cww.blog!

I have a really nasty homework assignment for my computer security class right now. We were given the source code for two programs: a server that performs a trivial operation and a client that requests that the server perform that operation. By analyzing the source code for the server program but not changing it, we are to modify the client program to exploit any one weakness we find in the server program. The end result must be that the client will actually be able to steal any file from anywhere on the server computer.

The difficulty is in finding the weakness(es). We were told there is at least one buffer overflow problem in the server code, and there is a format-string violation that we can exploit for extra credit. So far, all I've been able to do has been to clean up the code. It was so poorly written, I couldn't even really figure out what was going on. Anyway, once I find the weakness(es), modifying the client to exploit them should be a breeze.

Because I'm going to Washington Thursday morning, I have less than 2.5 days to do this. It's due next Monday at 4:30. Ugh.

Oh, and Katy, Tristram, and Jay are all eating sushi on the south side right now. Grrrr.