Date: 13 Mar 2003 07:25:16 -0000
From: Mike Kristovich <mkristovich@...x.com>
To: bugtraq@...urityfocus.com
Subject: PivX Advisory MK002A Intuit TurboTax Information Disclosure
    Vulnerability




########################################################################

Mike Kristovich, PivX Security Advisory MK#002A

Date:        January 10, 2003

Application: Intuit TurboTax
Version:     All versions up to current.
Bug:         Information in saved Tax Returns discloses Social Security
	     Number, Full Information, and more..
Risk:        Can allow for identity theft, information disclosure
Author:      Mike Kristovich, Security Researcher, PivX Solutions, LLC
             e-mail: mkristovich@...x.com

########################################################################

Sections:

1) Introduction
2) Bug
3) Proof of concept code.
4) Fix
5) Philosophy
6) Closing comments..
7) Contact

______________________________________________________________________


1) Introduction

According to the Jupiter report, 31 percent of online 
households intend to file their taxes over the Web this 
year, up from the 30 percent reported by the Internal 
Revenue Service (IRS) last year. The IRS plans to receive 
80 percent of all returns electronically by 2007. 

Complaints about identity theft have risen 73 percent from 
a year ago, according to a new report from the Federal Trade 
Commission. 

With the influx of e-tax filers and the rise in identity
theft PivX believes this vulnerability should be taken
quite seriously. Someone with a minimal set of computer skills
could locally or remotely obtain confidential information
on  multitude of users.


TurboTax (Advisory #MK002A) and TaxCut (#MK002B) both
save their contents to the hard drive.  These files are
unencrypted, and even with a simple text editor, you can
see all the information you would in the tax return.

These files can be accessed in any number of ways, but the
most likely way would be through unprotected windows shares.

Many ISPs have blocked port 139 among others, but in newer
versions of Windows, you may also be sharing on port 445.
Port 445 is Microsoft Directory Service.  A large number 
of tax files and the identities within can be harvested
in a matter of minutes to hours.  

Another key method to extract these files by means of a P2P
file sharing application such as Limewire, KaZaa, Morpheus,
etc etc. Many users have their P2P applications misconfigured
and this is supported by doing a quick search on the tax file
extension listed below. See the below KaZaa screenshot of a 
local-range search for tax files. A full network search could 
yeild thousands upon thousands of results.:
http://www.pivx.com/kristovich/images/kazaatax.jpg

The bottom line is:
- Be aware of what you are sharing to the public -

There are other ways files could be collected, such as
through a worm, an exploit, or a trojan horse.

Intuit TurboTax files (.tax) are usually named this way:

"YYYY <Last> <First_I.> Tax Return.tax"

and the files are usually located off the root of the drive,
in a directory such as "Tax02" "Tax01" "Tax99", etc.

______________________________________________________________________


2) Bug

Just a small insecurity can lead to a lot of information. 

For TurboTax, you can do a simple scan for the 
last name of the person, and closely following it, you'll
see their social security number.  Browse around that area
of the file and you'll see their street address and more.
If you use turbotax, load up one of your files in a binary
editor and check it out for yourself.

______________________________________________________________________


3) Proof-of-concept code

No proof of concept needed, just use a hex editor or text
editor as files are associated:

(.tax) Hex Editor

View Example Screenshot: 
http://www.pivx.com/kristovich/images/taxfile.jpg


______________________________________________________________________


4) Fix
 
 Intuit has been contacted and is currently working on a solution.

 They have informed us that they will now be encrypting files starting
 in the next version. 

 The best solution is to move saved tax files to a more private place,
 such as a CD-R.  Even if a drive is not shared to the public, you may
 still be at risk through other exploits or trojan horses.

 As mentioned by Becky Worley in a TechTV article tuesday,      
 [http://www.techtv.com/news/security/story/0,24195,3420432,00.html]
 Easy Crypto Deluxe is recommended to password protect your 
 sensitive data. You can download it here: 
 http://www.handybits.com/easycrypto.htm

 We thank Intuit for the extremely fast response on this one,
 keep up the good work! 

______________________________________________________________________



5) Philosophy

Full disclosure can lead to a quick fix, and prevent a problem before
it gets into the wrong hands.  


______________________________________________________________________



6) Closing comments..

In the electronic world, consider nothing secure.  You should never
store this type of information on a live computer. Be careful.
 
______________________________________________________________________

7) Contact
  
  Any questions, comments, complaints, technical questions:

  Mike Kristovich, Researcher
  PivX Solutions, LLC
  mkristovich@...x.com

  Other Inquiries:
  
  Geoff Shively, CHO
  PivX Solutions, LLC
  gshively@...x.com 

 
______________________________________________________________________

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