IDNetters Forums

Technical News & Discussion => Broadband, Internet & General Computer News & Discussion => Topic started by: Gary on Jul 25, 2008, 11:22:52

Title: World's biggest ISPs drag feet on critical DNS patch
Post by: Gary on Jul 25, 2008, 11:22:52
"More than two weeks after security researchers warned of a critical defect in the net's address lookup system, some of the world's biggest internet service providers - including AT&T, BT, Time Warner and Bell Canada - have yet to install a patch inoculating their subscribers against attacks" And in the wild attacks are now taking place for this exploit, Ah that lovely safe and warm feeling massive corporations give when they just do not care, but smile and pretend.

Story here http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/07/25/isps_slow_to_patch/

  You can check your DNS here to see if its safe http://www.doxpara.com/ Just press the "Check my DNS button" O2/BE came out safe thankfully for me :)
Title: Re: World's biggest ISPs drag feet on critical DNS patch
Post by: Rik on Jul 25, 2008, 11:25:57
We appear to be OK.
Title: Re: World's biggest ISPs drag feet on critical DNS patch
Post by: Gary on Jul 25, 2008, 11:30:15
Quote from: Rik on Jul 25, 2008, 11:25:57
We appear to be OK.
Thats good Rik, the list of providers not patched is pretty much all the major players
Title: Re: World's biggest ISPs drag feet on critical DNS patch
Post by: Rik on Jul 25, 2008, 11:32:20
No surprises there, then. :(
Title: Re: World's biggest ISPs drag feet on critical DNS patch
Post by: Inactive on Jul 25, 2008, 11:34:40
I bet I could name them....  ;D
Title: Re: World's biggest ISPs drag feet on critical DNS patch
Post by: Gary on Jul 25, 2008, 11:46:43
Quote from: Inactive on Jul 25, 2008, 11:34:40
I bet I could name them....  ;D
Click the El Reg link and you can see them, In :) but you would be right  ;D
Title: Re: World's biggest ISPs drag feet on critical DNS patch
Post by: Sebby on Jul 25, 2008, 13:35:44
Quote from: Rik on Jul 25, 2008, 11:25:57
We appear to be OK.

:phew:
Title: Re: World's biggest ISPs drag feet on critical DNS patch
Post by: Noreen on Jul 25, 2008, 18:28:22
Quote from: Killhippie on Jul 25, 2008, 11:22:52
"More than two weeks after security researchers warned of a critical defect in the net's address lookup system, some of the world's biggest internet service providers - including AT&T, BT, Time Warner and Bell Canada - have yet to install a patch inoculating their subscribers against attacks" And in the wild attacks are now taking place for this exploit, Ah that lovely safe and warm feeling massive corporations give when they just do not care, but smile and pretend.

Story here http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/07/25/isps_slow_to_patch/
According to an update on your link BT are not among "the usual suspects".
Title: Re: World's biggest ISPs drag feet on critical DNS patch
Post by: Rik on Jul 25, 2008, 18:30:06
That makes a change, Noreen. ;)
Title: Re: World's biggest ISPs drag feet on critical DNS patch
Post by: Gary on Jul 26, 2008, 08:09:15
Quote from: Rik on Jul 25, 2008, 18:30:06
That makes a change, Noreen. ;)
Probably want to make sure there are no issues with Phorm, having dns redirected would ruin the plotting of users personal browsing habits >:D
Title: Re: World's biggest ISPs drag feet on critical DNS patch
Post by: somanyholes on Jul 28, 2008, 07:50:45
another tester

