HTML Frames Considered Harmful 104
DLWormwood writes "Secunia has recently issued yet another advisory about web browser vulnerabilities, this time concerning the use of frames in web pages. Originally discovered to be in Internet Explorer, the security experts apparently worked overtime just to make sure the same "flaw" is found in just about every other browser out there. Doesn't this notice simply complain about a specified design feature of frames? (Note their official "advice": "Do not visit or follow links from untrusted websites.")"
Frames are evil, anyway (Score:5, Insightful)
Since when was this news?!
Frames are evil. Frames supposedly make the webdesigners job easier, but they cause an increased maintenance overhead. Frames supposedly creates a better interface to a website for the end-user, but they cause severe usability problems.
Its common to see frames abused by newbies in implementing a left-hand menu and top banner layout with the mistaken belief its easier to maintain and makes downloading quicker. There are numerous problems this implementation raises typically related to the paradox it creates.
To make-up for the usability deficiencies, many framed websites use some client-side techniques which cause further maintenance nightmares. There is a definite usability versus maintenance trade-off with frames, which make it a difficult technology to manage well. The alternatives available have none of these drawbacks, thus frames are a sub-optimal, and typically backward solution.
Most of this "usability"-hacking of framed websites results in a complete dependancy on Javascript - another evil. Considering the on-going problems related to Windows lax security model (in the OS, Outlook and Internet Explorer) and the exponential growth of scripted worms and viruses (Melissa, Love Bug, Kornikova, SirCam, Code Red, Code Red II, Code Blue, Nimda), this convinces a greater number of surfers switching off Javascript entirely, which in turn causes a framed and scripted site to die a rather horrible death in the browser.
Re:Frames are evil, anyway (Score:4, Insightful)
However, you are right bout the need for usuability hacks with frames, just getting the back button to work right is a real pain. But, I disagree about JavaScript being 'Evil', it's a tool which is particularly well suited for client side actions. I have used JavaScript recently to re-order a list rather than redoing the query, it's much faster than any of the alternatives. If you want to surf the net with JavaScipt turned off, that's your business. Now I avoid frames, unless I am told that is how it will be, but JavaScript is still very useful, especially combined with CSS (aka DHTML)
The "lax" windows security model and the viruses you mention may be issues, but they have nothing to do with this issue. It's like saying: "Becuase of the war in Iraq, and the growth of fungus, You should only have salad at McDonalds', because it's better for you, QED."
Re:Frames are evil, anyway (Score:2)
Ubiquiness? (Score:1)
Re:Ubiquiness??? -- Perfectly Cromulent ! (Score:2)
Re:Ubiquiness??? -- Perfectly Cromulent ! (Score:1)
Re:Frames are evil, anyway (Score:4, Insightful)
It might seem useless, but the simple fact that frames can be resized does suit most needs. Users can decide which section of the content is most useful to them. A common usage is when the users actually need to compare documents. Having both side by side can be nice.
Just imagine Java's documentation without the frameset, it would really be a pain to search in. The class list is very long to load, and I'm quite happy they didn't simply include it in all pages.
Frames are not evil, neither is JavaScript, it just depends on how it's used. Using frames for a menu is not a good thing, and using frames for a banner is simply worst. Those kind of usage really gave frames a bad reputation because they simply reduce the amount of usable space on the monitor. JavaScript used for pop-ups or ugly 'eye-candy' stuff really also is an error, but JavaScript can enable some real dynamism in a form and actually allow to save a lot of time in the processing. Isn't filling country, state and city automatically nice when a user enters a zip code?
There used to be problems with JavaScript and browser compatibility, but it's not that bad anymore. Of course, IE simply won't support everything, but there are always workarounds.
Really, those things are only evil if you're a designer. When you need to build an application that people will actually use and need to be productive, you need to look over those things to see if they could make the entire application better. Just don't abuse.
Re:Frames are evil, anyway (Score:2)
Show me a site that does this via JavaScript? The Zipcode database is HUGE, and I doubt anyone is downloading the whole thing on pageload just to auto fill in City/State via Zip.
Don't get me wrong, I love JavaScipt (used right), and I think it really gets a bad wrap because of the pop-up issue.
