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Rasa1111
May 30th, 2011, 01:51 PM
Just a friendly warning to anyone who visits gnome-look.
INSTALLING THIS WILL DELETE YOUR HDD~ http://gnome-look.org/content/show.php/Appows+%28gives+new+life+to+yur+Ubuntu%29?content= 142208

So do not use it.

One of the very few times I installed something from there without looking at the comments first..
and it wiped my entire 11.04-Natty partition.

My 10.10 partition is intact, but it completely destroyed my 11.04 side.

So,
This just goes to show that even if your are usually quite vigilante..
You can still slip up and screw yourself.
Like i just did.

Be careful.
Out there be *scumbag* monsters... :???:

s.fox
May 30th, 2011, 01:56 PM
Have you reported the submission?

Rasa1111
May 30th, 2011, 01:57 PM
Yes i have.

Noz3001
May 30th, 2011, 01:59 PM
Silly little kids. Does Ubuntu not have some kind of protection from rm -rf / yet?

Rasa1111
May 30th, 2011, 02:02 PM
Silly little kids. Does Ubuntu not have some kind of protection from rm -rf / yet?

none other than "common sense" I guess..
Which I am apparently sorely lacking in today. :o

BrokenKingpin
May 30th, 2011, 02:08 PM
I will never understand why people do this. I have pretty much stopped using the *-Look websites for this crap (sometimes I will try one in a VM first). They should implement a review system before stuff is published, but I am not sure they have the admin staff for it.

tjwoosta
May 30th, 2011, 02:10 PM
Silly little kids. Does Ubuntu not have some kind of protection from rm -rf / yet?


none other than "common sense" I guess..
Which I am apparently sorely lacking in today. :o




tj@tj-ubuntu:~$ sudo rm -rf /
[sudo] password for tj:
rm: it is dangerous to operate recursively on `/'
rm: use --no-preserve-root to override this failsafe
tj@tj-ubuntu:~$

PhillyPhil
May 30th, 2011, 02:12 PM
Rasa, google his user name. It gives his real name and twitter account as the first hit.

Rasa1111
May 30th, 2011, 02:12 PM
tj@tj-ubuntu:~$ sudo rm -rf /
[sudo] password for tj:
rm: it is dangerous to operate recursively on `/'
rm: use --no-preserve-root to override this failsafe
tj@tj-ubuntu:~$


yup

neu5eeCh
May 30th, 2011, 02:16 PM
So how did it work. I'm almost tempted to download it and run it in VM.

Was there anything that should have tipped you off before installing it? - just so the rest of us don't make the same mistake...

tjwoosta
May 30th, 2011, 02:19 PM
Probably should have tipped somebody off that a gtk2 theme was packaged as a .deb

Should have been tar so people on other distros can install.

BrokenKingpin
May 30th, 2011, 02:19 PM
Silly little kids. Does Ubuntu not have some kind of protection from rm -rf / yet?
Well, the correct system is in place to protect against this, as you need root access to install a package. The killer here is that it is all to easy to assume that a site like this has legit content.

Rasa1111
May 30th, 2011, 02:22 PM
So how did it work. I'm almost tempted to download it and run it in VM.

Was there anything that should have tipped you off before installing it? - just so the rest of us don't make the same mistake...

Only the same thing one often gets when installing something in 11.04 via software center..
"package is of bad quality~ install anyway?"

This same "warning" happens often when installing things in 11.04.

The real "tip off" would have been to read the frickin' comments first.
Which I usually do, BUT, not today. Go figure. lol

Guess i chalk it up to a lesson...
"Stay vigilante or get bent"
gahh
:rolleyes:

3Miro
May 30th, 2011, 02:23 PM
I am tempted to try this under VirtualBox, the rm command shouldn't work even if it is under the postinst of the .deb file.

A word of caution: NEVER INSTALL THEMES FROM DOWNLOADED .DEB FILES! THIS COUNTS DOUBLE FOR AUTOMATED SCRIPTS! I only install things if I see a bunch of art files (pictures and icons).

The real test here is to find out how long it will take the Gnome-looks.org guys to remove this piece of garbage, close the account and depending on where the poster is, they can report to authorities.

Rasa1111
May 30th, 2011, 02:23 PM
Probably should have tipped somebody off that a gtk2 theme was packaged as a .deb

Should have been tar so people on other distros can install.

Yeah but there are quite a few themes today that are packaged as .deb,
So I thought nothing of it. :???:


The real test here is to find out how long it will take the Gnome-looks.org guys to remove this piece of garbage, close the account and depending on where the poster is, they can report to authorities.

agreed.

Irihapeti
May 30th, 2011, 02:28 PM
I only hope this wakes the gnome-look admins up to the need to check packages before they're offered to the public.

CharlesA
May 30th, 2011, 02:30 PM
Another one of those "theme as a deb" deals?

3Miro
May 30th, 2011, 02:32 PM
I only hope this wakes the gnome-look admins up to the need to check packages before they're offered to the public.

+1. This is not the first time something like this has happened. Gnome-looks should accept tar files with art, but they should check/verify .deb .rpm or shell scripts.

3Miro
May 30th, 2011, 02:32 PM
Another one of those "theme as a deb" deals?

Yes, it is an rm command in postinst.

CharlesA
May 30th, 2011, 02:35 PM
+1. This is not the first time something like this has happened. Gnome-looks should accept tar files with art, but they should check/verify .deb .rpm or shell scripts.

This has happened once before (that I know of at least), huge +1 for that.


Yes, it is an rm command in postinst.

Thanks.

BigSilly
May 30th, 2011, 02:36 PM
I see it in postinst. What a complete ar**hole. Hope the Gnome-Look people remove this soon.

Thing is, a lot of theme packages there do come as .deb files, so I know exactly what the OP is referring to. You don't expect the site to be hosting anything nasty, but sadly malicious people are out there. :(

Though it's rotten for those affected, I'd just like to say thank you for the heads up. I'm not running a Debian based system at the moment, but regardless it's certainly given me a sufficient poke in the head to keep my eyes on what I download and install.

Rasa1111
May 30th, 2011, 02:37 PM
I see it in postinst. What a complete ar**hole. Hope the Gnome-Look people remove this soon.

