Gone in 2 minutes: Mac gets hacked first in contest

Gone in 2 minutes: Mac gets hacked first in contestCanSecWest's PWN 2 OWN contest was won in 2 minutes --after the rules were relaxed a bit -- as CharlieMiller hacked a MacBook Air

By Robert McMillan, IDG News ServiceMarch 27, 2008

It may be the quickest $10,000 Charlie Miller everearned.

He took the first of three laptop computers -- and a$10,000 cash prize -- Thursday after breaking into aMacBook Air at the CanSecWest security conference'sPWN 2 OWN hacking contest.

Show organizers offered a Sony Vaio, Fujitsu U810, andthe MacBook as prizes, saying that they could be wonby anybody at the show who could find a way to hackinto each of them and read the contents of a file onthe system using a previously the system using a previously undisclosed "0day"attack.

Nobody was able to hack into the systems on the firstday of the contest when contestants were only allowedto attack the computers over the network, but onThursday, the rules were relaxed so that attackerscould direct contest organizers using the computers todo things like visit Web sites or open e-mailmessages.

Miller, best known as one of the researchers who firsthacked Apple's iPhone last year, didn't take muchtime. Within 2 minutes, he directed the contest'sorganizers to visit a Web site that contained hisexploit code, which then allowed him to seize controlof the computer, as about 20 onlookers cheered him on.

He was the first contestant to attempt an attack onany of the systems.

Miller was quickly given a nondisclosure agreement tosign, and he's not allowed to discuss particulars ofhis bug until the contest's sponsor, TippingPoint, cannotify the vendor.

Contest rules state that Miller could only takeadvantage of software that was preinstalled on theMac, so the flaw he exploited must have beenaccessible by, or possibly inside, Apple's Safaribrowser.

Last year's contest winner, Dino Dai Zovi, exploited avulnerability in QuickTime to take home the prize.

Dai Zovi, who congratulated Miller after his hack,didn't participate in this year's contest, saying itwas time for someone else to win.