Re:Frames are evil, anyway (Score:2, Informative)
I'll just use an example from Frank Boumphrey (Source: http://conf.phpquebec.org/main.php/en/cdrom2004/s e ssion#3), this system was used for an hospital, only the local/frequent zip codes were sent to the client in the first place. Once again, this was for an internal application, but it can really apply anywhere.
If sending the entire list is not an option, it's still possible to get the page to go fetch the inf
Re:Frames are evil, anyway (Score:2)
Frames are evil.
Of course, but I think the notion that a "trusted" security site finds technology from the last millenium to be "newsworthy" to be newsworthy itself, if for no other reason than for /.'ers to ruthlessly mock them.
Seriously, though, I posted this because I was starting to notice this meme drifting through the Mac websphere (of all places!) about the non-IE version of the flaw. I wanted to "out" the fact that this affected/effected/qffected IE as well before the Mi
Re:Frames are evil, anyway (Score:2, Interesting)
Umm, that's not a mistaken belief. In fact, you'd have to try really REALLY hard to make it not true. I get sick of sites wiping the entire screen only to reload the exact same HTML for their "menu" every time you open a different option. Frames are not evil unless the user is an idiot, and a huge portion of internet users are still using 56k or slower modems.
I get really sick of this, actually. One usability expert says frames are bad because
Re:Frames are evil, anyway (Score:2)
Re:Frames are evil, anyway (Score:2)
And don't just say "use PHP"; there are lots of situations in which PHP is not a practical option.
Re:Frames are evil, anyway (Score:2)
Re:Frames are evil, anyway (Score:2)
Personally, I use either a PHP include file, or an ASP one, depending on the set-up of the webserver - but a simple SSI in a
no posts, already slashdotted (Score:3, Funny)
Parent-child window links (Score:5, Interesting)
The idea up throwing up dialogs really predates the need to provide a trusted interface to the user.
Re:Parent-child window links (Score:2)
Re:Parent-child window links (Score:2)
Well, not often, but I should be able to get trusted password dialogs.
Re:Parent-child window links (Score:3, Interesting)
Not a bug, a feature (Score:4, Interesting)
So yeah, I think the "a specified design feature of frames" thing is pretty close to the truth.
Re:Not a bug, a feature (Score:2)
Yeah, I'd hardly call this a vulnerability. Maybe a "feature that can be used to trick users." Of course a parent window can modify content in it's child windows. This isn't exactly news. News would be "a child window can modify content in it's parent window", something that's supposed to require a signed script.
You could do something similar without even bothering with frames, by, say, registering 'microssoft.com' and then linking to "http://msdn.microssoft.com/library/default.asp." How many peole will n
Re:Not a bug, a feature (Score:2)
wrong. the Subject line of the parent could be correct, but your statement is wrong. It very well could be a design issue, thus it's not a bug. A correctly implemented design issue is not a bug. However a properly (or improperly) implemented design decision can very well lead to a vulnerability. I see no difference between a vulnerability and "Maybe a 'feature that can be used to trick users.'"
Re:Not a bug, a feature (Score:3, Informative)
Different windows. Open a new copy of your browser, doesn't matter how...
This is a vulnerability because no matter how separate the user tries to keep two windows (for instance, using a bookmark to open ImportantBanking.com rather than clicking on a link to ImportantBanking.com from an untrusted external website), an untrusted external website can change the content in a frame of the ImportantBanking.com window.
Re:Not a bug, a feature (Score:2)
Ah, that explains the rabid "this is crazy serious" comments. I RTFA, just not TFC. I thought this was just doing the obvious thing, and using javascript to manipulate a browser window that had been opened by the parent. Thanks for the clarification.
(Canada Day involves heat and beer. Mea culpa).
Re:Not a bug, a feature (Score:2)
Actually, the article is not entirely clear on this matter. I went ahead and verified (in IE, can't verify that that's the problem in every browser ;-) that it was more serious than that before I considered it serious, too.
Re:Not a bug, a feature (Score:2)
As soon as it gets executed javascript replaces the real page with a fake one. If you don't notice the switch then the 'fun' ensues as you try to 'log back in'.
Re:Not a bug, a feature (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Not a bug, a feature (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:Not a bug, a feature (Score:1)
CSS (Score:4, Informative)
Re:CSS (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:CSS (Score:3, Informative)
Re:CSS (Score:1)
Re:CSS (Score:2)
Re:CSS (Score:4, Informative)
Re:CSS (Score:3, Informative)
NS4.80 does what it should when you can't render an object, render the content that the object surrounds
IE6sp1 fails to render the object or the alternative, see for yourself here [scrtc.com].