Thing is, a lot of theme packages there do come as .deb files, so I know exactly what the OP is referring to. You don't expect the site to be hosting anything nasty, but sadly malicious people are out there. :(

Though it's rotten for those affected, I'd just like to say thank you for the heads up. I'm not running a Debian based system at the moment, but regardless it's certainly given me a sufficient poke in the head to keep my eyes on what I download and install.

No problem, and thank you. <3

Aquix
May 30th, 2011, 02:39 PM
Glad he didn't completely destroyed your system at least. Have some :popcorn:

Yeah. I don't like deb's from third party sites. I don't even likes scripts I'm not able to check first, or commands for that matter. It's one of the things that comes with using a powerful os, splitting atoms for bombs or electricity kind of thing.

3Miro
May 30th, 2011, 02:39 PM
Though it's rotten for those affected, I'd just like to say thank you for the heads up. I'm not running a Debian based system at the moment, but regardless it's certainly given me a sufficient poke in the head to keep my eyes on what I download and install.

Some of the themes come with install scripts, not .deb/rpm packages. The install scripts are just as dangerous.

BTW, I just rested the damned thing under VirtualBox with Maveric and it does work.

lucazade
May 30th, 2011, 02:41 PM
I'm speechless... mother of idiots is always pregnant.

Hwæt
May 30th, 2011, 02:44 PM
+1. This is not the first time something like this has happened. Gnome-looks should accept tar files with art, but they should check/verify .deb .rpm or shell scripts.

They shouldn't accept .deb, .rpm, or shell scripts at all. There is hardly a necessity for them. If your theme really requires a deb, then maybe you should reconsider how your theme is implemented.

Irihapeti
May 30th, 2011, 02:54 PM
I just downloaded it out of curiosity and unarchived it to have a look.

No need to run it, even though I have a spare install on a USB drive I could use - I trust that I understand what the command does.:twisted:

I note that there's someone's email address in the control file. Does it belong to the submitter, or is it yet another trick to try and get other people into trouble?

If so, I won't say what I think....

Rasa1111
May 30th, 2011, 02:58 PM
Glad he didn't completely destroyed your system at least. Have some :popcorn:

Yeah. I don't like deb's from third party sites. I don't even likes scripts I'm not able to check first, or commands for that matter. It's one of the things that comes with using a powerful os, splitting atoms for bombs or electricity kind of thing.


lol, thanks. :P
you're right.


BTW, I just rested the damned thing under VirtualBox with Maveric and it does work.

lol, it sure does. :o


I just downloaded it out of curiosity and unarchived it to have a look.

No need to run it, even though I have a spare install on a USB drive I could use - I trust that I understand what the command does.:twisted:

I note that there's someone's email address in the control file. Does it belong to the submitter, or is it yet another trick to try and get other people into trouble?

If so, I won't say what I think....

well...
I'd like to know what you think...
I will gladly accept a PM. lol :P

Zero2Nine
May 30th, 2011, 03:02 PM
That sucks, thanks for warning us! A reminder to us all to be careful.

Irihapeti
May 30th, 2011, 03:06 PM
Rasa, google his user name. It gives his real name and twitter account as the first hit.

That's not the name that's in the control file. Either he's using more than one name on the net, or he wants someone else to get the flak.

No, Rasa, I won't tell you what I think - I'd get chucked off the forums...

Markmental
May 30th, 2011, 03:10 PM
i would be suspicious of a .deb

Rasa1111
May 30th, 2011, 03:12 PM
That's not the name that's in the control file. Either he's using more than one name on the net, or he wants someone else to get the flak.

No, Rasa, I won't tell you what I think - I'd get chucked off the forums...


Ok, I don't want you getting chucked.

I think he is trying to get someone else in trouble.. or "get the flak"..
as the name and email in the file lead me to someone who already has a history within the linux community.
and i just can't see someone putting their own info into a file like that.

but damn..
now you've got me curious.. :???:

Random_Dude
May 30th, 2011, 03:33 PM
Thanks for the heads-up Rasa, I didn't know that there were themes packet as .deb files. Your can never be too careful, even when running Linux.
That account was created 5 hours ago, probably just for this purpose. Shutting it down won't do much, another guy will popup.

Gnome-Look should really check the code in the submissions before accepting.

Irihapeti
May 30th, 2011, 03:42 PM
What about putting a warning in our sigs? Or should there be another sticky along the lines of "malicious commands"?

3Miro
May 30th, 2011, 03:56 PM
content is finally removed from gnome-look.

Pretty fast, although not as fast as Ubutnuforums.

Hwæt
May 30th, 2011, 04:01 PM
The *-look sites all seem to be down now. I can't connect to them.

Irihapeti
May 30th, 2011, 04:02 PM
I know of a guy who does stuff like that. He's spent years p*****g off his neighbours.

Only thing is, he's had something like seven heart attacks and he's not even 40 yet.

Things have a way of catching up with you.

Irihapeti
May 30th, 2011, 04:03 PM
The *-look sites all seem to be down now. I can't connect to them.

If they haven't got the staff to check all submissions, they should stay down permanently.

Rasa1111
May 30th, 2011, 04:06 PM
I know of a guy who does stuff like that. He's spent years p*****g off his neighbours.

Only thing is, he's had something like seven heart attacks and he's not even 40 yet.

Things have a way of catching up with you.

Absolutely.
Sad, sad little people.



If they haven't got the staff to check all submissions, they should stay down permanently.

Couldn't agree more.

Random_Dude
May 30th, 2011, 04:10 PM
The *-look sites all seem to be down now. I can't connect to them.

Really?
I've just connected to gnome-look. :confused:

ivanovnegro
May 30th, 2011, 04:12 PM
Thank you Rasa for this great info, not that I ever use the Gnome Look org site for themes, I found it always too suspicious.
Great, they removed it now. I think you saved maybe some people's systems . :D

Rasa1111
May 30th, 2011, 04:13 PM
Really?
I've just connected to gnome-look. :confused:

Me to.

Rasa1111
May 30th, 2011, 04:13 PM
Thank you Rasa for this great info, not that I ever use the Gnome Look org site for themes, I found it always too suspicious.
Great, they removed it now. I think you saved maybe some people's systems . :D

No problem man.
Hope so. <3

Hwæt
May 30th, 2011, 04:18 PM
Not everything on the *-look sites is bad. Even if they don't have the staff to check all submissions, these sites are an invaluable resource for people who legitimately want to share art that they believe improves the UI of some Window Managers and DEs.

