Valhalla Legends Archive

General => General Discussion => Topic started by: Skywing on September 15, 2003, 09:00 PM

Title: VeriSign redirects ALL nonexistant .com/.net domains to their site
Post by: Skywing on September 15, 2003, 09:00 PM
http://slashdot.org/articles/03/09/16/0034210.shtml?tid=126&tid=95&tid=98&tid=99

Not all DNS servers have realized the change yet.

You can see it yourself by running a query on a.gtld-servers.net.

Basically, all .com/.net domains now "exist" and point to VeriSign.  I don't even want to think about how many things this breaks.

I hope that ICANN revokes their .com/.net registrar status, but it's not going to happen.
Title: Re:VeriSign redirects ALL nonexistant .com/.net domains to their site
Post by: iago on September 15, 2003, 09:13 PM
eew, that's a pain.

I recommend boycotting all DNS servers as a result!
Title: Re:VeriSign redirects ALL nonexistant .com/.net domains to their site
Post by: Skywing on September 15, 2003, 09:25 PM
Quote from: iago on September 15, 2003, 09:13 PM
eew, that's a pain.

I recommend boycotting all DNS servers as a result!
Better and better.  They've got a TOS on their site which disclaims their liability for * and requires you to not use their site if you disagree.  Hmm... I wonder how to not use if if I get sent there for every typo'd domain?

Also fun to note that they're tracking which domains you miss as cookies on their wonderful catch-all...

Just another little update:
VeriSign obfuscates the source of their cookies as from 2o7.net (although they could of course change this to ANY .net or .com to foil blocking attempts).  Their JavaScript code isn't exactly easy to read either.

Anyways, they're then retrieving the obfuscated cookies with a charming 1x1 image: <img
src="http://verisignwildcard.112.2O7.net/b/ss/verisignwildcard/1/G.2-Xpd-S"
height="1" width="1" border="0" />


Here's a snippet of their obfuscated JavaScript:
s_rep(fun,'_','-'),rs='http'+(s_ssl?'s':'')
+'://'+(s_ssl?'102':unc)+'.112.2O7.net/b/ss/'+un+'/'+(s_csss?0:1)+'/G.2-Verisign-S/'
+sess+'?'+'[AQB]&ndh=1'+(q?q:'')+(s_q?s_q:'')+'&[AQE]'


Feeling insecure yet?  Well, their site is also vulnerable to cross-site injection of javascript:  http://sitefinder.verisign.com/lpc?url=asdfasdfljkasdfkjasdfljsadlfkjasdljkfasd.c'om&host=asdfasdfljkasdfkjasdfljsadlfkjasdljkfa'%3E%3Cscript%20language="javascript"%3Ealert(document.cookie);%3C/script%3EEd.com (http://sitefinder.verisign.com/lpc?url=asdfasdfljkasdfkjasdfljsadlfkjasdljkfasd.c'om&host=asdfasdfljkasdfkjasdfljsadlfkjasdljkfa'%3E%3Cscript%20language="javascript"%3Ealert(document.cookie);%3C/script%3EEd.com)

So now literally anybody can use XSS attacks on their charming search page to retrieve all of those wonderfully interesting cookies it collects about which domains you mistype.  (Note that you'll have to work a bit to grab the cookie for 2o7.com).

I'm not normally the conspiracy-theory kind of guy, but this obvious obfuscation of the data they collect is a little bit disturbing, I think?
Title: Re:VeriSign redirects ALL nonexistant .com/.net domains to their site
Post by: j0k3r on September 15, 2003, 09:44 PM
Quote from: Skywing on September 15, 2003, 09:25 PM
Quote from: iago on September 15, 2003, 09:13 PM
eew, that's a pain.

I recommend boycotting all DNS servers as a result!
Better and better.  They've got a TOS on their site which disclaims their liability for * and requires you to not use their site if you disagree.  Hmm... I wonder how to not use if if I get sent there for every typo'd domain?

Also fun to note that they're tracking which domains you miss as cookies on their wonderful catch-all...

