XS-Leaks — These are class of vulnerabilities derived from side channel attack. Although browsers have security features like SOP, which prevents access to data of websites from different origin. Browsers support various interactions between different web applications such as embedding a image, loading a sub-resource, postMessage, navigation to different websites etc
XS-Leaks exploit small pieces of information that are exposed during interactions between websites, despite the security mechanisms in place to constrain these behaviors.
XS-Leaks through Error Events — when a website loads a resource from another website using HTML tags like ‘img’ or ‘script’. Depending upon the response status code of the loaded resource ‘onerror’ and ‘onload’ events are triggered, which can inadvertently expose sensitive information.
Vulnerability Summary —
An XS-Leak vulnerability in Skype allows attackers to deanonymize and track users without their knowledge. The attacker can exploit this vulnerability by sending an image attachment to the victim and taking note of the image’s URL. With this information, they can create a malicious website that tries to load the same URL. As only the victim and attacker can access the image, When the victim accesses the website, the ‘onload’ event is triggered, whereas the ‘onerror’ event is triggered for other users. By leveraging this behavior, The attacker can de-anonymize & trace the victim’s online activities without requiring the victim to accept any cookies from the malicious website.
Proof Of Concept —
Proof Of Concept Code —
<html>
<head></head>
<body>
<img src="https://api.asm.skype.com/v1/objects/SECRET/views/imgpsh_fullsize_anim" onload="alert('User Jayateertha Detected !')" onerror="alert('Not User Jayateertha')">
</body>
</html>
Attack Scenario —
Impact —
This vulnerability can be used for deanonymization, which can be especially dangerous in certain contexts. For example, a victim who is accessing sensitive information may be at risk if an attacker can deanonymize them. This vulnerability can also be used to track individuals and their activities online.
For, ex — Victim is visiting a site where cookies are not being used for tracking & he prefers to perform activities anonymously, But the remote website could use this vulnerability to deanonymize victim to his exact Microsoft Skype account as well as track his activities.
This vulnerability can lead to significant privacy concerns for individuals using Skype. Victims may not be aware that their anonymous activity in a website is being tracked down to their Microsoft Skype account.
Fix Suggestions —
Reply From Microsoft —
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