That being said, it's still always good to use discretion when downloading something from the site, as something could be dangerous.

Irihapeti
May 30th, 2011, 04:21 PM
Not everything on the *-look sites is bad. Even if they don't have the staff to check all submissions, these sites are an invaluable resource for people who legitimately want to share art that they believe improves the UI of some Window Managers and DEs.

That being said, it's still always good to use discretion when downloading something from the site, as something could be dangerous.

What you say is true. However, what are the new users supposed to do who don't know how to evaluate these things?

When I was a newbie, I wouldn't have had a clue what to look for.

That's why I'm being hard-line about it.

Hwæt
May 30th, 2011, 04:24 PM
What you say is true. However, what are the new users supposed to do who don't know how to evaluate these things?

When I was a newbie, I wouldn't have had a clue what to look for.

That's why I'm being hard-line about it.

Thank you for agreeing. You have a point, but it's just more motivation for educating people on this subject. It's what you'd do in the real world for any disease. I mean, I know it'd be bad for business, but the *-look sites would be better off with a banner on the top offering some sort of warning for new users.

Dry Lips
May 30th, 2011, 04:46 PM
I think gnome-look is a great site, too bad things like this happen.
Guess this is kind of a wake-up call to be more suspicious when
it comes to downloading stuff that's not in the repos.

CraigPaleo
May 30th, 2011, 04:52 PM
I'm driving myself crazy trying to figure out how this makes any sense at all. I guess this is the type of person who goes home and kicks his dog because he's mad at his boss.

I don't want to give him any ideas but this is eerily reminiscent of something even more sinister.

Barrucadu
May 30th, 2011, 05:29 PM
Am I the only person who would look at that and think "A .deb file for a theme? I think I'll extract it first and have a look."? It falls under the same category of common sense as "don't give arbitrary programs your password".

BrokenKingpin
May 30th, 2011, 05:37 PM
Packing themes as .Deb files is perfectly fine, as it makes it very easy to get the theme installed correctly. Just ensure you are downloading them from a trusted source, and maybe crack it open before installing it.

Same goes with applications, having them in a .Deb makes it way easier to install, but you still have to trust the the place you got it from.

So it really isn't how the site distributes the themes that is causing the issues, it is the regulations in place to prevent malicious packages and scripts in the first place.

3Miro
May 30th, 2011, 05:45 PM
Packing themes as .Deb files is perfectly fine, as it makes it very easy to get the theme installed correctly. Just ensure you are downloading them from a trusted source, and maybe crack it open before installing it.

Same goes with applications, having them in a .Deb makes it way easier to install, but you still have to trust the the place you got it from.

So it really isn't how the site distributes the themes that is causing the issues, it is the regulations in place to prevent malicious packages and scripts in the first place.

So Gnome-looks should not be considered a "trusted" site. They should put a large disclaimer when downloading the files: "Gnome-looks doesn't check the files and they are sole responsibility for the people that posted them." Otherwise it looks very legitimate.

The issue is caused by the way the themes are distributed. A problem like that wouldn't happen with a .tar file. .debs are executed with root privileged, .tar only put files in .themes.

If Gnome-looks cannot check all the .deb or all the scripts, then they should either not accept such files or put a large warning (do it at your own risk).

CraigPaleo
May 30th, 2011, 06:03 PM
Does anyone know if that can happen if you download your themes through KDE's system settings?

3Miro
May 30th, 2011, 06:43 PM
Does anyone know if that can happen if you download your themes through KDE's system settings?

KDE System Settings doesn't run as root, so any potential damage is contained to the account that you are using (which is still potentially a lot of damage).

The question would be if KDE allows for custom scripts or is it just downloading a bunch of art files (my guess is the latter, but I am not 100% sure). The .deb system installs files in specific folders and then runs scripts to make sure all settings are correct. The bad code was part of the script.

CraigPaleo
May 30th, 2011, 06:54 PM
KDE System Settings doesn't run as root, so any potential damage is contained to the account that you are using (which is still potentially a lot of damage).

The question would be if KDE allows for custom scripts or is it just downloading a bunch of art files (my guess is the latter, but I am not 100% sure). The .deb system installs files in specific folders and then runs scripts to make sure all settings are correct. The bad code was part of the script.

Thanks. There have been some themes I've downloaded that didn't appear to do anything. If those were scripts instead of art, it may explain it. I would think someone would have thought of it before. I hope so anyway.

odiseo77
May 30th, 2011, 10:06 PM
Thanks for the heads up; luckily, the content seems to be removed by now (I can't find it when I click on the link). Another reason to remember people must be very careful with the stuff they download/install from 3rd party sites :frown:

grahammechanical
May 30th, 2011, 10:29 PM
Give me a set of good quality themes, backgrounds, icons and that kind of stuff as part of the distribution and I would be happy to use a version of Ubuntu that severely limits my freedom to modify the desktop. It would protect my system from something like this, would it not?

I liked the improvements in backgrounds that came with 10.10 and the ability to cycle through the backgrounds. Things have moved further in this direction in 11.04. If Ubuntu has style and design would you be tempted to look elsewhere?

Some see the Unity UI as being restrictive. Perhaps it should be seen as step towards securing the OS from attacks like this and from user self inflicted wounds.

Regards.

Macskeeball
May 30th, 2011, 10:40 PM
vigilante

You keep using that word (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/vigilante). I do not think it means what you think it means (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/vigilant).

nerdopolis
May 30th, 2011, 10:57 PM
Does anyone know if that can happen if you download your themes through KDE's system settings?

Well... I think Plasmoids have access to every file you do (look at the folder view plasmoid). While a rouge one could not wipe out /usr or /etc, it could mess with /home/username...

VCoolio
May 30th, 2011, 11:07 PM
[...]
Some see the Unity UI as being restrictive. Perhaps it should be seen as step towards securing the OS from attacks like this and from user self inflicted wounds.

Regards.

