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Chapter 2- Controlling a Computer

37 terms by ashlynbagge

Overview Fundamentals of computer hardware

General strategies for access control
Buer overflow attacks on computers
Access control mechanisms in
computers
Security planning: policy and
implementation
Protecting processes

Programs Data resides in RAM

Numbers and other coded data
Examined and modied by programs
Stored in consecutively numbered
locations
Programs are lists of instructions
Instructions reside in RAM
Each is a single arithmetic operation or
comparison
Stored in consecutively numbered
locations

Organizing RAM into "Sections" Control Sections

Contain instructions to execute
Contain unchanging data
Data Sections
Contain variables that change
Contain "free form" RAM
Buers, Stacks

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Functions, Procedures, Subroutines We break programs into pieces

A piece with a particular job = function
or procedure or subroutine, all roughly
the same
One function can execute another
function
PC is pointed to the called function's
address
We save the current function's "state"
Saving the variables and the caller's PC
Saved in RAM, often on a "Stack"

One function calls another function We save the program counter in the
"calling function"
We execute the instructions in the
"called function"
At the end of the "called function" we
restore the program counter
This returns the CPU to where the
"calling function" left o

Processes A program is a group of instructions

A process is a running program
Its PC is, or can be, changing
It has some RAM with instructions and
data
Windows Example
Run two command shells
One program, two processes
Looking at processes with the Task
Manager
List Applications; List Processes

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Switching Processes The "dispatcher" procedure in the

operating system (OS) switches running
processes
Stops (pauses) one process and starts
another
Save the PC for the stopped process
Save other CPU data from the stopped
process
Locate the "saved state" for the one to
start
Load up the saved CPU data for the
process
Load the PC with the starting process'
PC value

The Operating System Dispatching and process management

is only one of its many tasks.
RAM Management - assigns RAM to
active processes and manages free
RAM
I/O Management - handles external
devices
File management - hard drives & mass
storage
User interface management -
keyboards and GUIs
Network protocols - connect to other
computers

Buer Overflow: The Morris Worm Morris Worm - rst major Internet
worm
1988 - disabled about 10% of Internet
computers
Used several attacks
Buer overflow vulnerability
A program fails to keep track of its
input
The input data modies RAM that it
shouldn't
Attacker can take over the computer if
the wrong RAM gets modied

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The "nger" Program Retrieved information about other

users
Rarely used today
Command "nger [email protected]"
Retrieved information about JSL at
BU.EDU
If the sender typed too many letters,
like:
nger
[email protected]
X
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
XXXXXXX
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
XXXXXXX and so on... the program
overflowed a buer

It Overflows the Stack When we call another procedure, we

must save the PC and the current
procedure's working variables inside
the CPU
We save the information on a last-in
rst-out block of RAM called the stack
If a storage area on the stack is
overrun, the data may modify the
saved PC
When the procedure is nished, it
jumps back to the wrong instructions in
RAM

Why does the shellcode work? Programs execute from a control

section
The stack is in the data section

If the computer has data execution

prevention (DEP), it only executes
instructions in a control section.
Not all systems - or programs - can
use DEP

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The Worm Released Released in October 1988

Promptly infected 10% of Internet
computers
The worm was designed to infect each
computer once
The restricting code did not work
Each computer was infected hundreds
of times
Infected computers became unusable
Spread nationwide between 9pm and
11pm

Fighting the Worm Telephone lines were not aected

Analysts shared information by phone
Many were at a meeting in Berkeley,
fortunately
As sites cleaned themselves up, they
shared status and defensive data via
email
Site cleanup was tricky - a 'clean'
computer had to be hardened against
the worm or it would be infected all
over again

Security Alerts and Coordination The worm incident helped create the
Computer Emergency Response Team
(CERT)
First nationwide, multi-organization
computer security team - tracked and
reported problems
Today, reports are tracked by the
Common Vulnerability Enumeration
(CVE)
Numerous public and private security
organizations, like the "Internet Storm
Center"

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Studying Cyber Attacks A systematic analysis, based on attack

reports

Attack Scenarios
May study potential or actual attacks
Elements are all based on recorded
attacks

Attack Case Studies

Report actual attacks
A scenario that includes threat agent
data

Attack Scenario Goalsa few sentences describing the

goals of the attack.
Resources Required-personnel, skills,
equipment, preparation, timing
constraints
How it happensdescribe how it takes
place
Collateral resultsattack results in
addition to the goals noted above
Recommended mitigationbasic steps
that could prevent the attack. Acts
Referencesauthoritative sources

Attack Case Study Overview - summarizes the attack

Perpetrator - brief description of threat
agent
Attack scenario - as described
previously
Risk management - how pre-attack risk
management steps aected the attack's
outcome (omissions or comissions)
References - consolidated list including
those from the attack scenario

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Resources required: Details Skills and/or trainingspecial skills

required for the attack
Personnelnumber and types of
people required for the attack
Equipmentspecial equipment
required for the attack
Preparation timeamount of lead time
required to set up the attack
Timing constraintis the attack tied to a
particular schedule or event?

