Bugtraq mailing list archives
Re: Trillian weakly encrypts saved passwords
From: Mike Benham <moxie () thoughtcrime org>
Date: Mon, 9 Sep 2002 11:29:14 -0700 (PDT)
I think you'll find that there isn't really a secure way to store passwords locally. I think Trillian has done the right thing here by obfuscating saved passwords to prevent casual shoulder-surfing. Trillian could use PBKDF2 to save the passwords locally, but then you'd have to enter a password to retrieve your saved password. If you have reason to worry about the security of your saved password, don't save it. - Mike -- http://www.thoughtcrime.org On Mon, 9 Sep 2002, Evan Nemerson wrote:
Software: Trillian 0.73, possibly other versions. Issue: Weak "encryption" of saved passwords. Impact: Decryption of saved passwords. Vendor notified: 3 Sept., 2002. No response. Severity: Medium. ish. The program only works locally, and only if the subject has saved their password, and really if someone can get into your AIM account, how earth-shattering is that??? However, since a lot of people use the same password for everything... --------------------- Trillian is, according to trillian.cc, "...everything you need for instant messaging. Connect to ICQ?, AOL Instant Messenger(SM), MSN Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger and IRC in a single, sleek and slim interface." Upon examination of the Trillian directory (which defaults to C:\Program Files\Trillian\ ), it appears that passwords are stored in ini files that are located in {Path to Trillian}\users\{WindowsLogon}. The passwords are encrypted using a simple XOR with a key apparently uniform throughout every installation. The attached program takes, as command line argument(s), path(s) to these INI files. It will then display a list of usernames, "encrypted" passwords, and plaintext passwords. Evan Nemerson enemerson () coeus-group com http://www.coeus-group.com
Current thread:
- Trillian weakly encrypts saved passwords Evan Nemerson (Sep 09)
- RE: Trillian weakly encrypts saved passwords Brenna Primrose (Sep 09)
- Re: Trillian weakly encrypts saved passwords Mike Benham (Sep 09)
- Re: Trillian weakly encrypts saved passwords jelmer (Sep 10)