This is a case of not to be trusted third party software and hasn't much to do with being able to configure stuff. Just look at all the hate posts about "the ugly default orange theme" and "where do I configure this" and "howto change stuff in unity" going all the way from gtk2 to gdm to grub to splash to prompts and whatever. It's what people like in linux: you can change anything to your needs. If you're a bit of an autodidact you can setup your own gtk theme in a day. You're going to p*ss off(1) a lot of people if you restrict ways to configure stuff. The opportunity to configure and the ways you get the stuff to configure with are to be kept separate.
Use common sense, put all theme stuff in ~/.themes (who needs it all in the system directories anyway?) or use themes from the repositories, there are enough there.
It's good to be warned again though. I always install everything I fancy as I have yet to be punished for it. Stupid. But I hardly ever install .debs (I use either repos or source code, I want to be up to date), maybe that's my luck.

1 Is this such bad language that it's censored? I'm not a native English speaker, so apologies for offending anyone.

Rasa1111
May 30th, 2011, 11:39 PM
You keep using that word (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/vigilante). I do not think it means what you think it means (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/vigilant).

yeah, i was spelling it wrong.

el_koraco
May 30th, 2011, 11:46 PM
I know this kid, he was active on some threads with mindless rants. Go figure.

BigCityCat
May 30th, 2011, 11:54 PM
It won't be long and this guy will be on TV for a rampage shooting like that weirdo in Arizona.

The great thing is if you keep your data backed up it's a free and quick reinstall.

Timmer1240
May 31st, 2011, 12:39 AM
Ive installed a few things from gnome look usually Im pretty careful and read the reviews but sorry to hear this happening to you.Gonna be extra cautious from now on wouldnt want to bork my system I got er how I want it!

3Miro
May 31st, 2011, 12:44 AM
Ive installed a few things from gnome look usually Im pretty careful and read the reviews but sorry to hear this happening to you.Gonna be extra cautious from now on wouldnt want to bork my system I got er how I want it!

That guy had made several bogus accounts and he had given himself good reviews.

CraigPaleo
May 31st, 2011, 01:10 AM
Well... I think Plasmoids have access to every file you do (look at the folder view plasmoid). While a rouge one could not wipe out /usr or /etc, it could mess with /home/username...
I only download Plasmoids from the repos. Themes I add through system settings.

Random_Dude
May 31st, 2011, 08:58 AM
That guy had made several bogus accounts and he had given himself good reviews.

You've got to be careful with this.
I think the best option would be to download themes which are older. I always go to the top rated or the most download, I'm too lazy to go fishing for some cool new themes.

Cheers :cool:

Aquix
May 31st, 2011, 10:39 AM
The good thing is that crap like this gets shut down fast because of the community. May be a good idea to email the ubuntu blogs, they might be interested in the story, and the warning will get out there to more people.

:KS

NormanFLinux
May 31st, 2011, 11:39 AM
Sounds like packaged commands to erase the installed OS. Not funny at all. If you want to change backgrounds, picture files are perfectly safe. NEVER install a theme or picture from a deb. or rpm. file.

In Unix computing, you need to use common sense, just like with Windows. Stay safe!

lucazade
May 31st, 2011, 11:48 AM
Sounds like packaged commands to erase the installed OS. Not funny at all. If you want to change backgrounds, picture files are perfectly safe. NEVER install a theme or picture from a deb. or rpm. file.

In Unix computing, you need to use common sense, just like with Windows. Stay safe!

A correct advice would be to open the .deb file (which is a .tar.gz file) with file-roller, look into debian/postinst file (which is a text file) and see what it does.

In this case there was a "sudo rm -rf /" which erase everything on hd..

The same thing could happen also with programs packaged in .deb and not only for themes or backgrounds.

Macskeeball
May 31st, 2011, 12:09 PM
In this case there was a "sudo rm -rf /" which erase everything on hd..

That command actually does more than that. It erases everything on any writable filesystem mounted at the time. It's not limited to the HD you're booted from.

Zlatan
May 31st, 2011, 12:11 PM
Just a friendly warning to anyone who visits gnome-look.
INSTALLING THIS WILL DELETE YOUR HDD~ http://gnome-look.org/content/show.php/Appows+%28gives+new+life+to+yur+Ubuntu%29?content= 142208

So do not use it.

One of the very few times I installed something from there without looking at the comments first..
and it wiped my entire 11.04-Natty partition.

My 10.10 partition is intact, but it completely destroyed my 11.04 side.

So,
This just goes to show that even if your are usually quite vigilante..
You can still slip up and screw yourself.
Like i just did.

Be careful.
Out there be *scumbag* monsters... :???:

r.e.p.o.s. o.n.l.y. and you're safe

lucazade
May 31st, 2011, 12:17 PM
That command actually does more than that. It erases everything on any writable filesystem mounted at the time. It's not limited to the HD you're booted from.

Well spotted.. it will wipe out also writable stuff mounted in /media

NovaAesa
May 31st, 2011, 02:22 PM
r.e.p.o.s. o.n.l.y. and you're safe
Actually, this isn't really true. There's nothing at all guaranteeing that a package installed from a repo is safe. Any Job Bloggs can set up their own repo to distribute software. If anything, you can only really trust the official Ubuntu repos.

3Miro
May 31st, 2011, 02:30 PM
Actually, this isn't really true. There's nothing at all guaranteeing that a package installed from a repo is safe. Any Job Bloggs can set up their own repo to distribute software. If anything, you can only really trust the official Ubuntu repos.

I think he meant the official repos. Using unofficial repos is no different then downloading a .deb file.

I think the official community repos are not anonymous. We know who puts what where, hence if someone tries to be malicious, there will be real consequences (legal ones).

Thewhistlingwind
May 31st, 2011, 02:31 PM
Actually, this isn't really true. There's nothing at all guaranteeing that a package installed from a repo is safe. Any Job Bloggs can set up their own repo to distribute software. If anything, you can only really trust the official Ubuntu repos.

Of course, because Linux users have virtually (And in actuality) no restrictions on their install CD's, they have an option open to them thats usually closed for windows users because of product keys and the like:

Virtualbox

samigina
May 31st, 2011, 02:52 PM
Thats why ppas doesnt look so good for me...