Right. That anti-liability claim is a load of bull and they know it, it's impossible not to get re-directed there if you mistype a domain. The cookies are one thing I disagree with (I assume they are part of the TOS), and although had it not been for skywing I would not have known, I wonder how cluttered up people's harddrives will get with cookies (er not harddrive per say, % of total disk alloted(sp?) for cookies).
Title: Re:VeriSign redirects ALL nonexistant .com/.net domains to their site
Post by: iago on September 15, 2003, 09:45 PM
hmm.. is it possible to block the host sitefinder.verisign.net so you get an error page instead of being sent there on a bad url?
Title: Re:VeriSign redirects ALL nonexistant .com/.net domains to their site
Post by: Skywing on September 15, 2003, 09:48 PM
Quote from: iago on September 15, 2003, 09:45 PM
hmm.. is it possible to block the host sitefinder.verisign.net so you get an error page instead of being sent there on a bad url?
You can block its IP address - but there is no guarantee that they won't change it.
Title: Re:VeriSign redirects ALL nonexistant .com/.net domains to their site
Post by: iago on September 15, 2003, 10:02 PM
Can you block their dns, map it to 0.0.0.0 or something?  It uses a dns to display the search page, right?  Even, perhaps, map the ip to www.google.com's ip? :-/
Title: Re:VeriSign redirects ALL nonexistant .com/.net domains to their site
Post by: Skywing on September 15, 2003, 10:39 PM
Quote from: iago on September 15, 2003, 10:02 PM
Can you block their dns, map it to 0.0.0.0 or something?  It uses a dns to display the search page, right?  Even, perhaps, map the ip to www.google.com's ip? :-/
You reach their site via other peoples DNS, though.

Another update: VeriSign is running an SMTP server on their catchall and is pointing mailexchangers for nonexistant domains to it.  Hmm... so, now they get to read your outgoing mail and record your email address if you mistype the domain?
Title: Re:VeriSign redirects ALL nonexistant .com/.net domains to their site
Post by: Eagle of BH on September 16, 2003, 08:01 AM
Could always redirect/map a page using the dns with the windows HOSTS file. Find the dns to the site you want to redirect and put it in the HOSTS file as #.#.#.# <google.com> or something, it will just go there instead of the actual site. If this even has anything to do with what you're talking about.
Title: Re:VeriSign redirects ALL nonexistant .com/.net domains to their site
Post by: Thing on September 16, 2003, 09:19 AM
The easiest solution is to use OpenNIC's public DNS servers to do name resolution.  Go here (http://www.opennic.unrated.net/public_servers.html) and pick a couple of tier 2 servers.  Next, send an email to your ISP and complain.

This was suggested in a response to that Slashdot article.
Title: Re:VeriSign redirects ALL nonexistant .com/.net domains to their site
Post by: iago on September 16, 2003, 07:13 PM
In my hosts file:
216.239.41.99 sitefinder.verisign.com

That way, at least I don't see their page :-)
Title: Re:VeriSign redirects ALL nonexistant .com/.net domains to their site
Post by: K on September 16, 2003, 07:32 PM
VeriSign's controversial "typo-squatting" SiteFinder service is about to be bypassed by an emergency software patch to many of the Internet's backbone computers:

http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,60473,00.html
Title: Re:VeriSign redirects ALL nonexistant .com/.net domains to their site
Post by: iago on September 16, 2003, 08:02 PM
QuoteVeriSign did not respond requests for comment

lol
Title: Re:VeriSign redirects ALL nonexistant .com/.net domains to their site
Post by: UrbalT on September 16, 2003, 08:55 PM
Quote"Whether VeriSign should or should not have done this is not for us to decide. But we have to respond to our customers who are demanding it."

