The RISKS Digest
Volume 18 Issue 36

Wednesday, 21st August 1996

Forum on Risks to the Public in Computers and Related Systems

ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy, Peter G. Neumann, moderator

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Contents

Internet Explorer Security Problem
Ed Felten
Computer Testing of Nuclear Weapons
Frank C. Ferguson
Swiss address risks of holding referenda by Internet
PGN
Risks of remote-controlled fireplaces
Jeffrey Mattox
Re: Escaping software upgrade hell
Vladimir Z. Nuri
Re: London Train Crash
Roger Hird
Clive D.W. Feather
Martin Poole
"Authentication Systems for Secure Networks" by Oppliger
Rob Slade
Info on RISKS (comp.risks)

Internet Explorer Security Problem

Ed Felten <felten@CS.Princeton.EDU>
Wed, 21 Aug 1996 13:12:59 -0400
We have discovered a security flaw in the current version (3.0) of
Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser running under Windows 95.  An attacker
could exploit the flaw to run any DOS command on the machine of an Explorer
user who visits the attacker's page.  For example, the attacker could read,
modify, or delete the victim's files, or insert a virus or backdoor entrance
into the victim's machine.  We have verified our discovery by creating a Web
page that deletes a file on the machine of any Explorer user who visits the
page.

The core of the attack is a technique for delivering a document to the
victim's browser while bypassing the security checks that would normally be
applied to the document.  If the document is, for example, a Microsoft Word
template, it could contain a macro that executes any DOS command.

Normally, before Explorer downloads a dangerous file like a Word document,
it displays a dialog box warning that the file might contain a virus or
other dangerous content, and asking the user whether to abort the download
or to proceed with the download anyway.  This gives the user a chance to
avoid the risk of a malicious document.  However, our technique allows an
attacker to deliver a document without triggering the dialog box.

Microsoft has been notified and they are working on fixing the problem.
Until a remedy is widely available, we will not disclose further details
about the flaw.

For more information, contact Ed Felten at felten@cs.princeton.edu or
609-258-5906.

Dirk Balfanz and Ed Felten
Dept. of Computer Science, Princeton University
http://www.cs.princeton.edu/sip/


Computer Testing of Nuclear Weapons

"Frank C. Ferguson" <ferguson@dmapub.dma.org>
Tue, 20 Aug 1996 16:37:09 -0400 (EDT)
An AP dispatch out of Washington reported that IBM has won a government
contract to build the world's most powerful computer — an
ultrasupercomputer that is 300 times faster than any machine now in use.
Energy Department officials, who announced the $94 million contract, said
the computer will be used to simulate nuclear explosions so the government
can test atomic bombs without actually blowing them up.  Energy Secretary
Hazel O'Leary said the new computer will be a "dramatic leapfrog" over
currently available technology.

I guess eliminating an actual explosion, or "rapid disassembly" as the Air
Force labels it, would reduce a lot of risks, wouldn't it?  Hmmmm.

I suspect we would soon be building weapons that would never work when the
real trigger was actually squeezed.

I also suppose the next logical step for the government would be to use the
new computer to test nuclear devices without actually building them.  Just
think how much safer the world would be.  It could also be used to compare
military forces of the world to determine which country wins a war without
actually fighting the war.  WoW, just think of all the lives that would
save.  Secretary O'Leary sure has my vote.  uh-huh!


Swiss address risks of holding referenda by Internet

"Peter G. Neumann" <neumann@csl.sri.com>
Wed, 21 Aug 96 9:43:24 PDT
There have been recent proposals in Switzerland to hold their frequent
national referendums via the Internet.  The Swiss Federal Council has
rejected a parliamentary request to pursue that approach, on the grounds
that the computers and networks are too vulnerable to being sabotaged --
from almost any computer in the world.  [Source: A Reuters item, 20 Aug
1996, noted by Dave Farber 

Risks of remote-controlled fireplaces

Jeffrey Mattox <jeff@cher.heurikon.com>
20 Aug 1996 19:33:35 GMT
Friends of mine have a remote-controlled gas fireplace in their new home.
It allows them to turn the gas fire on and off from across the room.
Special logs are used for a gas fire, but the fireplace is designed to burn
real logs, too.

One day, they came home to their empty house and found the fire was ON, but
the flue, which had to be manually controlled, was closed.  Since the flue
was closed, the smoke and flames from the real logs went into the house.
They were lucky — just some localized fire and smoke damage — but if the
fire had burned much longer, their home would be ashes.