Sslaxx
May 31st, 2011, 03:57 PM
Thats why ppas doesnt look so good for me...
Providing you use common sense they're OK. I have a few PPAs, and I do endeavour to make sure they're not malicious (OGRE3D, BennuGD).

Rasa1111
May 31st, 2011, 07:43 PM
That command actually does more than that. It erases everything on any writable filesystem mounted at the time. It's not limited to the HD you're booted from.

Yeah, thank god I didnt have my main partition mounted at the time.
Which I often do.


r.e.p.o.s. o.n.l.y. and you're safe

safe and stuck with a fugly desktop. lol

In the year and a half Ive been using Ubuntu,
I have gotten all my themes from places like gnome-look and deviantART..
all without a hitch...
Until yesterday when I let my guard down and didnt ready any comments before downloading. . lol

so I think, as others are saying.. it's mostly
c.o.m.m.o.n. s.e.n.s.e. and you're safe. lol :P

I left my 'common sense' sword in its sheathe for the day...
and this is what happened. :P

thanks all.

BigSilly
May 31st, 2011, 08:41 PM
I think he meant the official repos. Using unofficial repos is no different then downloading a .deb file.

Forgive my embarrassing noobness here, but I always thought that the public PGP keys and the checksums therein were there to protect the end user and foil this potential tainting of repos. My thoughts were that if someone were to upload a nasty app to the repositories, that this would result in a fault with the package manager at the users end because the keys wouldn't match, so you couldn't download anything until it had been fixed by the maintainers and the keys matched again.

I'm probably showing up my complete misunderstanding of how the repos work, but I could've sworn I'd read this somewhere.

3Miro
May 31st, 2011, 08:53 PM
Forgive my embarrassing noobness here, but I always thought that the public PGP keys and the checksums therein were there to protect the end user and foil this potential tainting of repos. My thoughts were that if someone were to upload a nasty app to the repositories, that this would result in a fault with the package manager at the users end because the keys wouldn't match, so you couldn't download anything until it had been fixed by the maintainers and the keys matched again.

I'm probably showing up my complete misunderstanding of how the repos work, but I could've sworn I'd read this somewhere.

The PGP key prevents a hacker from posing as the official repository and fooling your computer to install his/her own .deb. For example, without PGP key, I could use my machine to pretend to be the Canonical server and send you an "update" that will end up destroying your system. With the PGP key, your machine can easily spot an impostor.

If a person working for Canonical enters bad code into a .deb file, the PGP key will do absolutely nothing. The point is that the Canonical repositories are not anonymous, they can track down anyone who has ever put a file in there and if a person were to do something malicious, he/she can be tracked down.

People posting on Gnome-looks are anonymous. Anyone from anywhere can make an account and post something. Almost all people there are honest users who want to share their art. However, there is no control and the place can and has been used by malicious people to try and damage other people's machines.

Unofficial repositories are a lot like Gnome-looks, someone put together some files on a server. Almost all unofficial ppa are honest people packaging and sharing software, unfortunately not all of them have good intentions.

tgm4883
May 31st, 2011, 08:56 PM
Forgive my embarrassing noobness here, but I always thought that the public PGP keys and the checksums therein were there to protect the end user and foil this potential tainting of repos. My thoughts were that if someone were to upload a nasty app to the repositories, that this would result in a fault with the package manager at the users end because the keys wouldn't match, so you couldn't download anything until it had been fixed by the maintainers and the keys matched again.

I'm probably showing up my complete misunderstanding of how the repos work, but I could've sworn I'd read this somewhere.

For the official repos, each package is signed by the uploader. Packages in the official repos have to be uploaded by approved members, which in turn review the packages from normal joes before uploading. The key for these repos is installed in Ubuntu by default.

For unofficial repos, you would have to either install the key manually, or manually give your OK to install unauthenticated packages. The warning message comes up when you attempt to install the package.

Macskeeball
May 31st, 2011, 10:46 PM
Yeah, thank god I didnt have my main partition mounted at the time.
Which I often do.

Or a backup drive. Or a remote file share from work. Or photos.

santaslittlehelper
May 31st, 2011, 10:55 PM
That's just sad. In my mind gnome-look was a trusted site for whatever reason - I am goofy I guess - schema renewed.

Rasa1111
May 31st, 2011, 11:06 PM
Or a backup drive. Or a remote file share from work. Or photos.


damn, you're right...
The more I think about it the more I'd like to wrap my hands around that sad little persons neck and squeeze until all the squeeze is gone.. :twisted:

But on a better note..
I've finally got my ThinkPad running nothing but 11.04.
Something Ive been thinking about for awhile..
Just couldn't bring myself to remove 10.10.
But since this little fiasco made it "impossible" to even boot into my 10.10 side.. (and I didnt know how to fix it)
but all the files were still there, so I just saved my files and did a full 11.04 install.

i like not having the grub menu on boot up. lol

and to the little puke who did this.. (if you're still reading)
I've put a call out into the Universe to destroy you, i hope you enjoy it when it comes. lol :P
....though it would appear with your sad little life you've already been destroyed, for the most part.

Good luck loser. lol

Irihapeti
May 31st, 2011, 11:24 PM
I don't like the idea of "official Canonical repos only". I find it too restrictive.

It's also hard on beginning software developers. How are you going to get anyone to test / use your new program if it's already got to be in an official repo before anyone wants to touch it? That seems to me to be slightly against the spirit of open source where anyone can publish without needing to have the blessing of a large organisation.

Fortunately, there's one thing we can do to minimise the risk of using stuff from other places.

Make sure that nothing else is mounted before you play, and HAVE A RECENT BACKUP.

I've messed up my system on a number of occasions and I've been able to restore in about half an hour or less. It really does work.

tjwoosta
May 31st, 2011, 11:52 PM
I don't like the idea of "official Canonical repos only". I find it too restrictive.

It's also hard on beginning software developers. How are you going to get anyone to test / use your new program if it's already got to be in an official repo before anyone wants to touch it? That seems to me to be slightly against the spirit of open source where anyone can publish without needing to have the blessing of a large organisation.



Open source means people can read through all of the code, compile it, and build packages themselves. Precompiled and packaged .deb's that are hosted in unofficial repositories are dangerous, source code that you check over yourself is not, assuming of course that you know how to read the code.

