WEP pwn'age... what's next?

After all these years of known vulnerabilities with the technology, I'm still flippin' amazed the percentage of deployed, neighborhood 802.11b/g wireless access points that STILL have WEP encryption enabled. Not saying that WPA-TSIP-PSK is much better (well, if you've got a super, stellar dictionary/phrase list) but... what this oversight gives me is two things:

1) Entertainment for a very short period of time in 20 minute increments...
2) A very big 'network' to explore, play with and hide behind...

I can't give myself all the credit; `aircrack-ng` is a pretty slick tool.

However, just tonight, I've pwn'ed the last WEP-enabled access point on my block... well, all the ones I can reach without using my 20dbi gain omni antenna poking out my basement window ;-) ...now all that is left is burning my braincells watching television and reading slashdot.

Cisco VPN client and Fedora Core 8

I recently did a kernel upgrade on my laptop and noticed my Cisco VPN software wasn't working due to needing to recompile the Cisco `vpnclient` code to build the needed modules again.

...and I discovered two things: what I forgot and what I didnt forget.

1) Forgot: how fucking ridiculously broken kernel code is in Fedora's distribution stream. OMFG. Can a person compile anything outside hello_world.c against anything released? (harsh and far from true, but I'm pissed)

2) Didn't Forget: how painful it was to get `vpnclient` going again on my laptop the first time with all the patching and 32/64-bit specific OS crap to take into consideration.

Want the steps? Here you go.

Cisco VPN client packages and patches

I'm running Fedora 8 64-bit on my laptop, and this are the packages that worked for me. Get 'em:

• vpnclient-linux-x86_64-4.8.01.0640-k9.tar.gz
  
  
• vpnclient-linux-2.6.24-final.diff
  
  
• cisco_skbuff_offset.patch
  
  

Unpack and patch source

Next, do the following, assuming you've put all this in the same directory or sandbox:

[testbox]$ tar -zxvf vpnclient-x86_64-4.8.01.0640-k9.tar.gz
[testbox]$ mv vpnclient vpnclient-x86_64-4.8.01.0640-k9
[testbox]$ cd vpnclient-x86_64-4.8.01.0640-k9
[testbox]$ patch -p1 < ../vpnclient-linux-2.6.24-final.diff
[testbox]$ patch -p1 < ../cisco_skbuff_offset.patch

...we'll also need to do a quick hack on the 'Makefile' to make `make` happy.

[testbox]$ cp Makefile Makefile.orig
[testbox]$ sed -i -r -e "s/^CFLAGS/EXTRA_CFLAGS/g" Makefile

Compile Cisco VPN source

Ok, now the part you've been waiting for: compile time. Do the following (noting that doing the install requires r00t level access, so I use `sudo` for my needs, do whatever suits yours):

[testbox]$ cd vpnclient-x86_64-4.8.01.0640-k9
[testbox]$ sudo ./vpn_install

...and then follow the on-screen instructions for installation path, etc. etc. etc.

Testing the Cisco VPN client

Assuming that the compilation of the kernel modules went successfully, now it's time to test out the Cisco VPN client. First, make sure you're actually connected on 'some' network that's going to allow you to get to your VPN. Second, make sure you copy your Cisco VPN profile out in /etc/CiscoSystemsVPNClient/Profiles so you can actually connect to your VPN.

After that, do the following:

[testbox]$ sudo /etc/init.d/vpnclient_init start
[testbox]$ sudo vpnclient connect [name_of_profile_you_copied]

...and that's pretty much about it in a quick and dirty way. Hopefully this helps someone. I wasn't going to even attempt to start hacking code to see what was really broken. I had google'd around and noticed that people had it working; the tough part was finding all the correct patches to go with certain code bases (e.g. 64-bit for my 64-bit OS I'm running).

The re-birth of the subnotebook?

It's funny how things in our culture resurface themselves after decades of silence. From fashion to technology and anywhere in between, it's crazy the amount of odd things that are all the sudden "the thing to have" today.

Odd shit like kids wearing straight leg pants that were cool in the 80's, girls wearing their hair in a pony tail that drags off to the side of their shoulder, and most notably (of course I'm not going to bitch about fashion) the re-birth of the subnotebooks like the Asus Eee and Everex Cloudbook.

...so I ask myself: WTF happened to the Gateway Handbook? I happen to own one of these (and still do) and at the time, I used to run my own homebrew Linux distro on it (Fd Linux), in which I ripped out the 80mb 2.5" hdd and tossed in a IDE micro-controller-to-compact flash, which essentially, despite the shear lack of processing power that the Asus Eee and the Everex Cloudbook boast, isn't much different.

I'd definitely have to say, we are creatures of habit and repetition.

Start of an Era

I've had many blogs in the past; some of which were an attempt to get my thoughts and ideas out to this sick, yet interesting, digital world, others which were a spur-of-the-moment venture based solely on humiliation of others.

I've quickly come to realize that it's really difficult to categorize the multitude of passionate topics that I love to rant about, whether it's a breaking news bulletin, fantasization about starting someone on fire, black ninja conspiracies, something outlandish or retarded a fellow human being has done in my presense, or even that lovely karma that always seems to bite me in the ass daily; it's hard to manage it all.

...solution: one blog, many topics. (what a revolutional idea?)