See, capitalism does work out in the end.
Title: Re:VeriSign redirects ALL nonexistant .com/.net domains to their site
Post by: Grok on September 17, 2003, 08:30 PM
I still don't see it happening?  Still getting 404's when typing nonexistent .com and .net domains.
Title: Re:VeriSign redirects ALL nonexistant .com/.net domains to their site
Post by: Skywing on September 18, 2003, 12:52 AM
Quote from: Grok on September 17, 2003, 08:30 PM
I still don't see it happening?  Still getting 404's when typing nonexistent .com and .net domains.
You shouldn't be getting a 404 for that at all - a 404 requires a response from the target server.  Nonexistant domains should result in a different error because the connection cannot be established (or even attempted).
Title: Re:VeriSign redirects ALL nonexistant .com/.net domains to their site
Post by: Skywing on September 18, 2003, 04:02 PM
Now this is a bit interesting.  VeriSign is claiming that "Both individual users and enterprises have been giving very positive feedback [about them hijacking unrecognized .com/.net domains]" (http://news.com.com/2100-1024_3-5078657.html).  I guess they haven't heard that the BIND maintainers thought the problem was urgent enough to write and distribute an emergency patch to block SiteFinder.
Title: Re:VeriSign redirects ALL nonexistant .com/.net domains to their site
Post by: Grok on September 18, 2003, 04:26 PM
Ugh ... it caught up with me and now I see the evil sitefinder.
Title: Re:VeriSign redirects ALL nonexistant .com/.net domains to their site
Post by: Soul Taker on September 19, 2003, 12:42 AM
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/09/19/039214&mode=thread&tid=123&tid=126&tid=95&tid=99
They're getting sued over it.  The case looks like it's actually probably going to be a win, too.
Title: Re:VeriSign redirects ALL nonexistant .com/.net domains to their site
Post by: Skywing on September 19, 2003, 01:12 AM
Quote from: Soul Taker on September 19, 2003, 12:42 AM
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/09/19/039214&mode=thread&tid=123&tid=126&tid=95&tid=99
They're getting sued over it.  The case looks like it's actually probably going to be a win, too.
Yup - IANAL, but they have a pretty compelling argument.
Title: Re:VeriSign redirects ALL nonexistant .com/.net domains to their site
Post by: j0k3r on September 19, 2003, 06:21 AM
Quote from: Grok on September 17, 2003, 08:30 PM
I still don't see it happening?  Still getting 404's when typing nonexistent .com and .net domains.
You can't honestly be complaining about that... Verisign's pages are so ugly and plain it's not funny.

Did you mess with the 404 page or anything Grok?
Title: Re:VeriSign redirects ALL nonexistant .com/.net domains to their site
Post by: Grok on September 19, 2003, 10:21 AM
ICANN needs to stop Verisign, damnit.
Title: Re:VeriSign redirects ALL nonexistant .com/.net domains to their site
Post by: Adron on September 19, 2003, 11:29 AM
Quote from: Soul Taker on September 19, 2003, 12:42 AM
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/09/19/039214&mode=thread&tid=123&tid=126&tid=95&tid=99
They're getting sued over it.  The case looks like it's actually probably going to be a win, too.

Use the url tag so we can click the link!

link (http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/09/19/039214&mode=thread&tid=123&tid=126&tid=95&tid=99)
Title: Re:VeriSign redirects ALL nonexistant .com/.net domains to their site
Post by: Soul Taker on September 19, 2003, 03:09 PM
Never!
Title: Re:VeriSign redirects ALL nonexistant .com/.net domains to their site
Post by: j0k3r on September 20, 2003, 06:36 AM
I have decided to finally post something of use to post...
Beat Verisign redirect! (http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,4149,1274644,00.asp)
Title: Re:VeriSign redirects ALL nonexistant .com/.net domains to their site
Post by: Skywing on September 20, 2003, 11:20 AM
It looks like ICANN is finally taking action against VeriSign (http://www.icann.org/announcements/advisory-19sep03.htm).  However, as of 24 hours later, VeriSign has yet to comply.
Title: Re:VeriSign redirects ALL nonexistant .com/.net domains to their site
Post by: iago on September 20, 2003, 03:12 PM
Quote from: j0k3r on September 20, 2003, 06:36 AM
I have decided to finally post something of use to post...
Beat Verisign redirect! (http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,4149,1274644,00.asp)

Err.. I think that was one of the first things I said:

Quote from: iago on September 16, 2003, 07:13 PM
In my hosts file:
216.239.41.99 sitefinder.verisign.com

That way, at least I don't see their page :-)

Only instead of redirecting it to localhost, it would make more sense to direct it to 0.0.0.0 or, what I did, direct it to google.com :P
Title: Re:VeriSign redirects ALL nonexistant .com/.net domains to their site
Post by: Skywing on October 03, 2003, 10:39 AM
Looks like ICANN is finally taking real action (http://www.icann.org/correspondence/twomey-to-lewis-03oct03.htm) against VeriSign.