Tibuda
May 31st, 2011, 11:56 PM
Open source means people can read through all of the code, compile it, and build packages themselves. Precompiled and packaged .deb's that are hosted in unofficial repositories are dangerous, source code that you check over yourself is not, assuming of course that you know how to read the code.

assuming of course that you know how to read the code

assuming of course that you know how to read the code

The user base at which Ubuntu aims itself does not know how to read code.

Quadunit404
June 1st, 2011, 12:00 AM
And this is why I always check over the comments on something and the ratings before downloading, if they are available. Moral of this thread: never get a theme from a .deb without checking it over first.

Remember, the best antivirus in the world and the biggest security risk is a few feet in front of your computer screen.

Thanks for the warning, Rasa, although it's probably a bit late now as it was removed :P

JRV
June 1st, 2011, 12:03 AM
Gnome look took it down, it now says "Content not found".

tjwoosta
June 1st, 2011, 12:03 AM
The user base at which Ubuntu aims itself does not know how to read code.

Well theres no way around that Im afraid. If you cant read the code then how are you supposed to trust some random persons software? Thats why people who dont know what theyre doing should stick to the official repositories. Either that or rely on the comments and hope the other people know what theyre doing. And hope the person hosting the software didnt create a bunch of bogus accounts to comment on his own stuff and make it look legit.

Rasa1111
June 1st, 2011, 12:03 AM
The user base at which Ubuntu aims itself does not know how to read code.

Sad but true.
I am one of the guilty . :???:

I would have known what the command in the file meant, and a few other lines of bad code.. but the majority of it I am lost on. O_o
but I did not know that i needed to open up the .deb to make sure everything was alright.
I became to trusting and too "used to" good .deb packages. ,
and careless.
Guess there's a time to learn it all eh. lol

forrestcupp
June 1st, 2011, 01:33 AM
That's just sad. In my mind gnome-look was a trusted site for whatever reason - I am goofy I guess - schema renewed.Like others have said, the only thing you can completely trust are the official repos. But sometimes expanded usability and upgrades are worth a little risk.

But you have to give gnome-look credit for getting it off their site fairly quickly.


The user base at which Ubuntu aims itself does not know how to read code.I know how to read some code, but that doesn't mean I have time to sift through tens of thousands of lines of code trying to figure out their programming style and how they set things up every time I install a program.

ikt
June 1st, 2011, 02:45 AM
*cough*http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1765542*cough*

tjwoosta
June 1st, 2011, 02:53 AM
I know how to read some code, but that doesn't mean I have time to sift through tens of thousands of lines of code trying to figure out their programming style and how they set things up every time I install a program.

Thankfully most random unsupported stuff is not that large. The larger projects usually make it to the repos. Even if they dont they're at least fairly well known in the linux community, and the authors are fairly reputable. Also they're usually collaborations from a team of developers and its pretty safe to assume that at some point someone somewhere along the way would have noticed malicious code. I mean when is the last time you heard of someone finding malicious code hidden in a fairly large open source app? Its not that nobody ever reads the code, its that no reputable programmers are dumb enough to try it with open source. Its always script kiddies that do stupid stuff like that.

But I know if I were to try something malicious I would probably leave it out of the distributed source code, and just pre-package some binaries with the malicious bits. They would look and act like normal, but maybe have keylogger that runs in the background or something that most average users wouldnt notice.

ikt
June 1st, 2011, 04:20 AM
Thankfully most random unsupported stuff is not that large. The larger projects usually make it to the repos. Even if they dont they're at least fairly well known in the linux community, and the authors are fairly reputable. Also they're usually collaborations from a team of developers and its pretty safe to assume that at some point someone somewhere along the way would have noticed malicious code. I mean when is the last time you heard of someone finding malicious code hidden in a fairly large open source app? Its not that nobody ever reads the code, its that no reputable programmers are dumb enough to try it with open source. Its always script kiddies that do stupid stuff like that.

But I know if I were to try something malicious I would probably leave it out of the distributed source code, and just pre-package some binaries with the malicious bits. They would look and act like normal, but maybe have keylogger that runs in the background or something that most average users wouldnt notice.

I personally would be open for canonical having an online desktop customisation portal, where wallpapers and theme's are submitted and checked, like programs are with the software centre.

lucazade
June 8th, 2011, 09:45 AM
NEW WARNING!!!

Avoid to download this .deb
It is the same stuff of the other day :D

http://gnome-look.org/content/show.php/The+KickAss+Project?content=142538

I've downloaded and extracted the archive just to see how stupid is the author

:lolflag:


I don't have an account on gnome-look.org.. please report it as bad content!!

Random_Dude
June 8th, 2011, 10:00 AM
Again?
Could it be the same guy?

Irihapeti
June 8th, 2011, 10:04 AM
Again?
Could it be the same guy?

I think it's the same package with a different name.

How many times will this have to happen before the gnome-look admins start checking uploads?

Random_Dude
June 8th, 2011, 10:35 AM
I think it's the same package with a different name.

How many times will this have to happen before the gnome-look admins start checking uploads?

Probably not until the community applies some pressure.
Checking every single package is a lot of work but they should do it.

At least they could block the upload of .deb packages, IMHO.

HappinessNow
June 8th, 2011, 10:51 AM
The great thing is if you keep your data backed up it's a free and quick reinstall.Sounds like a good argument to use Chrome OS...also

...it is a shame that there are those kind of people out there that do this sort of thing.

Thanks for the Warning

Irihapeti
June 8th, 2011, 11:20 AM
NEW WARNING!!!



It's been removed - quicker this time, I think.

Random_Dude
June 8th, 2011, 11:40 AM
It's been removed - quicker this time, I think.

Far quicker.
Good to see that they are starting to get on their toes.

CraigPaleo
June 8th, 2011, 10:58 PM
I think it's the same package with a different name.

How many times will this have to happen before the gnome-look admins start checking uploads?

I'm not a programmer but it seems like it wouldn't be difficult to write a program or script that automatically checks uploads for malicious commands. Then, the maintainers would only have to check the "flagged" uploads and not every single one of them.

Irihapeti
June 8th, 2011, 11:54 PM
I'm not a programmer but it seems like it wouldn't be difficult to write a program or script that automatically checks uploads for malicious commands. Then, the maintainers would only have to check the "flagged" uploads and not every single one of them.

