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We recently went through an external pentest simulating a hostile actor with inside information. We had 2 weeks to prepare and successfully defended against tim
by e1g 9y ago
We recently went through an external pentest simulating a hostile actor with inside information. We had 2 weeks to prepare and successfully defended against timing attacks, DDoS attempts, identity spoofs, request modifications, script injections etc. Passed with flying colors... except for CSV/Excel injection. Everyone looked at each other with the sheepish embarrassment of being pwned by a script kiddie. This was a total blind spot indeed, even after we reviewed every other user I/O.
- captn3m0 9y agoWere you generating CSVs or importing them?
- e1g 9y agoGenerating CSV/Excel extracts, which included the user's first name and feedback comments verbatim - thus creating 2 injection points for malicious formulas.
- f00_ 9y ago>defend against DDoS but not sanitizing user input >calling a pentested a script kiddie welp, my work is done here
- e1g 9y agoI wrote "script kiddie" as a way to describe the relative complexity of this attack vector - I was highly impressed with the pentest process, and think it's one of the smartest things we did this quarter. Filtering user inputs is security 101, yet we missed this while focusing on fancy defense mechanics. This large gap between what the engineering team prepared for, and how they were exposed, is what made the outcome "embarrassing" - hence I agreed with GP that CSV/Excel stuff could be a blind spot even for well-trained people.
- f00_ 9y agofor sure, I think i'm just sensitive to the use of script kiddie haha Atleast you're thinking about it, company I work for definitely prioritizes freedom over security if you know what i mean