I wanted to install Cisco VPN client on BackTrack3. You can get the Cisco VPN client source using the following command:
wget ftp://ftp.cs.cornell.edu/pub/rvr/upload/vpnclient-linux-4.8.00.0490-k9.tar.gz
tar zxvf vpnclient-linux-4.8.00.0490-k9.tar.gz
cd vpnclient/
wget http://tuxx-home.at/projects/cisco-vpnclient/vpnclient-linux-2.6.22.diff
patch < vpnclient-linux-2.6.22.diff
./vpn_install

I got this information from the following blog.
I ran into an error whereby the kernel sources were not found for the VPN client to install. I then got the BackTrack3 kernel sources.
cd /lib/
wget http://www.offensive-security.com/kernel.lzm
mkdir test
lzm2dir kernel.lzm test

Now go into the vpnclient directory and execute the following:
./vpn_install

Accept the defaults (except in my case I selected “No” on automatically start VPN client). When it asks for the sources point it to:
/lib/test/usr/src/linux-2.6.21.5

Then the VPN Client should compile without any issues. Then you just need to place your Cisco VPN client Profile (.pcf) in the /etc/opt/cisco-vpnclient/Profiles directory. You will need to first start the VPN client service first using:

/etc/init.d/vpnclient_init start

Once the service is started just connect using:

vpnclient connect mypcffile user test password <whatever>

Please note that the full name of the Profile file in the above case is mypcffile.pcf but I’ve deliberately excluded the .pcf extension.
This should work.

I decided to play around with Spike fuzzer and encountered some weird errors during installation. I was using gcc 4.1.2.

gcc -ggdb -o generic_listen_tcp generic_listen_tcp.o dlrpc.o 
dlargs.o spike.o listener.o hdebug.o tcpstuff.o 
spike_dcerpc.o base64.o udpstuff.o spike_oncrpc.o -ldl -L. -ldlrpc
/usr/bin/ld: generic_listen_tcp: hidden symbol `__stack_chk_fail_local' in
/usr/lib/libc_nonshared.a(stack_chk_fail_local.oS) is referenced by DSO
/usr/bin/ld: final link failed: Nonrepresentable section on output
collect2: ld returned 1 exit status
make: *** [generic_listen_tcp] Error 1

If you are also getting the same error, I would recommend that you do the following

SPIKE/SPIKE/src$ ./configure

Now open the Makefile in your favorite editor and edit the CFLAGS line to include the following option:

-fno-stack-protector

This is how my CFLAGS line looks like in the Makefile:

CFLAGS = -Wall -funsigned-char -c -fPIC -ggdb -fno-stack-protector

This should make it build fine (I do get a few warnings but that’s cool…it still does not result in a no-build.

If this is the error you are getting then one of the solutions is to reset your root password on the MySQL database server.

$ pkill mysql
$ sudo mysqld --skip-grant-privileges
$ mysql

At this point you get the mysql command shell. You will need to update the root password and flush the table when you reset the password.

mysql> set UPDATE mysql.user SET Password=PASSWORD('YOUR_NEW_PASSWORD') WHERE User='root';
mysql> FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

Now that you’ve flushed your passwords, just restart your mysql daemon.

$ sudo pkill mysqld
$ sudo /etc/init.d/mysqld start
$ mysql -u root -p
Enter Password: YOUR_NEW_PASSWORD
mysql>

You should be all set now!

I kept getting the following errors on my AD domain in the event viewer and accounts kept locking out:
Pre-authentication failed:
User Name:      user1
User ID:                DOMAIN\user1
Service Name:   krbtgt/DOMAIN.COM
Pre-Authentication Type:        0x0
Failure Code:   0x12
Client Address: 192.168.246.134

For more information, see Help and Support Center at
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.

In the Directory Service logs I see the following entry:
[snip]
Active Directory could not update the following object with changes
received from the domain controller at the following network address
because Active Directory was busy processing information.

Turns out this happens if you have samba/winbind/AD type infrastructure. If someone has some processes running (Even if they us sudo) and happen to change their password while the process is running on unix (and using kerberos authentication), the accounts lockout because the kerberos ticket granting ticket (krbtgt) is not current and any object access is considered to be a failed login attempt. This locks out the accounts if you have account lockout implemented in your AD domain security policy.

I finally got a candidate on the Common Vulnerabilities & Exposures (CVE) list. Apache Tomahawk also released a critical security update due to my disclosure to iDefense. In case, people are wondering I did not get any money for the disclosure to iDefense. It was just a case of responsible disclosure.
The advisory can be found at:
http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2007/Jun/0305.html.

An interesting thing happened today …I was trying to redirect some input to /dev/null in cygwin…using something like:
some_exec -p params 2>&/dev/null | grep blah
I kept getting an error : bash: Ambiguous redirect.
I then realized that I should probably doing a simple direct and not a re-direct…seemed to solve my problem. Come to think of it…it makes sense, why should I need to redirect when I’m sending it to /dev/null…should simply be able to direct it using:
some_exec -p paraa 2>/dev/null | grep blah

I recently got a Sansa e260 4 GB MP3 player just for kicks to check it out. Seems like the hardware runs a stripped down Windows install having FAT32 file system on it. What was interesting was, that somehow my files got corrupted and had to format the drive (My Computer -> eSansa(G:) -> Right click to “Format..”). All the folders disappeared and when I restarted they reappeared. What seemed to crash it was the presence of a few folders that I created not realizing that Sansa did not support folders as the HelpDesk person told me. Makes me wonder what kind of unstable condition would a folder creation have caused. I think I’ll need to further research this error.