The store says there have been similar incidents in the area.  Apparently,
some romote controlled toys operate on the same frequency.

Jeffrey Mattox — jeff@heurikon.com


Re: Escaping software upgrade hell

"Vladimir Z. Nuri" <vznuri@netcom.com>
Mon, 19 Aug 96 20:46:13 -0700
A summary of some additional points on this topic brought up by
correspondents, identified by their initials, follows.

I mentioned several very useful capabilities that are not yet widespread or
going under common terminology. These are ranked below in order of
abstraction, complexity, cost, and degree of penetration. (With increasing
abstraction, greater cost and complexity, and fewer instances of its
implementation.) Note that complexity and cost are issues that relate to
both the design on one hand and use on the other.

1. Ease and seamlessness of switching between versions of code-- either
   forward during an upgrade or backward when incompatibilities or bugs arise.
2. "Shadowing" new code so that it is run and checked against old code
   before put on live.
3. Computer control over code versions based on automated reliability
   measurements-- software that actually controls when new versions are
   added after reliability tests are passed or failed.

DCB mentions that old Multics and ARPA systems both "did real-time updates
and rolled both forward and back between releases of components", with a
lecture given on the subject once by Paul Stachour. This appears to be an
instance of (1) and (3).

JWB complains of the cost and complexity of the above and suggests
implementing any of these features may actually make software more buggy in
the long run, and that trying to get to previously stable states may
actually be more difficult.

SK says that (1) is apparent in disk controller hardware and calls it "hot
swapping" of code.

HT says that "everything you describe [1-3] is regular practice in telephony
hardware and software" with the caveat that "you have to build systems from
the hardware up for this kind of [reliability]".  He describes a system by
Nortel: "essentially, yes, the system runs in shadow mode all the time,
often shadowing a release with a duplicate of itself, but sometimes
shadowing on a different release."  "Duplicated systems are complex and hard
to do right - they're also the bread-and-butter of telephony companies
everywhere.  Unfortunately, we don't blow our own horn as much as we
should."

MS says that NASA is investigating on an ongoing basis modular hardware and
software "hot swapping". Chorus Systems (France) is working with the
European Space Agency and all components are "hot swappable".

AF says "You have some great ideas here. I agree that a fundamental shift in
the way we think has merit. I have personally designed a software system
that is designed with field upgrade in mind from the ground up". He mentions
that in "closed loop system" however, it is far more difficult to directly
compare to versions of software because their results are supposed to be
divergent. I pointed out in a reply that software to measure whether this
divergence is moving in the "correct direction" (via shadowing) would also
tend to minimize upgrade glitches (in cases where the upgrade actually
degrades performance).

SR writes that the real problem we are trying to solve is "incorrect
software" and describes ways of improving software reliability before
installing it. I am obviously in favor of doing that to the greatest extent
possible, but feel that there is a point of diminishing marginal returns in
which exponential labor is spent in trying to remove the so-called "last
bug".  It is this view I was generally rejecting in the essay, by starting
from the idea that even well-intentioned designers who have done all the
reasonable testing possible cannot catch every bug. In fact I think the
terms "correctness" and "bugfree" are highly misleading as a black-and-white
view of a gray situation.  Is there a "correct" instance of a complex piece
of software anywhere in existence?

"Professionally, I feel that we need to ensure that software going out
is as correct as possible" sounds as compelling to me as a politician
stating, "I'm in favor of families." The major point of my essay was
that even the best of engineers make mistakes that cannot be detected
except in live use ("bugs happen"?), and paradoxically
when we finally learn to accept that, instead of constantly
pointing the finger at the engineer who made the mistake, we might begin to
create systems that work in spite of them.  I am increasingly skeptical
of the claim applied to every bug, "the designers didn't test thoroughly
enough"-- often it's too trivial an answer for too complex a situation.
In other words, sometimes the best solution is building a better mousetrap,
and other times it's figuring out how to make the existence of mice
less catastrophic.

The case I was focusing on my essay was the situation where software
*previously* works, and then *fails* to work in the same way
because of an upgrade. In this situation, *regardless* of designer
fault, ideally the end-user would have enough control to fall back to prior
base functionality gracefully. However, SR makes some very good points
about methods of improving reliability prior to delivery, including
considering the debugging and test code as an intrinsic part of the
delivery, something I strongly advocate. In fact if clients increasingly
began to ask prior to signing a contract, "what are you going to include
in the system itself to catch errant behavior" instead of focusing on
the resumes of the designers, we may all tend to be better off in
the long run.