https://www.dns-oarc.net/
Title: Re: World's biggest ISPs drag feet on critical DNS patch
Post by: Gary on Jul 28, 2008, 08:14:12
Got a big green Great on all tests :thumb:
Title: Re: World's biggest ISPs drag feet on critical DNS patch
Post by: Rik on Jul 28, 2008, 09:18:58
Two greats. Thanks, So.  :thumb: :karma:
Title: Re: World's biggest ISPs drag feet on critical DNS patch
Post by: Noreen on Jul 28, 2008, 10:57:09
Four "Greats"  ;D
Title: Re: World's biggest ISPs drag feet on critical DNS patch
Post by: Simon on Jul 28, 2008, 15:44:40
Six Greats!  ;D
Title: Re: World's biggest ISPs drag feet on critical DNS patch
Post by: Sebby on Jul 28, 2008, 18:52:00
:yes:
Title: Re: World's biggest ISPs drag feet on critical DNS patch
Post by: Gary on Jul 29, 2008, 11:08:49
I wonder why some got more green greats than others on the same network, router maybe? Exclude me I'm on be/o2 but Rik got two and Noreen 4 and Simon 6 ???
Title: Re: World's biggest ISPs drag feet on critical DNS patch
Post by: Inactive on Jul 29, 2008, 11:14:10
I thought that they were just adding each " 2 " on to the previous total Gary..????
Title: Re: World's biggest ISPs drag feet on critical DNS patch
Post by: Simon on Jul 29, 2008, 11:21:50
Quote from: Inactive on Jul 29, 2008, 11:14:10
I thought that they were just adding each " 2 " on to the previous total Gary..????

Yes, that's what I was doing.  I got 2.  Sorry for the confusion!   :blush:
Title: Re: World's biggest ISPs drag feet on critical DNS patch
Post by: Gary on Jul 29, 2008, 11:22:00
Quote from: Inactive on Jul 29, 2008, 11:14:10
I thought that they were just adding each " 2 " on to the previous total Gary..????
I got six greats straight off in ??? that's why I was confused, ill re-check
*edit I got six greats on the page  ???, different set ups and ISP I guess
Title: Re: World's biggest ISPs drag feet on critical DNS patch
Post by: somanyholes on Jul 29, 2008, 11:40:36
It looks like it might be down to the amount of nameservers you have specified which could be 1 or 2 or 3

each nameserver has two tests made against it

source port and transaction id
Title: Re: World's biggest ISPs drag feet on critical DNS patch
Post by: Noreen on Jul 29, 2008, 11:40:47
I wondered about that too, Gary. I really did get four. Netgear router on IDNet.
Title: Re: World's biggest ISPs drag feet on critical DNS patch
Post by: somanyholes on Jul 29, 2008, 11:46:47
four would be what i would expect to see.

We normally use two nameservers, which would result in 4 results. Not many people use a 3rd nameserver
Title: Re: World's biggest ISPs drag feet on critical DNS patch
Post by: Gary on Jul 29, 2008, 11:55:45
I got 6 but maybe as its adsl2+ its different for me ??? still odd that simon and Rik got 2, so. I'm on a netgear DG834G v4 maybe its because they use 2wire routers
Title: Re: World's biggest ISPs drag feet on critical DNS patch
Post by: somanyholes on Jul 29, 2008, 12:03:40
how many nameservers does it list at the top of the page?
Title: Re: World's biggest ISPs drag feet on critical DNS patch
Post by: Gary on Jul 29, 2008, 12:21:51
Quote from: somanyholes on Jul 29, 2008, 12:03:40
how many nameservers does it list at the top of the page?
Three
Title: Re: World's biggest ISPs drag feet on critical DNS patch
Post by: somanyholes on Jul 29, 2008, 12:28:05
that explains it then :)

either you have inputted three name servers or the idnet system have supplied you with them automatically to your router.
Title: Re: World's biggest ISPs drag feet on critical DNS patch
Post by: Inactive on Jul 29, 2008, 12:30:19
I got 2 " greats " with one thingie at the top. ;)

