A specific application can be anything from a video game to a web server. Masters can write these
programs or they could be written by amateurs, one is never quite sure. For every operating system there is
a user with a different set of needs, so application vulnerabilities typically don’t affect everybody.
However, this doesn’t mean millions of people still cannot be effected (consider a flaw in Microsoft
Internet Explorer, and how many people that would effect.)
Flaws in applications, like flaws in operating systems, are of the highest speed of execution but require a
more personalized touch than does straight operating system vulnerabilities. Sometimes the flaw might not
manifest itself until a condition of use occurs, making actual automation difficult. However, the critical
interaction required by the attacker is locating specifically which computers run the targeted application.
Here is an example of an application (in this case, the LARN game that comes bundled with many versions
of the BSD operating system), programmed accidentally with a vulnerability, that allows administrator
access to the host.
Sample Vulnerability [LARN bug, Discoverer: Snocrash, BSD 4.4]
If a person scores 263 point in larn, it causes the system to
mail the user. The process of mailing the user causes a
potential IFS vulnerability which can be used to exploit root
access.
This attack is not “instant” although this particular example was meant to show that non-automated
situations do exist. Keep in mind that the Vulnerability Map is an approximation of expected time and
interaction.
download free vulnerability book