WC mentions Ericsson's Erlang language containing some of these
ideas, designed to support high-availability systems like telephony:
http://www.ericsson.se/cslab/erlang/


In general, from responses I would conclude large Internet and cyberspace
vendors may benefit significantly from studying techniques used in telephony
to ensure continued and stable operation even during upgrades. Also,
internet protocol designers may begin to look at telephony techniques for
advancement in the bulging-at-the-seams internet network traffic. In fact
the internet telephone software designers may eventually have to confront
the same issues that telephone designers did many decades ago.  Maybe future
conference organizers in both areas might consider this aspect of promising
cross-pollination.

In fact we appear to be in the beginning stages of the heralded
"convergence" in which telephony and internetworking are in the early pangs
of learning from each other prior to a merge into a unified cyberspace, with
AOL and others realizing they are becoming more and more like utility
services.  With everyone's hard work, hopefully in the end we'll get the
best of both worlds (reliability of telephony, flexibility of the internet)
instead of the worst of both (flexibility of telephony, reliability of the
internet)!

I am struck by the apparent lack of a single definitive reference on this
critical subject.  These techniques are spread out in aerospace, military,
telephony, and other niche and proprietary areas and would benefit immensely
from a systematic treatment by someone with a broad perspective. How about,
"Creating Fault Tolerant Systems". It would be a great Yin to the Yang of
the recent Risks book on the shelves by PGN. Any takers?

  [Wouldn't it be great if someone wrote a journal that contained instances
  of software and hardware etc. that correctly handled a very difficult
  problem or catastrophic situation due to the ingenuity of the code?
  studying it might actually improve the world even more than RISKS.  VZN]


Re: London Train Crash (RISKS-18.34)

Roger Hird <roger.hird@argonet.co.uk>
Wed, 21 Aug 96 10:09:06
I don't want to turn Risks Digest into a platform for political discussion
on the privatisation of the British railway (BR) system, but there are
background points worth making to put recent contributions in context.

The original item (RISKS-18.32) was based on a thin US newspaper report and
the contributor commented that Risks Digest had a number of examples of rail
incidents in London.  This comment needs to be put into context.  These
incidents involved three separate systems: British Rail (BR), what we think
of in the UK as "the railways", London Underground - London's subway system
- and Docklands Light Railway, DLR, a new, small, overhead system serving
redeveloped dock areas in East London whose teething problems with systems
and software have attracted perhaps excessive attention.  BR, the national
railway sstem has not had all that many accidents/incidents in the London
area.  Of the ones explicitly identified with London there was one major
one, some years ago now, the Clapham (sic - it was actually nowhere near
Clapham) rail disaster due essentially to faulty wiring in a signal display.
This was entirely relevant to Risks Digest.  But I don't remember many/any
other system related incidents on the BR network in or near London.  There
have been mechanical failure incidents, eg brake failures, with one death.

Alastair Scott's contribution (18.34) seems to be a fair summary of what is
currently known about the train crash outside Watford.  The comments on the
apparently greater safety of the modern rolling stock design are interesting.
There seems little doubt that, given the "black boxes", the survival of the
drivers and the Health and Safety Executive enquiry (required by law in the
case of any fatal rail crash, I believe) we should get reasonably reliable,
and quick, conclusions about what went wrong.

But I thought Jim Reid's contribution less helpful.  I'm a rail traveller
and share his scepticism about the privatisation of Britain's railway system
and the incredibly complex structure of franchises, leases, service
companies and operating companies and leasing companies which it has
spawned.  But that is no reason to suspend ordinary principles of
objectivity.  There was no indication from anyone, and no serious
allegation, that any factor in the latest crash resulted from or was
exacerbated by the privatisation of the British Rail system or doubts or
uncertainties about responsibilities or boundaries between the various
companies involved. There were lots of transient problems of that sort as
new structures were put into place (I remember, in 1994, days of frustrating
buck passing betwen station operators and train operators as I simply tried
to find out who was responsible for property lost on one particular train -
I never did get back that CCTA digest on writing information system
strategies) but they were transient.  There are still some issues of concern
but I hear of few serious doubts that safety operations are not
co-ordinated.  Jim Reid's points, except for one unreferenced anecdote about
how very junior staff handled a small fire, are simply assertions and
expressions of opinion about what is happening and how the companies
involved are behaving.  The role of the Health and Safety Executive, which
enquires into accidents, is clearly defined in statute.