I have another one in my living room, oh no, that is grate..  ;D ( as in fireplace ). ;)
Title: Re: World's biggest ISPs drag feet on critical DNS patch
Post by: Gary on Jul 29, 2008, 12:30:39
Quote from: somanyholes on Jul 29, 2008, 12:28:05
that explains it then :)

either you have inputted three name servers or the idnet system have supplied you with them automatically to your router.
I am with O2/Be, So. So maybe they use three nameservers
Title: Re: World's biggest ISPs drag feet on critical DNS patch
Post by: Gary on Jul 29, 2008, 12:31:32
Quote from: Inactive on Jul 29, 2008, 12:30:19
I got 2 " greats " with one thingie at the top. ;)

I have another one in my living room, oh no, that is grate..  ;D ( as in fireplace ). ;)
:grn:
Title: Re: World's biggest ISPs drag feet on critical DNS patch
Post by: somanyholes on Jul 29, 2008, 12:35:11
QuoteI am with O2/Be, So. So maybe they use three nameservers

Forgot about that Kill ... All makes sense now :)
Title: Re: World's biggest ISPs drag feet on critical DNS patch
Post by: Gary on Jul 29, 2008, 12:56:08
Quote from: somanyholes on Jul 29, 2008, 12:35:11
Forgot about that Kill ... All makes sense now :)
Enlighten Me, So  ;D
Title: Re: World's biggest ISPs drag feet on critical DNS patch
Post by: somanyholes on Jul 29, 2008, 13:07:57
Each nameserver you have has two tests run against it (port and transaction id). So if you have 3 nameservers to use. it would provide 6 tests.

Idnet seems to use 2 nameservers hence why most people get 4 tests done against them. Make sense?
Title: Re: World's biggest ISPs drag feet on critical DNS patch
Post by: Rik on Jul 29, 2008, 13:08:49
Any idea why I only ever get one nameserver tested, So?
Title: Re: World's biggest ISPs drag feet on critical DNS patch
Post by: Gary on Jul 29, 2008, 13:10:33
Quote from: somanyholes on Jul 29, 2008, 13:07:57
Each nameserver you have has two tests run against it (port and transaction id). So if you have 3 nameservers to use. it would provide 6 tests.

Idnet seems to use 2 nameservers hence why most people get 4 tests done against them. Make sense?
I just thought you knew why o2/be used three nameservers, So ;D How come Rik got 2 then if Idnet use 2 ??? as he just asked  ;) to quick is Rik
Title: Re: World's biggest ISPs drag feet on critical DNS patch
Post by: Rik on Jul 29, 2008, 13:11:46
It only ever tests one per visit, Gary, which may be a function of the way Windows does DNS?
Title: Re: World's biggest ISPs drag feet on critical DNS patch
Post by: Gary on Jul 29, 2008, 13:13:24
If it only tests one per visit how come all three were tested on mine, each time ??? Sorry the meds have kicked in so I many now be dumber than usual ;D
Title: Re: World's biggest ISPs drag feet on critical DNS patch
Post by: somanyholes on Jul 29, 2008, 13:16:44
the more dns servers you have, the more redundancy you have in your network.hence why 3 nameservers are no bad thing.

Rik is your dns set locally on your machines or are they set on your router?
Title: Re: World's biggest ISPs drag feet on critical DNS patch
Post by: Rik on Jul 29, 2008, 14:29:54
Router to pick them up automatically, So.
Title: Re: World's biggest ISPs drag feet on critical DNS patch
Post by: somanyholes on Jul 29, 2008, 14:48:14
and how many does your router pickup?
Title: Re: World's biggest ISPs drag feet on critical DNS patch
Post by: Rik on Jul 29, 2008, 14:51:16
Two. Though Simon D did explain to me that Windows uses them turn and turn about, so whether that has an influence on the test I don't know.
Title: Re: World's biggest ISPs drag feet on critical DNS patch
Post by: somanyholes on Jul 29, 2008, 15:36:09
if you only have the routers ip in your windows ip config for dns that sounds about right. Is that the same for you kill?
Title: Re: World's biggest ISPs drag feet on critical DNS patch
Post by: Rik on Jul 29, 2008, 15:37:39
I do, So.
Title: Re: World's biggest ISPs drag feet on critical DNS patch
Post by: Gary on Jul 29, 2008, 18:50:30

