM, Bill Johnson wrote:
> It’s why banks stay on the mainframe. Security.
>
>
> Sent from Yahoo Mail for iPhone
>
>
> On Monday, May 6, 2019, 4:09 PM, Bigendian Smalls 
> <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> Bill, would you care to back that sweeping generalization up with some detail?
>
>> On May 6, 2019, at 22:06, Bill Johnson 
>> <[email protected]> wrote:
>>
>> Completely different. Hacking Microsoft is way easier.
>>
>>
>> Sent from Yahoo Mail for iPhone
>>
>>
>> On Monday, May 6, 2019, 3:53 PM, Bigendian Smalls 
>> <[email protected]> wrote:
>>
>> Which is how 80% of all the hacks today start.  Find purchase and advance 
>> your position. This is how the game is played. It was as classic of a hack 
>> as anything today.
>>
>>> On May 6, 2019, at 21:43, Bill Johnson 
>>> <[email protected]> wrote:
>>>
>>> Still never would have occurred without a valid userid.
>>>
>>>
>>> Sent from Yahoo Mail for iPhone
>>>
>>>
>>> On Monday, May 6, 2019, 3:18 PM, Charles Mills <[email protected]> wrote:
>>>
>>> No.
>>>
>>>  From the link you cite:
>>>
>>> "According to various sources, the hackers succeeded in finding (and 
>>> exploiting) at least 2 previously unknown errors enabling them to raise 
>>> their authorisations in the system. One of them was an error in an IBM HTTP 
>>> server and the other one was an error in the CNMEUNIX file, which in the 
>>> default configuration has SUID 0 authorisations (which means that by 
>>> leveraging on the errors it contains, one is able to execute commands with 
>>> the system administrator’s authorisations)."
>>>
>>> His "user" access to InfoTorg was not a problem for the mainframe. (It was 
>>> a problem for the MPAA lawyer whose account he accessed, but not for the 
>>> mainframe in general.) The above mainframe security vulnerability was.
>>>
>>> Charles
>>>
>>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List [mailto:[email protected]] On 
>>> Behalf Of Bill Johnson
>>> Sent: Monday, May 6, 2019 11:17 AM
>>> To: [email protected]
>>> Subject: Re: mainframe hacking "success stories"?
>>>
>>> The Pirate Bay hack acquired a valid mainframe userid and password off of a 
>>> Microsoft laptop. In effect, not really a mainframe hack. He just logged 
>>> on. 
>>> https://secure-web.cisco.com/1EiUBe8kWIGocAoCHZ8duxx_X3_ii_2_msH4KXaCbsI05OQ4V0kZ0pcTIXpwXTnEXNJkg9GeqVs-R7IzdSX9GnIfcJrObS1D825ZM8nJeSoB6vNzJa2xDGqRXXNZvwK78Iko8hdQw6zS2R6griNgSM3snpLMvdrvHola_yv9zPXwr3f6_IlZ7zMV0PzBZ-SGsvsDr51V7r3Nf9n5gmq2VbONzowLmg5ZZIqqVK1uZXvW9mgP95d8wKnt8qt0yiAh5CB5la2Ub6ctm1NEEnN28D9JkOoehxhmkVmnssVIWwcAmZcPc3YZR4CHcmwQYA0gTScHJJs4dlOuGr6oKCL6mLSnp3kcELzP0FYC6m1v535CyCj7Fno_rt5ZWPmdLK8io3_XlgKB1xTTcjg9LhBDjwf7zqa9Iwg0Fse4BZ-eBCmUliiBCBkA7FPCEcbalillZW5RyF3YVzqmqEU4hm_I0Ig/https%3A%2F%2Fbadcyber.com%2Fa-history-of-a-hacking%2F
>>>
>>> Sent from Yahoo Mail for iPhone
>>>
>>>
>>> On Monday, May 6, 2019, 1:21 PM, Charles Mills <[email protected]> wrote:
>>>
>>> #1: Noooooo. It was a legitimate mainframe hack (assuming you consider USS 
>>> a legitimate part of the mainframe, which it has been for 20 years or so). 
>>> It was an exploit of CGI buffer overrun.
>>>
>>> #2: It drives me nuts to hear mainframers explain away mainframe breaches. 
>>> "It wasn't really a mainframe hack, they got in through USS." "It wasn't 
>>> really a mainframe hack, they re-used a Windows password." "It wasn't 
>>> really a mainframe hack ... whatever." If your CEO was standing in front of 
>>> the press explaining how your company let x million credit card numbers go 
>>> astray, would it matter HOW they got into your mainframe, or only that they 
>>> DID?" If your mainframe is vulnerable to a USS hack, or a shared Windows 
>>> password, or whatever, you need to fix THAT, or risk having to explain to 
>>> your CEO why he got fired (like Target's) for letting all those credit card 
>>> numbers go astray.
>>>
>>> Charles
>>>
>>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List [mailto:[email protected]] On 
>>> Behalf Of Bill Johnson
>>> Sent: Sunday, May 5, 2019 10:00 AM
>>> To: [email protected]
>>> Subject: Re: mainframe hacking "success stories"?
>>>
>>> Wasn’t really a mainframe hack. It was a laptop hack that acquired 
>>> legitimate mainframe credentials.
>>>
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