Technology @lemmy.world misk @sopuli.xyz 12mo ago

Microsoft’s Windows Hello fingerprint authentication has been bypassed

www.theverge.com Microsoft’s Windows Hello fingerprint authentication has been bypassed

Windows laptop manufacturers will likely need to fix this one.

Technology @lemmy.ml schizoidman @lemmy.ml 12mo ago

Microsoft’s Windows Hello fingerprint authentication has been bypassed - The Verge

www.theverge.com /2023/11/22/23972220/microsoft-windows-hello-fingerprint-authentication-bypass-security-vulnerability

92 comments

This is why I use Linux, the fingerprint device wouldn't be supported so this wouldn't be an issue /s
- Mmm yes security by non-functionality. A pillar of the modern cybersecurity framework.
  
  Can't hack a brick 🤷
  
  Works for my webcam. Tbh I'd like someone to hack it, would mean they would've written drivers for it
  
  It is called zero trust, killing functionalities is zscaler core business
- The fun thing about Linux is your realize physical control is ownership. You can just throw a Bootable Linux image with some utilities and remove the password from a Windows account in a second. If you really need to keep something safe, it has to be encrypted.
- The one on my Thinkpad works just fine :)
- Nah I use fprint on my arch laptop so there is fingerprint login technology. Hopefully that doesn't have security vulnerabilities.
  
  It has vulnerabilities for sure. But they haven’t been found because no one cares about hacking you or the 1 other person on earth that use Arch and fingerprint security.
- Correct answer.
  
  Using any form of biometric 'login' under the US's "justice" system is supremely ill-advised.
- That's funny, on my XPS Windows crashed when I tried adding a fingerprint. Works flawlessly under Arch.
- Today I was fucking around with this shit. I can't even update my distro, otherwise ecryptfs will go adios, and fingerprinting will be broken.
- One of the major reasons I gave up on trying to run Linux on my laptop was lack of fingerprint reader support.
  
  That would be a plus for me, actually. I never liked fingerprint authentication.
- wouldn't be supported so this wouldn't be an issue
  
  I did not expect that 😅
- I have a Microsoft fingerprint reader that works fine on Linux lol
It stopped working when I uninstalled Edge, and so did the face recognition. So it depends on WebView or some shit. Pretty sure it’s Microsoft's way of getting around the new EU regulations and hastily integrating the browser into everything, regardless of it making sense or improving security. like they did with 98 after the browser anti-competitiveness lawsuit.
- Wtf. It shouldn't even need those permissions. All it needs to do is scan if the fingerprint it stores matches you.
  
  It uses web view for web authentication for registering your Hello PIN to your Microsoft account. So it's by design on Microsoft's end. You can then use the Windows Hello credential as a passkey but if you don't want that, you'd need another solution for biometric auth.
  
  Oh sweet summer child. No. That would have been the intelligent approach. It could have been fast and secure but it wouldn’t have had all that delicious telemetry nor taken another step towards charging you rent just to use your computer.
  
  They locked it behind two online services. Welcome to the new Microsoft. If it doesn’t include charging you rent or using you & your private information to train a large ai model. They don’t care.
- hastily integrating the browser into everything, regardless of it making sense
  
  So software development in general in the last couple of years?
  
  Yes. JavaScript is famously the best programming language ever, so why not? /s
Reading the article it doesn’t sound like it’s Microsoft’s issue but the vendor’s implementation and lack of using the secure communication protocol.
- "vendors implementation" rings immediate alarm bells...
- it sounds like microsoft's own laptops dont implement the spec properly!
Stop using biometrics for authentication!!!!!

Edit: lots of opinions below. Biometrics are a username, a thing you are. Finger printed can be taken from your laptop with a little powder and masking tape.

Use an authentacator app or security key kids!!
- Better put would be stop using biometrics for single factor authentication. A token can be stolen, or a passcode/push notification can be phished/bypassed as easy as biometrics can.
  
  Biometrics are two factor, because you need the fingerprint and the device they unlock.
  
  You can't use the device without the fingerprint and you can't take someone's fingerprint then use them from a different device.
- In Doom I had to rip off a dudes arm to gain access to the security controls on core cooling shutdown. If you don’t want to lose an arm to stop a demon horde, you’re better off just using your girlfriend’s fingerprints
  
  Exactly the point I'm trying to make!!
- A username is not something "you are", it's something "you know". Biometrics are not nearly the same as usernames.
  