Re:CSS (Score:2)
Didn't work on me (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Didn't work on me (Score:2)
Re:Didn't work on me (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Didn't work on me (Score:2)
Re:Didn't work on me (Score:1)
Re:Didn't work on me (Score:2)
Re:Didn't work on me (Score:1)
Re:Didn't work on me (Score:1)
Fortunately, not every browser... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Fortunately, not every browser... (Score:1)
Lynx at least isn't - no frames -> no exploit!
Wasted time. (Score:4, Informative)
The following browsers are not affected:
* Mozilla Firefox 0.9 for Windows
* Mozilla Firefox 0.9.1 for Windows
* Mozilla 1.7 for Windows
* Mozilla 1.7 for Linux
All my browsers are allready patched! Even IE was patched.
No Kidding! (Score:3, Funny)
"Damnit! Even the stupid bugs and exploits don't work on this crappy machine!"
Re:No Kidding! (Score:1)
"discovery" after fix!? (Score:2)
Re:"discovery" after fix!? (Score:2)
well.. they got what they ordered all right.
Re:"discovery" after fix!? (Score:2)
So for people who don't feel like installing a new browser every month to stay on the bleeding edge, this is useful information so we can watch out for it.
Re:"discovery" after fix!? (Score:2, Informative)
Security holes are discovered and fixed in web browsers often. To be safe with any browser, you should upgrade when a new version is released, regardless of whether the release is accompanied by a security advisory regarding older versions.
Re:"discovery" after fix!? (Score:2, Informative)
It was, until Mozilla 1.7 was released. Mozilla 1.7 is the new stable branch. Don't expect more 1.4.x releases.
Re:Wasted time. (Score:3, Informative)
Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.7) Gecko/20040514
-Adam
The report (Score:5, Funny)
Exploit: Local
Effects: All browsers
Description:
A 6 year old vulnerability has been discovered in multiple browsers, allowing malicious people to spoof the content of websites.
The problem is that the browsers don't check if a piece of black electrical tape is on the screen covering the address bar, which prevents the user from identifying the source of content in the browser window.
Successful exploitation allows a malicious website to load arbitrary content with its source masked by the black tape. The user cannot know if this is a trusted site.
Solution:
Remove the piece of electrical tape from the screen. Windex may be necessary to clean up afterwards.
Re:The report (Score:1)
IE with proper security settings not affected. (Score:3, Informative)
If you go to security settings in IE ( I've checked IE 6.x ) click custom level, and set "Navigate sub-frames across different domains" to prompt. You will get a nice little pop up warning.
Now I can visit unsafe websites like microsoft.con
Re:IE with proper security settings not affected. (Score:1)
Hmm, great idea for a new TLD. My nigerians friends will love it!
Never heard of Secunia till today. (Score:1, Interesting)
Re:Never heard of Secunia till today. (Score:1)
lets see how accurate that is.....
Record last updated 05-06-2004 01:07:26 AM
Record expires on 08-16-2004
Record created on 08-16-2002
They've been around for almost 2 years...but if it's taken them this long to get in the news (even for such a trivial vulnerability as this), they're most likely trying to cash in o
Untrusted sites? (Score:2)
Is Slashdot considered "trusted" or "untrusted." You just never know what you are going to get when you click on some of these links.
a null issue (Score:3, Insightful)
Fixed in Mozilla 1.7 and Firefox 0.9 (Score:5, Informative)
Lorenzo Colitti and I found the same hole several weeks ago, independently of Mark Laurence. I reported it to mozilla.org on June 11 and to Microsoft and Opera on June 16. I got different results from each browser maker:
Another cross-browser security hole I found (bugzilla.mozilla.org 162020) got similar responses from each browser maker: fixed in Mozilla 1.7 and Firefox 0.9; no response from Opera; confusing statement from Microsoft mentioning XP SP2. 162020 is an arbitrary code execution hole.
Re:Fixed in Mozilla 1.7 and Firefox 0.9 (Score:2)
You must be reporting them to the wrong place. Unlike other bugs I've tried to report to Microsoft and not even received an acknowledgement for, when I've reported security related bug, I've received a response the same day.