I'm not a programmer either - I can put together some bash scripts which I'd be ashamed to show to anyone else. :) I am happy to leave the details of how they do this to the admins, as long as something gets done. After all, saving some time by not checking isn't much use if your site gets ignored because people don't trust it.

tgm4883
June 9th, 2011, 12:10 AM
I'm not a programmer but it seems like it wouldn't be difficult to write a program or script that automatically checks uploads for malicious commands. Then, the maintainers would only have to check the "flagged" uploads and not every single one of them.

well that could actually get kinda complicated. They should just restrict uploads to .tar.gz, then easily grep any scripts for malicious commands

The issue then is who keeps the list, what is considered a malicious command, etc.

From a liability standpoint, it's better to say "untested: use at your own risk" than it is to say "we checked these for malicious commands, and they didn't have any commands that we consider malicious". If they did say that, it gives a false sense of security to the user and as a programmer there are many ways around those types of filters.

For instance, how would you get a script to find this rm command? (note part 6 could obviously be a malicious dir)


#!/bin/bash

part1="r"
part2="m"
part3="-"
part4="r"
part5="f"
part6="testdir"

$($part1$part2 $part3$part4$part5 $part6)

Rasa1111
June 9th, 2011, 12:46 AM
*cough*http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1765542*cough*

sweet! thanks!! :KS

lucazade, good catch! <3

CraigPaleo
June 9th, 2011, 12:51 AM
I'm not a programmer either - I can put together some bash scripts which I'd be ashamed to show to anyone else. :) I am happy to leave the details of how they do this to the admins, as long as something gets done. After all, saving some time by not checking isn't much use if your site gets ignored because people don't trust it.

Exactly. It may not even be a matter of saving time but simply having the time. I don't know how much gets uploaded daily but it might be a hefty chunk of data to go through.


well that could actually get kinda complicated. They should just restrict uploads to .tar.gz, then easily grep any scripts for malicious commands

The issue then is who keeps the list, what is considered a malicious command, etc.

It might not be as simple as I thought but I was thinking more along the lines of automation. No single person would keep the list and the maintainers would agree upon what malicious code is.


From a liability standpoint, it's better to say "untested: use at your own risk" than it is to say "we checked these for malicious commands, and they didn't have any commands that we consider malicious". If they did say that, it gives a false sense of security to the user and as a programmer there are many ways around those types of filters.

You don't have to claim anything by adding extra measures of protection. All it would or could do is help keep people from downloading malicious scripts from the "look" sites. Once one person has had that awful experience, the word gets out as a warning as we can see in this very thread.


For instance, how would you get a script to find this rm command? (note part 6 could obviously be a malicious dir)


#!/bin/bash

part1="r"
part2="m"
part3="-"
part4="r"
part5="f"
part6="testdir"

$($part1$part2 $part3$part4$part5 $part6)

I honestly have no clue. ;) I would hope someone could come up with something that could detect that sort of thing. :)

Irihapeti
June 9th, 2011, 12:57 AM
I suppose they could have a list of trusted contributors, a bit like Ubuntu members on this forum. Their stuff wouldn't need to be checked.

Of course, for all I know, these long-term contributors might be relatively few, and most of the stuff contributed by relative newcomers. Then that wouldn't really solve much.

And I'm going to bang my boring old drum again and say that a recent backup is always a good idea. It's not only malicious software that can leave you with a real mess to clean up. (Been there, done that ... can't remember how many times now.)

3Miro
June 9th, 2011, 01:37 AM
The more I think about it the more convinced I become that banning .deb and scripts is the best option for Gnome-looks. Gnome comes with a great drag'n'drop feature for installing themes, which is safe since nothing gets executed (as root or otherwise). There is no real need for scripts and .deb files.

CharlesA
June 9th, 2011, 01:38 AM
The more I think about it the more convinced I become that banning .deb and scripts is the best option for Gnome-looks. Gnome comes with a great drag'n'drop feature for installing themes, which is safe since nothing gets executed (as root or otherwise). There is no real need for scripts and .deb files.
+9000. That would be the best way to do it imho.

swoll1980
June 9th, 2011, 01:43 AM
Rasa, google his user name. It gives his real name and twitter account as the first hit.

Is it against the law? If not it should be; messing peoples' things up I mean.

CraigPaleo
June 9th, 2011, 01:51 AM
Is it against the law? If not it should be; messing peoples' things up I mean.

It's just as illegal as burning someone's physical files or placing a board of nails behind someone's car tires.

CraigPaleo
June 9th, 2011, 02:02 AM
The more I think about it the more convinced I become that banning .deb and scripts is the best option for Gnome-looks. Gnome comes with a great drag'n'drop feature for installing themes, which is safe since nothing gets executed (as root or otherwise). There is no real need for scripts and .deb files.

If that's true, I agree but when I used Gnome, there were some themes that couldn't be installed without installing a theme engine, some of which weren't available in the repos, and using the command line to install the rest. This was Gnome 2 though. If that's changed, great! It sounds not too dissimilar to the way KDE does it from within.


+9000. That would be the best way to do it imho.
+9001!

Roasted
June 9th, 2011, 02:40 AM
when gnome-look meets suicide linux. nice.

http://qntm.org/suicide

swoll1980
June 9th, 2011, 03:03 AM
when gnome-look meets suicide linux. nice.

http://qntm.org/suicide

It's to bad there isn't a download for it.

Roasted
June 10th, 2011, 02:00 PM
It's to bad there isn't a download for it.

There is, somewhere. I had seen it on a different (and more official looking) web site about a year or two ago.

I think a distro of this nature of perfectly acceptable for a critical-application production server.

sourchier
June 22nd, 2011, 11:47 AM
I wonder if we could change dpkg to fail (with a warning) whenever a user tries to install scripts like this. Anyone in the know care to comment?

dniMretsaM
June 22nd, 2011, 06:48 PM
I don't know if it's possible to have dpkg detect the contents of a script before it runs it, but it sounds plausible. And that is a pretty good idea. Maybe it could come up with a warning something like this:

WARNING: Dpkg has detected a potentially malicious script. Please inspect the contents of this package. If you have already done so and want to install anyway, type 'yes'. Otherwise, type 'no'.

