Major ICQ security hole (1998)

(opennet.ru)

43 points | by sysoleg 3 days ago ago

22 comments

  • compass_copium 3 hours ago

    >When a password of 9 or more characters is sent, their buffer is over-run, and it allows you to log in.

    Man, computers used to be fun

    • mingus88 2 hours ago

      It really was a fun time. I remember sitting in a coffee shop just sniffing WiFi traffic.

      A friend was a reporter for the local paper and interviewed the mayor. I turned my laptop around and showed my friend the mayors imap password. Just right there floating through the air.

    • nubinetwork 2 hours ago

      Unix crypt only accepted 8 characters and ignored the rest. If your password was 123456789, it was considered the same as 12345678a.

      • a_bonobo an hour ago

        For local LAN play, Half-Life checked the CD key only for length I believe? It would happily accept 1234-56789-0123

    • saadn92 2 hours ago

      Yep, now everything is done through agents unfortunately.

  • SillyUsername 3 days ago

    So this is how my low numbered account was stolen back in the day - thanks for sharing.

    • orbital-decay 2 hours ago

      My UIN was merely 7-digit and when it got hacked the guy just logged in, chatted with my friends about random things, and left. I only found out because they were puzzled by "me" talking weird.

    • rashkov 3 hours ago

      Can’t believe I still remember my ICQ id

      • giantrobot an hour ago

        Mine is seared into my brain. It's also cheating a bit because it's only six digits.

      • gersonazgo 2 hours ago

        I read your comment and realized I also do haha lol lfmao rofl

    • aussieguy1234 2 hours ago

      If it happened to me, my next move would be to steal it back

  • waltbosz 2 hours ago

    AOL Instant Messenger had several remote code execution exploits. They worked just by sending an IM to someone. You could also crash their computer remotely, or maybe it would just create their client.

    Also their stored password encryption algorithm was easily reversible.

    • camcil an hour ago

      The AIM days are one for the books. What a time to be alive and interested in computerin'

    • jonhohle an hour ago

      Wasn’t that how audio avatars worked (not by crashing, but ACr)? What a time to be alive.

      • waltbosz 31 minutes ago

        Don't know how they worked, but what you did to create one was rename a .wav to a .jpg .gif .bmp .etc

  • mannycalavera42 3 hours ago

    Tooooooooooooooooooooooooot! (startup jingle, good mems)

  • taspeotis 3 hours ago

    Rewrite it in Rust

    • Teknomadix an hour ago

      Ask an agent to rewrite it in Rust. #ftfy

  • chuckhend 3 hours ago

    Uh oh!

    • pavel_lishin an hour ago

      There are some point of sales systems that use the same sound effect, and every time it's like I'm teleported back to the 90s, sitting in my room with a pepsi, browsing the web and chattin' with friends.

    • tehlike an hour ago

      Incoming file transfer

      • stavros an hour ago

        Oh god this instantly took me back to my the way teenage years' room felt and smelled.