Re:Fixed in Mozilla 1.7 and Firefox 0.9 (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Fixed in Mozilla 1.7 and Firefox 0.9 (Score:2)
Re:Fixed in Mozilla 1.7 and Firefox 0.9 (Score:1)
I think you're right. But by including a "security" checkbox on the wish form, Microsoft makes it look like they might have received your message.
The last comment has the email address I used. They do respond quickly on that.
I wish it had been easier to find that address. http://www.microsoft.com/security/default.mspx doesn't have "report a vulnerability" anywhere. I found that address by
Re:Fixed in Mozilla 1.7 and Firefox 0.9 (Score:2)
I've tried the "wait for vendor to fix it" method before, and the result was they fixed it in the next major release after a _long_ time, and customers who wanted the prob fixed had to pay to upgrade.
slashdot conspiracy (Score:1, Redundant)
and now to complete the troll: Slashdot editors never argued that they were fair and just in reporting, so why should this be on the front page?
The following browsers are not affected:
* Mozilla Firefox 0.9 for Windows
* Mozilla Firefox 0.9.1 for Windows
* Mozilla 1.7 for Windows
* Mozilla 1.7 for Linux
interesting. what about 0.9
Re:slashdot conspiracy (Score:1)
Re:slashdot conspiracy (Score:2)
The sectioning was probably due to my choice of wording [acm.org] in the headline...
This may be exploited and is a real threat (Score:4, Informative)
Now, evilguy's site has javascript code running that will detect when one of the interesting frames is available (frames that contain login info). It means that you're trying to log into your account at one of the bank sites. What it does is serve you a facsimile that looks exactly like the original login screen, except this one sends the info to evilguy's site.
When your login info is in evilguy's database, he just sends it to the bank and replaces the frame again with the content the bank returned. Voila! Successfully executed framejacking to invisibly steal your login info.
This might be serious.
Re:This may be exploited and is a real threat (Score:1, Informative)
Re:This may be exploited and is a real threat (Score:1)
There's no difference between the scenario the parent describes, and somebody simply mirroring PayPal's front-end while stealing your info on the backend. If the URL
Re:This may be exploited and is a real threat (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:This may be exploited and is a real threat (Score:2)
True that many users don't check certificates, and to those, this will make little difference, but some people do.
Summary and fix... (Score:2)
The obvious vulnerability is that the page exploiting this needs to know the frame name.
If you use dynamic frame names (even just change them statically every day or every few hours) then you have little to worry about.
Unless, of course,
Tabbed Browsing (Score:1, Informative)
It's actually implementation issue - for most browsers - letting other pages swap frames in framesets that don't belong to them. Whoever said that frames don't have owners - it's not quite true - frames are hierarchical to some degree, so it's not so difficu
Does not work with firefox .9.1 on SPARC Solaris 8 (Score:2)
The test page did push data to the opened MS window.
Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; SunOS sun4u; en-US; rv:1.7) Gecko/20040629 Firefox/0.9.1
Nothing to see, move along...
Re:Does not work with firefox .9.1 on SPARC Solari (Score:2)
The test page did push data to the opened MS window.
Did NOT push data..
Of concern (Score:2)
I am curious how long this problem has been around.
I checked and duplicated the problem on Netscape 7.1 and Firefox
However the problem does not exist with Netscape Communicator 4.8 and probably never has since I recall the original Netscape documentation containing information on security that frames could only be changed by frames from the same domain.
Anyone running IE with the current help file keylogger problem is asking for worse than spoofing.
Somebody broke something, after the version 4 brows [netscape.com]
It Does not affect FireFox 0.9.1 (Score:2, Interesting)
I'm not sure what setting it is. I've done everything but disable the extension and it still opens in a new tab instead of the frame. So looks like they did not do very extensive testing.
I also tried it on a Windows 98 computer with a fresh install of FireFox 0.9.1 with no extensions installed and it doesn't wo
Nevermind (Score:1)
Frames, new fangled rubbish (Score:2)
It was something Tom Duff wrote at Bell Labs before moving on to Pixar.
I just found another bug existing in all browsers (Score:2, Funny)
IE TROUBLES (Score:1)
Re: MOD PARENT DOWN (FRAUD ALERT) (Score:1)