Hack Series: Is your Ansible Package Configuration Secure?

Ansible configuration vulnerable to Apt module package management vulnerability

In our client assessment work hacking software and cloud systems of all types, we’re often asked to look into configuration management tools such as Ansible. In this post we’ll deep dive into what package management vulnerabilities in the world of Ansible look like. First we’ll recap what Ansible is, provide some tips for security pros to … Read more

Dependency Confusion Vulnerabilities in Unity Game Development

The Unity game engine has a package manager which allows packaged code and assets to be imported into a game, with dependencies automatically handled. Originally this was used only for Unity-produced packages, such as the GUI system. Later Unity began allowing private registries so that game studios can maintain their own internal packages. The IncludeSec research team found that the previous advice to Unity game developers to stand up their own package manager left them vulnerable to dependency confusion by default.

New School Hacks: Test Setup for Hacking Roku Channels Written in Brightscript

Hacking Roku Apps aka Channels

We were recently asked by one of our clients (our day job at IncludeSec is hacking software of all types) to take a look at their Roku channel. For those unfamiliar Roku calls apps for their platform “channels”. We haven’t seen too many Roku channel security reviews and neither has the industry as there isn’t … Read more

Dependency Confusion: When Are Your npm Packages Vulnerable?

This post follows up on the recent blog post by Alex Birsan which highlighted serious problems with how some programming language package managers (npm, RubyGems, and Python’s pip) resolve and install dependencies. Alex described possible causes for pip and RubyGems, but the details regarding npm were a bit less clear so we sought to help … Read more

Custom Static Analysis Rules Showdown: Brakeman vs. Semgrep

In application assessments you have to do the most effective work you can in the time period defined by the client to maximize the assurance you’re providing. At IncludeSec we’ve done a couple innovative things to improve the overall effectiveness of the work we do, and we’re always on the hunt for more ways to … Read more