  A username is something you are. It's you! You are 0xD.
  A password is something you know. A security key is something you have.
  
  When we interview security analysts you don't get past the first round if you disagree.
- Biometrics are perfectly fine! We probably don't even live in the same country, I'm not going to get a hold of your fingerprints.
  
  There seems to be a fundamental misunderstanding of what the biometrics actually do. The biometrics only unlock the device and give access to the security key. Once unlocked it's exactly the same as using a yubikey, and far better than an authenticator app, as they use a crypto key, not a 6 digit number.
  
  Well
  
  The biometrics only unlock the device
  
  Yes
  
  and give access to the security key
  
  This is the goal, sure, but what does this actually mean on device that's mostly governed by software?
  
  There's a chip (like a yubikey) in the device that can hold cryptographic keys.
  
  That's good because the key cannot (easily) be extracted from the device.
  
  That's good as long as no one has physical access to your device.
  
  With physical access, you hope that the device's unlock mechanism is reasonably secure. That's biometrics OR password/pin.
  
  The 'or' is the problem. For practical reasons you don't want exactly one method hard-wired. You have a fingerprint scanner (good enough), the secure element (good enough) and lots of hard- and software in between (tricky).
  
  I'm not against biometrics (to unlock a device) because it's convinient and much better than not locking the device at all. I'm also not against device trust (which you need if you want to store crypto keys sonewhere without separate hardware), but the convience of a single-device solution (laptop or phone) comes with a risk.
  
  If an attacker can bypass the unlock method or trick you into unlocking or compromise the device, your secrets are at risk. Having the key stored in the secure enclave (and not in a regular file on the hard disk) prevents copying the key material, but it does not prevent using the key when the attacker has some control over the (unlocked) device.
  
  A yubikey is more secure because it's tiny and you can carry it on your keychain. The same chip inside your laptop is more likely to fall into the hands of an attacker.
- Not on my Lenovo. Fingerprint reader requires a swipe, no print left behind.
  
  I have a lot of questions about what this guy thinks the rest of your device is covered in. Because spoiler, it's fingerprints.
  
  Mine does not work at all. I'd like to see the guy trying to take fingerprints for a few hours and realizing it won't do shit lol.
Surprise. Or not.
Who is surprised? Are you surprised?
Of course it has. Microsoft Windows.
This is the best summary I could come up with:

Microsoft’s Offensive Research and Security Engineering (MORSE) asked Blackwing Intelligence to evaluate the security of fingerprint sensors, and the researchers provided their findings in a presentation at Microsoft’s BlueHat conference in October.

The team identified popular fingerprint sensors from Goodix, Synaptics, and ELAN as targets for their research, with a newly-published blog post detailing the in-depth process of building a USB device that can perform a man-in-the-middle (MitM) attack.

Blackwing Intelligence researchers reverse engineered both software and hardware, and discovered cryptographic implementation flaws in a custom TLS on the Synaptics sensor.

The complicated process to bypass Windows Hello also involved decoding and reimplementing proprietary protocols.

The researchers found that Microsoft’s SDCP protection wasn’t enabled on two of the three devices they targeted.

Blackwing Intelligence now recommends that OEMs make sure SDCP is enabled and ensure the fingerprint sensor implementation is audited by a qualified expert.

The original article contains 474 words, the summary contains 145 words. Saved 69%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!
- ... Did that say "custom implementation of TLS"?
  
  That's like... The first rule of security. You don't roll your own cryptographic implementation. Like, first you're told that, then they tell you the difference between security and obscurity, say both those things in bold, and continue with whatever beginner topic
im all for the something you have + something you are , pb&j relationship, but i dont think lathering biometrics on top is a good idea,far too many spy movies have shown Tom Cruise doing the MOST for pictures of eyeballs and fingerprints for me to ever trust this type of auth
- The main issue with biometrics is that you can't change them. If your fingerprints or retina are compromised you're fucked.
  
  Unless I meet you in person, I'm not going to get your biometrics. The point of these is to protect your accounts from the global Internet.
  
  https://xkcd.com/538/
The Surface Pro X has a fingerprint reader? Is it on the keyboard or something? Mine sure doesn't have one.

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