[385] in bugtraq
ANSI Bombs (was:Got this - not sure of authenticity.)
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Stephen Palmer)
Tue Dec 6 15:25:47 1994
Date: Tue, 06 Dec 94 11:19:27 CST
From: "Stephen Palmer" <Stephen_Palmer@ccmail.us.dell.com>
To: Doug.Hughes@Eng.Auburn.EDU
Cc: bugtraq@fc.net
>
>There is no way to transmit a virus to a computer via the terminal.
>Sure, maybe you can turn the printer on and off. Or maybe start up an
>zmodem download but you cannot get a virus on a remote machine by sending
>ascii...
>
>Jason
>
I disagree. Well, maybe not with ASCII, but with ANSI. Back several years ago,
ANSI bombs were quite common in the BBS world. It evidently is posible with
ANSI to load charactors into the keyboard buffer. The most common sequence I
remember was [Alt-X][CR]format c:[CR] which would exit most communications
software, and then format the hard drive. It seems possible to inflict more
subtle damage, but I was more interested in preventing them than exploiting.
(The solution lies in a replacement ANSI.SYS file which dis-allowed stacking the
keyboard buffer)
S.Palmer
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| Stephen L. Palmer | elrond@bga.com | All opinions are my own.
| Dell Comp. Corp. | palmerst@ccmail.us.dell.com | (unfortunately)
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