Re: Hackers Crack Microsoft's Antipiracy System

Ablang wrote:
Hackers Crack Microsoft's Antipiracy System
Windows Genuine Advantage system first exploited within 24 hours of
its launch.

Elizabeth Montalbano and Robert McMillan, IDG News Service
Monday, August 01, 2005

Microsoft says that hackers managed to bypass a process it had
implemented several days ago to ensure that users of Microsoft's
update services possessed legitimate copies of Windows before they
could download updates and content from those services.

A posting on the  Boing Boing blog claimed that a JavaScript command
string could bypass a check that Microsoft instituted Wednesday
through the Windows Genuine Advantage 1.0 program.

According to the posting, users can override the WGA by pasting the
string javascript:void(window.g_sDisableWGACheck='all') in the address
bar of their browser and pressing Enter. The code "turns off the
trigger for the key check," according to the blog posting.

Quick Work

The WGA program requires users to run a program verifying that their
Windows operating system is not pirated, before they can use
Microsoft's software update services. Microsoft had been running it as
a pilot program since September 2004 but made the validation system a
requirement just last Wednesday.

A Microsoft spokesperson conceded on Friday that hackers had indeed
succeeded in cracking the WGA program, but said that the software
giant will fix the flaw they exploited in an upcoming version of the
WGA program.

The exploit came soon after Wednesday's launch of the program, the
spokesman said. "Within 24 hours, hackers claimed to have circumvented
the process and it appears that they did," he said. "This is a hack
that exploits a feature that enables repeat downloads in the same
session so that a hacker never has to validate as a genuine user," he
said.

The move to lock out pirated copies of Windows from the update sites
is part of Microsoft's effort to fight software piracy, a major issue
for the software vendor.

Easy Hack?

The Boing Boing hack is not the only way to get around WGA's
restrictions.

David Keller, founder of PC consulting and services firm Compu-Doctor
in Cape Coral, Florida, was able to change his Internet Explorer
settings to bypass WGA when he ran into a flaw in the program that
flagged a legitimate product key on a customer's Windows XP
Professional Service Pack 2 as invalid.

"The customer was the original owner, no hardware was changed since
purchase, nor was Windows ever reinstalled on the system," Keller said
in an e-mail to the IDG News Service. WGA had rejected the operating
system, nevertheless, thereby preventing Windows Update from working,
he said.

Keller wrote that he did not have much luck with Microsoft support
technicians, so he found a way to bypass the validation process on his
own and moved along with the update. He accomplished this by disabling
the Windows Genuine Advantage add-on within his browser's Internet
Options. By clicking on Tools/Internet Options/Programs/Manage
Add-ons, Keller disabled the WGA add-on. He then exited Internet
Explorer and was able to do a Windows Update without completing the
validation step.


http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,122058,tk,dn080205X,00.asp


===
     	"To buy an island is the same as courting a woman.  You can never explain exactly why you love her.  It's chemistry--something you cannot define--a feeling that you can stay forever."
               -- Farhad Vladi, Islands (mag) Jul/Aug 2005

Come one come on, this is the internet. Anything over 12 hours is OLD news :P this is days old and has been posted already ;)

Gotta be quicker than that

--
Mimic

"The man who awaits the rising of the sun, cannot wait forever."
ZGF0YWZsZXhAY2FubmFiaXNtYWlsLmNvbQ==  [ www.hidemyemail.net ]
.

Relevant Pages

  • WARNING LONG - Brian Livingstons take on Windows Genuine Advantage
    ... Genuine Advantage is Microsoft spyware ... Some tech writers have said categorizing WGA as spyware is arguable. ... It causes serious problems for some legitimate Windows users and was sprung on customers with no notice other than a press release the day before. ... If an instance of Windows doesn't seem to have a valid license, display notices to the user and prevent any updates being downloaded from Microsoft.com except security upgrades that are rated "Critical." ...
    (alt.sys.pc-clone.dell)
  • Re: Windows Genuine Advantage - Big Brother is watching you
    ... Microsoft Provides Additional Clarity About Windows Genuine Advantage Notifications ... Some tech writers have said categorizing WGA as spyware is arguable. ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsupdate)
  • Re: WGAtray.exe (Windows Genuine Authentication) spyware. Can this be disabled?
    ... To disable WGA Notify, with minimal risk, download Sysinternals ... Microsoft discontinuance of supporting pirated versions of Windows ... I disable or remove their startup entries from the registry, ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.general)
  • SecurityFocus Microsoft Newsletter #176
    ... MICROSOFT VULNERABILITY SUMMARY ... Microsoft Windows XP HCP URI Handler Arbitrary Command Execu... ... PHPNuke Category Parameter SQL Injection Vulnerability ... Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer Vulnerability Identific... ...
    (Focus-Microsoft)
  • WGA - the most recent phase
    ... Microsoft has bowed to public pressure, releasing a version of WGA that no longer validates Windows using a server-side configuration ... Responding to pressure from irked Windows users, Microsoft released an updated version of its antipiracy program on Tuesday that changes the frequency with which the program checks for pirated or counterfeit copies of its client operating system. ... "Our customers have told us that they were disappointed with their WGA Notifications experience, and we have made an effort to improve that with this update," a company representative said in a statement. ...
    (alt.sys.pc-clone.dell)
Loading