[/quote]Thats the same for me, So
Quote from: somanyholes on Jul 29, 2008, 15:36:09
if you only have the routers ip in your windows ip config for dns that sounds about right. Is that the same for you kill?
Same here, So.
Title: Re: World's biggest ISPs drag feet on critical DNS patch
Post by: esh on Aug 07, 2008, 01:08:08
I think this whole DNS patch thing got a little over-hyped. I always find it interesting how some bugs just sail past and others are everywhere in the media. That said, patching BIND is no mean feat, especially for large DNS providers. It's not just a config reload, you have to actually restart the service, and loading in the configs on some of those large servers takes a surprisingly large amount of time. The counter-argument of course is that in such scenarios you almost invariably have more than one server and hence patch one at a time, but there's still the usual "if it ain't broke..." attitude. Most responsible admins will likely patch in the next reasonable amount of downtime. It does bring to the foreground the issue of how the internet is built on several layers of trust you rarely think about -- is wikipedia.org resolving to the real site? You always assume so.

I will admit now that my DNS server is not patched (yet!), but it's internal only ... ;)
Title: Re: World's biggest ISPs drag feet on critical DNS patch
Post by: Gary on Aug 07, 2008, 07:51:58
Quote from: esh on Aug 07, 2008, 01:08:08
I think this whole DNS patch thing got a little over-hyped. I always find it interesting how some bugs just sail past and others are everywhere in the media. That said, patching BIND is no mean feat, especially for large DNS providers. It's not just a config reload, you have to actually restart the service, and loading in the configs on some of those large servers takes a surprisingly large amount of time. The counter-argument of course is that in such scenarios you almost invariably have more than one server and hence patch one at a time, but there's still the usual "if it ain't broke..." attitude. Most responsible admins will likely patch in the next reasonable amount of downtime. It does bring to the foreground the issue of how the internet is built on several layers of trust you rarely think about -- is wikipedia.org resolving to the real site? You always assume so.

I will admit now that my DNS server is not patched (yet!), but it's internal only ... ;)
What you say makes sense, but how come some ISP's did the patching ahead of schedule (they all knew about the issue) while others seem to have not yet bothered but had plenty of time to patch, now their are active exploits so it does smack of later when we can be bothered, and Orange, CPW etc are not known for working to fix issues on their networks fast anyway, have you ever used their DNS servers? Sadly I have had to on friends machines and resolving an address can take long enough to pop out to France have a massive shopping spree, come back cook a three course meal, go to bed wake up and voilĂ   you can log into your favourite site  >:D
Title: Re: World's biggest ISPs drag feet on critical DNS patch
Post by: somanyholes on Aug 07, 2008, 09:13:12
a few things that maybe of interest.

Some home routers are vulnerable to these attacks as well. For example the wrt54g routers that perform caching can be attacked.

Internal dns servers can still be easily abused. For example if your wired or wireless infrastructure gets hacked is some fashion attacking the internal dns servers means they can control your entire lan in no time at all.

Regardless of all the patching that is going on the dns servers are still vulnerable, instead of minutes to attack, it may take a few hours instead, so it's still not much of a problem. See here. http://www.securebits.org/dnsmre.html
Title: Re: World's biggest ISPs drag feet on critical DNS patch
Post by: Rik on Aug 07, 2008, 09:49:08
That's right, So, cheer us up. ;)
Title: Re: World's biggest ISPs drag feet on critical DNS patch
Post by: somanyholes on Aug 07, 2008, 09:49:46
i aim to please ;)
Title: Re: World's biggest ISPs drag feet on critical DNS patch
Post by: Rik on Aug 07, 2008, 09:50:06
 :lol:
Title: Re: World's biggest ISPs drag feet on critical DNS patch
Post by: Gary on Aug 07, 2008, 10:20:24
Ok im selling my pc and getting a years supply of sedatives to cope with the boredom :bawl:
Title: Re: World's biggest ISPs drag feet on critical DNS patch
Post by: somanyholes on Aug 08, 2008, 21:46:20
dns server patching video.. worldwide