Non UK readers may also get the impression from Jim Reid that the absence of
ATP is a consequence of cost-paring decisions by private companies.
Clearly, decisions not to install ATP after privatisation are theirs, but
they follow a long history of low investment in the state owned system.
Given the system they bought it is not unreasonable that the new owners
should, in making safety related investments, go for the best value.  If the
statistic quoted by Alastair Scott is valid then new rolling stock might
well be a better investment, both in safety terms and commercially, than
ATP.  Again, Jim Reid's comments on the investment strategies of the new
privatised system are as yet predictions, not descriptions.

Finally, Jim Reid's comments on the ATP/rolling stock choice appear to query
the concept that investment in risk avoidance can reasonably use cost
benefit comparisons.  Well, surely, that is what risk management is all
about?  We all do it individually, and qualitatively, in our decisions on
safety in our homes and cars.  Some people have formal risk management
responsibilities: eg transport operators of all sorts, highway designers,
power operators, air traffic control organisations.  They have limited
investment budgets and are constantly having to balance safety and
commercial considerations in making their choices. They do this
quantitatively and formally and, in the public sector usually on the record
- and have done for decades. Assigning a value to lives potentially saved is
part of this process.  Risk elimination is ideal - but seldom affordable.

Roger Hird                                roger.hird@argonet.co.uk
http://www.argonet.co.uk/users/roger.hird

  [There were many other messages on this subject, e.g., from
    Pete Mellor <pm@csr.city.ac.uk>,
    campbellp@logica.com (Peter Campbell Smith),
    Fieldhouse Dirk <Fieldhouse@logica.com>,
    Paul Smee <P.Smee@Bristol.ac.uk>, and
    Tim Sheen <eng407@abdn.ac.uk>.
  Rather than try to pick out nuggets from each, I have selected
    the following note from Clive D.W. Feather.  Perhaps those
    of you not included will add specific points if there are
    any remaining!  PGN]


Re: London train crash

"Clive D.W. Feather" <Clive@demon.net>
Wed, 21 Aug 1996 10:52:22 +0100
There were two long items in RISKS about this crash. Both, I am afraid,
present a distortion of the facts.

>What happened was that a train from Euston to Milton Keynes with about 400
>passengers on board was travelling North at about 60mph. Another empty
>train, which should have been waiting at a red signal just outside Watford
>Junction, started moving slowly South and crossed over a set of points onto
>the North-bound fast line straight into the path of the fast train.

Given the layout of track here, *if* the signalling was operating
correctly, then this cannot be a correct explanation. The actual layout
is roughly:

    >-----------------------*--------------------------------> NB fast
                             \
    <====================*----*---*--------------------------< SB fast
                          \    A   \
    >----########>+S+++++++*=+=*++++*++++++++++++++++++++++++> NB slow
         Passenger              \
    <----------------------------*========T=<########--------< SB slow
                                 A            Empty

The intended route of the passenger train is shown as ++++, and that of
the empty one as ====.

The important point (sorry) is the pair of points labelled A. These always
move together. If these points were set correctly for the passenger train
and the empty train had passed signal T at Danger, then it would have run
along the slow line and no accident would have occurred. But clearly AA
(which is where the collision happened) was set for the empty train, and the
passenger train passed signal S at Danger.

*IF* the signals were working correctly, then the facts tell us that the
route was set for the empty train, and the passenger train passed a
Danger signal. It is still possible that the empty also passed a Danger
signal, but we can't tell that from the evidence presented so far.

>"Black boxes" were recovered from both crashed trains, and showed that
>signalling and train systems were working properly just before the crash.

In which case the passenger train driver is primarily at fault.

>It was a huge stroke of luck that the collision involved new rolling stock:
>on some other lines carriages are 30 or 40 years old and are of an antique
>"slam-door" design which concertinas in the event of a crash.

Concertinaing, as a problem, was largely eliminated in the 1950s and
1960s. While it is true that these were slam door trains, that is not
relevant to the issues.

>  I have read
>that, of about 70 deaths on the United Kingdom railways in the past 10
>years, all but one have occurred in these older carriages.

Yes. But over half these numbers are due to a *single* event - the double
collision near Clapham Junction. And there it was not concertinaing that
caused the deaths, but the speed of the first collision followed by another
train ploughing through the wreckage. And a good number of those left are
due to people falling out of open doors.  In other words, this statistic
says nothing about the crashworthiness of these trains.

