Ios5 Passcode Bypass Exposes Secrets

A recently disclosed bug in ios5 allows an attacker to bypass the passcode to the device and use whatever application was in the foreground at the time it was locked.

The first place I'm aware of carrying this story is BringYourOwnIt.com:


I tried this at home and sure enough it works. I believe this bug is really derived from things not being executed in the right order, your application should be backgrounded before the device sleeps and then brought back to the foreground when it wakes.

This is a problem that goes a little further than discussed in the BringYourOwnIt.com article because it also affects apps that have a 'privacy' mode - the app never gets the instruction to background which means it doesn't clear the history, purge or even wipe the screen.

I tested this with the Mercury Browser; I started the app and enabled privacy mode from the on screen window. Now if Mrs Hyakuhei comes home while I'm "shopping for her super-secret anniversary present" I just close the cover of the ipad and she'll never know. Unless she's read this post. In which case she could open the cover, hold down the power button, close the cover once the power-off screen is displayed, re-open and hit cancel - Now she can see all those presents that I was trying to keep secret.

So, all you ipad wielding secret santas - you have been warned.

Brute Forcing Usernames

Most companies create usernames for staff based on some combination of firstname-lastname.

This script will print out all combinations of each name longer than 4 characters. A little social engineering of your target should be enough to get you firstname/lastname pairs that you're interested in.

The script is deliberately short, easy enough to add number styles, dots or special characters depending on what your use is.

#!/usr/bin/python

first = 'steffan'
last  = 'jones'

firstPem = []
firstLen = len(first)
for x in range(1,firstLen+1):
        firstPem.append(first[0:x])

lastPem = []
lastLen = len(last)
for x in range(1,lastLen+1):
        lastPem.append(last[0:x])

for f in firstPem:
        for l in lastPem:
                if(len(l+f)>3):
                        print f+l
                        print l+f

Gnome Slideshow Wallpaper Script

Gnome can give you a slideshow wallpaper where it changes wallpapers every n seconds. To do this it uses an XML file that describes how it should iterate through the images.

I've knocked together a very rough script to generate these 'background-1.xml' files. Just put the script in a directory with some jpg images and run it - simple.

The script could be a lot better and tidier, I don't write python. Feel free to post cleaner versions in the comments.

#Generate XML file based on local jpg files

#User Variables - change these if you're feeling brave

transition_time = 5
display_time = 300
random_order = True

#------End of User Variables-------#

import os
import random


file_name = "background-1.xml"
cwd = os.getcwd()

try:
    os.remove(file_name)
except:
    pass

f = open(file_name, 'w')
f.write('<background>\n')

dirList = os.listdir(".")
imgList = []
staticList = []

if random_order:
    random.shuffle(dirList)

for fname in dirList:
    if fname[-4:] == ".jpg":
        ffname = "%s/%s" % (cwd,fname)
        imgList.append(ffname)
        staticList.append("<static>\n\t<duration>%.1f</duration>\n\t<file>%s</file>\n</static>\n" % 
            (display_time, ffname))


endIdx = imgList.__len__()-1
for idx in range(0, endIdx+1):
    #If we're at the end of the list, transition back to the first.
    transIdx = idx+1 if idx!= endIdx else 0 
    f.write(staticList[idx])
    f.write("<transition>\n\t<duration>%.1f</duration>\n\t<from>%s</from>\n\t<to>%s</to>\n</transition>\n" % 
        (transition_time, imgList[idx], imgList[transIdx]))

f.write('</background>')

Low level photography in Wales.

Hi All, I've been doing a lot of "flyLow" photography over the last week or two and I thought I'd take a few minutes to share some photos, ideas, technique and location information in case any of you fancied having a go!

Some Photos
Typically if your living in wales your going to see a hawk. These are used for training new pilots in fast-jet manauvering and control.


If you look closer you can see that its the instructor in the back of the jet is doing the flying on this pass


This is an Alphajet - Not used for training this time, this was one the QinetiQ jets from (I think) RAF Boscombe.
This pilot was obviously having fun as he tipped his wings towards the photographers, pushing it past the vertical so much that if you look at the high resolution version of this photo you can see the QinetiQ markings on the far side of the cockpit.


Technique

To get a good photo of a jet as it flies by you need to develop your panning technique this technique is used a lot in motorsports photography and in general, any photography where you wish to convey a sense of speed whilst keeping the main subject of the photo in sharp focus. For the shots in the mountains I use shutter speeds ranging from 1/400 to 1/3200 and ISO ranges from 200-1000 The main reason for the large ranges is the changes in light values from one end of the valley to the other. This is definitely not somewhere you can shoot in full manual.

Locations
The best place I have been for these photographs is a place called the Mach Loop in Mid Wales. It is at Corris, not far from Machyllneth.

There are fantastic location guides here

Equipment
Low flying aircraft prove to be one of the most challenging  subjects to photograph. Typically you need a camera with a fast autofocus and some very decent quality glass* in front. Having a camera with virtually no shutter lag and a high rate of frames per second is pretty important too. I use a Canon 30D with a Battery Grip and a Canon 300 F/4L Lens. 

I'll end this post with a final shot of the alphajet - currently my favorite photo.

*Glass is how "cool" people refer to lenses

My new baby ... I'm so proud

50th Post ! Forkin Hell!

Well, I thought I'd have some forking fun. Its seems that my university computer doesn't have process quotas turned on...

int main(){
int i;
for(i=0;i<50;i++){
fork();
calloc(1024,2048);
}
}

This lead to some interesting uptimes,
before:
2:42pm up 45 day(s), 21:30, 2 users, load average: 0.18, 0.43, 0.39
after:
2:42pm up 45 day(s), 21:30, 2 users, load average: 19.76, 1342.68, 1231.63

Again, I'd like to say "Whoops" I really did think process quota's were running. On the plus side, Solaris recovered pretty quickly :-)

Linux CF form factor SBC

Hmmm, WANT!

http://www.linuxdevices.com/news/NS5134014764.html

If I can shoehorn wifi in there I'll buy it!