Access Control Strategies How do we control access? 4

strategies:
Islands-A process is an island;
Vaults-Safe deposit box; access
control on a computer
Puzzles-Cryptography;
Kerckho/Shannon
Patterns-Photo IDs; anti-virus;
biometrics

An Island On an island, we can only touch what is

there
Everything else is brought from
elsewhere
A process can execute its instructions
in RAM and modify variables in RAM
It can only use resources brought into
its RAM
It can't access anything else
We restrict a process by not allowing it
access to resources
"Isolation and mediation"

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A Vault We can retrieve things from the vault

only if allowed
Someone/something restricts access
Least Privilege: we only have access to
some items
A Bank safe deposit box - we have the
key
The banker lets us retrieve the box
We can modify the box contents
We can't retrieve or modify any other
boxes
Computer access control - a process
can retrieve a le or print data if
granted the right permissions

Puzzles Protect data by presenting a puzzle

Authorized users know the puzzle's
answer
Security Through Obscurity (STO)
A weak puzzle, like protecting data by
hiding it
Strong puzzles use Cryptography
("crypto")
Mathematical techniques to hide or
protect data
Quality cryptography is very hard to
break
Weak cryptography is simply a form of
STO

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Open Design: A Basic Principle We open our systems for third-party

analysis to help ensure their
eectiveness
We withhold changeable, secret
information
"More eyes make bugs shallow" - Eric
Raymond
Kerckho's Principle and crypto design
Rely on a changeable secret, but make
the rest of the design public and open
to review
Shannon's Maxim: "The enemy knows
the system"

Pattern Matching Make decisions based on similarities

Photo IDs - guard compares face
against poor photo
Photos are often laughably inaccurate
Anti-virus software
Searches computer for patterns found
in viruses
Must be updated continuously for new
viruses
Biometrics - ngerprint readers, for
example
Compare reading against a stored
pattern
Problems: false positives and false
negatives

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Chain of Control: Another Principle We must never run programs that

violate or bypass our security policy.
To avoid this, we:
Start the computer using a BIOS that
maintains our security policy
If the software we start (i.e. the OS) can
start other software, then the other
software either
Complies with the security policy, OR
Is constrained from violating the policy
via access restrictions or other
mechanisms

Subverting the Chain of Control At the BIOS, we may

Boot a dierent OS from a CD-ROM
Boot a dierent OS from a USB drive
The other OS doesn't enforce access
restrictions
Inside the OS, we may
Install a privileged (administrative)
program that can bypass access
restrictions
Trick an authorized user into leaking
sensitive les

Keeping Processes Separate Relies on hardware and software

Hardware: two CPU features
Program Modes
RAM Protection
Software: Operating System features
Program dispatcher
Memory manager
User identities

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Program Modes Kernel or Supervisor Mode

For highly privileged operating system
programs with full CPU access
Allows full access to RAM
Dangerous! Used as rarely as possible
User Mode
For most programs and all applications
CPU blocks any attempt to use Kernel
Mode instructions

Personal Computer Evolution 1970s: PCs ran one program at a time

Microprocessor CPUs didn't support
multitasking
1980s: Programs politely took turns
Allowed several windows to be open
at once
Illusion of multitasking
1990s: Multitasking in desktop
computers
Microprocessor CPUs support
multitasking
Unix on PCs, Windows NT

Operating System Protections Originally only available on mainframes

and higher-end minicomputer OSes
(Unix, VMS)
Adapted to desktop OSes during 1990s
OS Security Features
Processes must take turns
("dispatching")
Processes are assigned dierent parts
of RAM
Processes can't damage other areas of
RAM
User-oriented interface and access
controls

Access Matrix A way to specify access permissions

Rows for resources or RAM
Columns for active entities or
processes

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Sharing Data The problem: allow two processes to

share data stored in RAM
Normally we isolate processes from
each other
This prevents one process from
damaging the other one
OS provides a separate data section
Processes still have exclusive access to
own data
All shared data resides in this separate
section
Both processes have RW access to the
shared section

Constructing a Security Plan The Security Plan is a detailed

assessment
A high-level analysis is an overview
The Plan contains the details
List of Assets (see Chapter 1)
Full risk assessment (see Chapter 1)
Prioritized list of risks (see Chapter 1)
Security Requirements - (see Chapter 1)
Implementation - a list of security
controls

Requirements and Controls Requirements say what we want for

protection
Controls says what we get
For each requirement, pick security
controls
Each control addresses 1 or more
policy statements

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Security Plan: Process Protection How does the OS protect processes?

Goals:
Processes share the CPU
Processes may share control sections
Processes don't share RAM except by
request
Risks:
A process monopolizes the CPU
A process reads or writes RAM that it
shouldn't

Policy and Implementation Six policy statements (Table 2.5 in

textbook)
Species security to be arranged by
the dispatcher
Species when things should happen
Security Controls (Table 2.5 in
textbook)
All are functional controls provided by
software
Some are steps in the dispatcher
procedure
Others are features of how the OS
ensures that the dispatcher is run or
how security is applied

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