   [Regarding Clapham, please recall an item in RISKS-8.01 from Clive via
   Mark Brader, and another later one in RISKS-8.85 from Jon Jacky.  PGN]

>A number of risks have emerged from the recent crash. The first concerns
>Automatic Train Protection, ATP. This system is claimed to stop any train
>which passes a red signal. It is not used on the British railway network,
>though it is deployed on other European railways. [Apologies to any
>trainspotters for any simplification I've made.] The UK railway companies
>say that ATP is too expensive - it costs too much for each life it saves,
>though how they work that out is beyond me. (Another risk?)

This is actually fairly simple to determine. The costs of complete ATP
installation are known. A record is kept of all accidents and their
causes, and so it is simple to determine how many lives and injuries
would not have happened in (say) the last 20 years if ATP had been
installed at each place. Divide.

> They claim that
>the money required for ATP would be better spent on other safety measures
>like modern, stronger passenger carriages. So, rather than prevent trains
>crashing into each other, they think the best strategy is to let them crash,
>but make the rolling stock safer. (Yet another risk?)

Not all accidents would be prevented by ATP - apart from anything else,
ATP failure is an extra possible *cause* of accidents. The calculation
is more like this (numbers are illustrative, not exact):

    ATP installation costs 400 million pounds and saves 10 lives.
    Anticlimber installation costs 30 million pounds and saves 15 lives.

Which is the better spend ? Especially given that the government has
reneged on its promise to fund ATP.

>The next risk is the absurd way in which Britain's railways are now run
>after privatisation.

Unfortunately all too true.

>For the leasing companies, repainting old trains is more cost
>effective than buying new ones which presumably have better safety features.
>For the operating companies, the cost of leasing is one of the few costs
>they can control. [They can also work their drivers harder, but that will be
>another safety risk.] Thus, they prefer to run old, less safe, trains
>because they are cheaper to lease than new ones.

Not necessarily the case. In particular, the leasing prices were set so
that the cost of old trains was the same as that of new ones; it is
claimed that this will encourage investment in new trains, as operators
will prefer them.

Clive D.W. Feather, Associate Director, Demon Internet Limited


Re: London train crash

<mpoole@uhea904.gb.ec.ps.net>
Wed, 21 Aug 1996 12:27:33 +0100 (BST)
There is one piece of information which does not seem to have made
it into general circulation regarding the crash.

The northbound train (with the passengers) was the 17:04 which left on time.
The preceding northbound train (16:54) was delayed by over 6 minutes which
meant the southbound (empty) train would have been delayed by at least that
in crossing over onto the other line.

Martin Poole, Perot Systems Europe   mpoole@uhea904.gb.ec.ps.net


"Authentication Systems for Secure Networks" by Oppliger

"Rob Slade" <roberts@mukluk.hq.decus.ca>
Tue, 20 Aug 1996 10:24:30 EST
BKAUSFSN.RVW   960608

"Authentication Systems for Secure Networks", Rolf Oppliger, 1996, 0-89006-510-
1
%A   Rolf Oppliger
%C   685 Canton St., Norwood, MA   02062
%D   1996
%G   0-89006-510-1
%I   Artech House/Horizon
%O   617-769-9750 800-225-9977 fax: +1-617-769-6334 artech@world.std.com
%P   186
%T   "Authentication Systems for Secure Networks"

Given the relative scarcity of knowledge about data and communications
security, it seems rather odd to find a security book which comes right out,
first thing, and say that it is not intended to be tutorial.  However,
Oppliger does not spend much time on the basics.  (There is a general
introduction to security terminology and techniques, but only one chapter.)
The emphasis of the book is on the explanation, review, and comparison of
various systems for ensuring the security of communications within a network
over which the security of physical links may be in doubt.

The systems covered include Kerberos, NetSP (Network Security Program), SPX
(Sphinx), TESS (The Exponential Security System), SESAME (Secure European
System for Applications in a Multivendor Environment), and OSF DCE (Open
Software Foundation's Distributed Computing Environment).  Kerberos get the
most space, probably since most of the rest are variously expansions or
refinements of the basic Kerberos concepts.  The examinations are detailed,
although not to the level necessary for implementation, and the overview
looks into individual strengths and weaknesses.  A final chapter does a side
by side comparison of the systems in terms of functions, cryptographic
techniques, standardization, availability, and exportability.

copyright Robert M. Slade, 1996   BKAUSFSN.RVW   960608

roberts@decus.ca           rslade@vcn.bc.ca           rslade@vanisl.decus.ca
Author "Robert Slade's Guide to Computer Viruses" 0-387-94663-2 (800-SPRINGER)

   [For those of you who have not read it, please note the RISKS policy on
   the redistribution of copyrighted materials submitted to RISKS: see
   risks.info or risksinfo.html, cited below.  PGN]

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