3Miro
June 22nd, 2011, 07:29 PM
dpkg needs to have access to the system in more than one way. Even if you guard against simple commands (like delete all), there is no way to protect against attacks in general.

I don't think we can make this work.

tgm4883
June 22nd, 2011, 08:16 PM
dpkg needs to have access to the system in more than one way. Even if you guard against simple commands (like delete all), there is no way to protect against attacks in general.

I don't think we can make this work.

It would have to be an ever evolving list of bad things. It could also analyze behavior and attempt to prevent bad things that weren't on the list. And if built into dpkg, that would only matter for things installed through dpkg, what about everything else? Better to make it a separate application.

Awesome, just created an antivirus application

3Miro
June 22nd, 2011, 08:28 PM
It would have to be an ever evolving list of bad things. It could also analyze behavior and attempt to prevent bad things that weren't on the list. And if built into dpkg, that would only matter for things installed through dpkg, what about everything else? Better to make it a separate application.

Awesome, just created an antivirus application

Yes, you are right.

The list of "suspicious" behavior would have to be constantly updated, meaning that it would certainly lag behind. Furthermore, you will have to deal with an enormous amount of false-positives.

This is not a solution to anything.

Linuxratty
June 22nd, 2011, 09:06 PM
has anyone contacted the scumbag who did this?

Rasa1111
June 23rd, 2011, 03:59 AM
has anyone contacted the scumbag who did this?

I made the attempt.
but like the little coward he is, he stayed in his cave and kept his lid shut.
(aka moms basement) :mad:

sourchier
June 23rd, 2011, 06:56 AM
Adding a sanity check that doesn't allow dpkg to run "rm" isn't anti-virus IMHO.
I also remember there was a bad screensaver script on gnome-look.org.I wonder if the site has been compromised?

3Miro
June 23rd, 2011, 11:46 AM
Adding a sanity check that doesn't allow dpkg to run "rm" isn't anti-virus IMHO.
I also remember there was a bad screensaver script on gnome-look.org.I wonder if the site has been compromised?

Except "rm" is needed for uninstalling things as well as fixing some settings files. Then even if they don't allow rm, then you can do other things that are just as damaging.

tgm4883
June 23rd, 2011, 02:47 PM
Adding a sanity check that doesn't allow dpkg to run "rm" isn't anti-virus IMHO.
I also remember there was a bad screensaver script on gnome-look.org.I wonder if the site has been compromised?

There are many things that dpkg could do that would be bad. I mean, it can put in a cron job then do anything it wants. Your sanity check is now irrelevant.

sanderd17
June 23rd, 2011, 03:16 PM
A long thread, didn't read it all, but what do you guys think of this: http://www.webupd8.org/2011/06/gnome-shell-extensions-to-get-website.html#more

It might be worth looking into the security once it is out.

What I would like against malware is as in Android: a normal user can install programs without being root and those programs have to ask permissions before they can do something.

Possible perissions:

read other files than their install directory
connect to the internet
use webcam
...


Off coarse root can still install anything and has all permissions, the root account doesn't have to be blocked like in Android.

tgm4883
June 23rd, 2011, 04:17 PM
A long thread, didn't read it all, but what do you guys think of this: http://www.webupd8.org/2011/06/gnome-shell-extensions-to-get-website.html#more

It might be worth looking into the security once it is out.


Maybe I missed it, but how does that differ from a repository? It's still reviewed by someone in order to be listed there but that doesn't solve the problem of downloading and installing things from 3rd party sites.

lasm2000
June 26th, 2011, 08:19 PM
A very naive question. Isn't app armor supposed to stop this kind of things? I mean, the deb installer certainly has a lot of capabilities that must be enabled for it to work. But simple attacks as a sudo -Rf shouldn't be allowed at all, not even for a distro installer which works rather by setting the mount points of partitions.

Lucradia
June 26th, 2011, 10:51 PM
A very naive question. Isn't app armor supposed to stop this kind of things? I mean, the deb installer certainly has a lot of capabilities that must be enabled for it to work. But simple attacks as a sudo -Rf shouldn't be allowed at all, not even for a distro installer which works rather by setting the mount points of partitions.

gnome themes don't use deb all the time, and you can disguise a theme to run malicious code by just copying the theme manually and trying to apply it.

tgm4883
June 26th, 2011, 11:39 PM
gnome themes don't use deb all the time, and you can disguise a theme to run malicious code by just copying the theme manually and trying to apply it.

Combine that with the fact that real attacks wouldn't bother deleting everything on the disk. It would turn the machine into a zombie computer ready to DDOS someone.

nerdy_kid
June 26th, 2011, 11:53 PM
Ok that's it, I am now reading the install scripts (and comments) on every deb I download from the the *-look sites...

trizrK
June 27th, 2011, 02:35 AM
Just a friendly warning to anyone who visits gnome-look.
INSTALLING THIS WILL DELETE YOUR HDD~ http://gnome-look.org/content/show.php/Appows+%28gives+new+life+to+yur+Ubuntu%29?content= 142208

So do not use it.

One of the very few times I installed something from there without looking at the comments first..
and it wiped my entire 11.04-Natty partition.

My 10.10 partition is intact, but it completely destroyed my 11.04 side.

So,
This just goes to show that even if your are usually quite vigilante..
You can still slip up and screw yourself.
Like i just did.

Be careful.
Out there be *scumbag* monsters... :???:
Looks like it's been taken down

doas777
June 27th, 2011, 02:38 AM
I was looking for themes just yesterday, and it was very hard to find any that did not require the user to add a ppa. I can understand avoiding debs and ppas, but its hard when thats the only option.

Rasa1111
June 27th, 2011, 05:27 AM
Looks like it's been taken down

Yeah, like 6 or so hours after I made this thread.

Rasa1111
June 27th, 2011, 05:29 AM
I was looking for themes just yesterday, and it was very hard to find any that did not require the user to add a ppa. I can understand avoiding debs and ppas, but its hard when thats the only option.

I rarely have to use/add a PPA for themes.
Only themes Ive ever added a PPA for was Orta.
But I have and download lots of themes..
and really ever need to use a PPA to get/use them.

I actually only recall seeing very few themes with a PPA.