Link Injection Redirection Attacks - Exploiting URL Pattern in Google Chrome - Browser Design Failure

Update: As pointed by Google in the below mentioned link that issues was not reported previously.

http://www.webappsec.org/lists/websecurity/archive/2010-01/msg00022.html

We strictly believe in responsible disclosures. It was reported on 28 November 2008 and the status was changed to "Wont Fix" by the team itself. You can have a look at:

http://code.google.com/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=4739



Recently with an outcome of Owasp RC1 top 10 exploited vulnerability list , redirection issues have already made a mark in that. Even the WASC has included the URL abusing as one of the stringent attacks.



Well to be ethical in this regard these are not the recent attacks but are persisting from long time. The only difference is the exploitation ratio has increased from bottom to top. So that's the prime reason it has been included in the web application security benchmarks. But the projection of redirection attacks is active now.

This post is not about explaining the basics of redirection issues. It is more about the design vulnerabilities in browsers that can lead to potential persistent redirection vulnerabilities. We will implement this attack as an example scenario against the long persisted vulnerability in Google Chrome released long back by Secniche Security. The details of this vulnerability can be found at below mentioned links:

1. Google Chrome URL Obfuscation Vulnerability.
2. Milw0rm Database
3. Securityfocus

The issue has been notified to Google Chrome Security team many times but it is still persisting and can be effectively exploited. Considering other browsers such as Mozilla , IE8 below mentioned restrictions have already been implemented as:

1. Mozilla has implemented an alert check when ever rogue link is clicked informing the user for the malicious operation in process.

2. IE8 has completely changed the link interpretation behavior.

The attack scenario - (Web Application Security Testing)

1. A vulnerable website prone to redirection.
2. Browser vulnerability in interpreting injected links: Google Chrome

The video can be seen here:

Link Injection Redirection Attack - Exploiting Google Chrome Design Flaw

Regards