ICANN is giving VeriSign until tommorow to undo the .com/.net wildcards, "or else" - it sounds like they're threatening to revoke VeriSign's contract.
Title: Re:VeriSign redirects ALL nonexistant .com/.net domains to their site
Post by: Arta on October 03, 2003, 04:58 PM
Good. I can hardly believe that something this dumb was allowed to happen in the first place...
Title: Re:VeriSign redirects ALL nonexistant .com/.net domains to their site
Post by: Soul Taker on October 03, 2003, 05:19 PM
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/031003/sff057_1.html (http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/031003/sff057_1.html)
"VeriSign Will Temporarily Suspend Web Navigation Service in Order to Continue To Work With Internet Community Towards a Long-Term Implementation"
Title: Re:VeriSign redirects ALL nonexistant .com/.net domains to their site
Post by: Adron on October 03, 2003, 05:22 PM
lol, prnews indeed, verisign's
Title: Re:VeriSign redirects ALL nonexistant .com/.net domains to their site
Post by: Soul Taker on October 03, 2003, 06:00 PM
"Launched September 15, Site Finder provides useful tools for Internet users who mistype a domain name or attempt to connect to a web site that doesn't exist. Instead of receiving a cryptic error message..."
Is it just me or are the error messages about as user-friendly as humanly possible?
Title: Re:VeriSign redirects ALL nonexistant .com/.net domains to their site
Post by: Eibro on October 03, 2003, 07:51 PM
Quote from: Soul Taker on October 03, 2003, 06:00 PM
"Launched September 15, Site Finder provides useful tools for Internet users who mistype a domain name or attempt to connect to a web site that doesn't exist. Instead of receiving a cryptic error message..."
Is it just me or are the error messages about as user-friendly as humanly possible?
It's just you, or the browser you're using. For example, IE tends to beautify error pages received.
Title: Re:VeriSign redirects ALL nonexistant .com/.net domains to their site
Post by: j0k3r on October 03, 2003, 08:41 PM
No, I have to disagree.
Title: Re:VeriSign redirects ALL nonexistant .com/.net domains to their site
Post by: Kp on October 03, 2003, 09:26 PM
Quote from: Soul Taker on October 03, 2003, 06:00 PM
"Launched September 15, Site Finder provides useful tools for Internet users who mistype a domain name or attempt to connect to a web site that doesn't exist. Instead of receiving a cryptic error message..."
Is it just me or are the error messages about as user-friendly as humanly possible?
My programs all found NXDOMAIN to be far more informative than SiteFinder's IP address.  Now that they're coded to know that receiving the latter should be treated as the former, everything's fine again.  SiteFinder doesn't exist for me, but that's no loss.
Title: Re:VeriSign redirects ALL nonexistant .com/.net domains to their site
Post by: Naem on October 06, 2003, 02:29 AM
http://news.mcmedia.com.au/story.asp?TakeNo=199910062086395

Verisign removes redirect service


October 6 2003
Shepparton News


VeriSign has shelved its controversial redirect service after an ultimatum from the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN).

Misspelled or non-existent .com and .net Internet addresses were redirected to a Verisign site under the service, which drew heavy criticism from across the Internet.

It was argued the service disrupted email and other applications, and hurt the ability of Internet service providers to block spam from addresses that did not exist.

ICANN demanded the Verisign redirects be removed by October 4.

"Failure to comply with this demand by that time will leave ICANN with no choice but to seek promptly to enforce VeriSign's contractual obligations," ICANN said.

Title: Re:VeriSign redirects ALL nonexistant .com/.net domains to their site
Post by: j0k3r on October 06, 2003, 06:39 AM
w000000t! Celebration time!
Title: Re:VeriSign redirects ALL nonexistant .com/.net domains to their site
Post by: Yoni on October 06, 2003, 07:49 PM
Well... That was satisfactorily short-lived.
Title: Re:VeriSign redirects ALL nonexistant .com/.net domains to their site
Post by: Banana fanna fo fanna on October 06, 2003, 09:23 PM
It's not over yet.