http://security4all.blogspot.com/2008/08/dns-patching-video-watch-how-fast-dns.html
Title: Re: World's biggest ISPs drag feet on critical DNS patch
Post by: Rik on Aug 09, 2008, 09:54:53
Fascinating. The US seemed very slow to respond.
Title: Re: World's biggest ISPs drag feet on critical DNS patch
Post by: Gary on Aug 09, 2008, 10:18:16
Quote from: Rik on Aug 09, 2008, 09:54:53
Fascinating. The US seemed very slow to respond.
Its hard to move fast with a shake and a burger in your hand, Rik :whistle:
Title: Re: World's biggest ISPs drag feet on critical DNS patch
Post by: Rik on Aug 09, 2008, 10:21:02
Oh, I don't know, Gary. ;) :out:
Title: Re: World's biggest ISPs drag feet on critical DNS patch
Post by: Gary on Aug 09, 2008, 10:26:00
Quote from: Rik on Aug 09, 2008, 10:21:02
Oh, I don't know, Gary. ;) :out:
:rofl: :karmic:
Title: Re: World's biggest ISPs drag feet on critical DNS patch
Post by: Gary on Aug 09, 2008, 10:27:23
Quote from: Rik on Aug 09, 2008, 10:21:02
Oh, I don't know, Gary. ;) :out:
Well it is fast food, Rik, So maybe it does help ;)
Title: Re: World's biggest ISPs drag feet on critical DNS patch
Post by: Rik on Aug 09, 2008, 10:28:56
At some point in the digestive cycle, anyway. :)
Title: Re: World's biggest ISPs drag feet on critical DNS patch
Post by: Gary on Aug 09, 2008, 10:29:40
Quote from: Rik on Aug 09, 2008, 10:28:56
At some point in the digestive cycle, anyway. :)
:tmi:
Title: Re: World's biggest ISPs drag feet on critical DNS patch
Post by: Sebby on Aug 09, 2008, 12:49:58
Quote from: Killhippie on Aug 09, 2008, 10:18:16
Its hard to move fast with a shake and a burger in your hand, Rik :whistle:

I wouldn't know. :P
Title: Re: World's biggest ISPs drag feet on critical DNS patch
Post by: Gary on Aug 09, 2008, 13:28:46
Quote from: Sebby on Aug 09, 2008, 12:49:58
I wouldn't know. :P
I just don't move fast Sebby :laugh:
Title: Re: World's biggest ISPs drag feet on critical DNS patch
Post by: esh on Aug 09, 2008, 18:07:17
Looks like someone wrote some exploit code to get around the patch. Takes a lot longer now for it to work, but you know what they say, persistence is all!
Title: Re: World's biggest ISPs drag feet on critical DNS patch
Post by: Rik on Aug 09, 2008, 18:10:51
Once more we enter the cycle of measure and counter-measure. Life used to be simpler. ;)
Title: Re: World's biggest ISPs drag feet on critical DNS patch
Post by: esh on Aug 09, 2008, 18:14:36
Back to using /etc/hosts then? :)
Title: Re: World's biggest ISPs drag feet on critical DNS patch
Post by: Rik on Aug 09, 2008, 18:16:07
I was thinking more of carrier pigeons. ;D
Title: Re: World's biggest ISPs drag feet on critical DNS patch
Post by: XR219 on Aug 19, 2008, 22:21:10
There is an RFC for IP via carrier pigeon... http://rfc.net/rfc2549.html  :D

Always best to use Open DNS for your DNS servers, much better than any ISP's  :thumb:
Title: Re: World's biggest ISPs drag feet on critical DNS patch
Post by: Sebby on Aug 23, 2008, 11:06:44
I was using OpenDNS for quite a while, then I reverted back to IDNet's and pages seemed to load much quicker. I'm not sure there's a lot in it if your ISP has good DNS', which I think IDNet do. :)