Sun Developer on the Security of OpenOffice
In a recent blog, Sun developer Malte Timmermann took a position on the security concerns of the Ecole Superieure d'Informatique, Electronique, Automatique (ESIEA) in Paris-Laval, France. The subject was the vulnerability of OpenOffice, involving document macros, for example.
In the context of the Black Hat Europe 2009 Briefings conference in Amsterdam mid-April, Eric Filiol and Jean-Paul Fizaine of the cryptology lab at the French engineering academy, ESIEA, presented a paper of around 70 pages describing security holes in OpenOffice 3.x. The concern was the newest OpenOffice release of October 2008 and the steady increase in malware for office applications. Their reasoning was that the growing availability of free software invited a larger role for macro viruses. The threat scenario for their research came from a Python virus.
Sun Microsystems contributor and OpenOffice developer Malte Timmermann has now systematically challenged the results of the two academic colleagues in a long blog entry spread out over six chapters, much as the original research paper. Chapter 2, for example, covers the security features of the ODF document format. The two Frenchmen mention in their paper that ODF uses zip containers. Timmermann's response: "There are many hints on how to prove that ODF files are using zip containers - nobody ever said it would be different." The implication of possible wrongdoing especially bothered him: "In the context of this paper it sounds like this would become a tool for doing evil things - manipulating ODF documents. Actually, the whole purpose of an open standard is that different kinds of tools can make use of it."
Timmermann also addressed the issue of the danger of macros. "Sure," he wrote, "the intention of macros is that macro authors can do powerful things. Good things as well as evil things. And it doesn't matter which tool I use to create them." He concurs that care is needed: "People never should run macros if they are not sure that they can trust them."
The OpenOffice developer hardly agreed with many more of the ESIEA colleague's findings. Instead he rebutted many of their arguments and referred to the benefits of the ODF format as well as improvements already made to OpenOffice. Some of the faults found in the ESEIA paper Timmermann had already addressed a few years earlier in a blog of August 2006, such as the possible manipulation of menu entries and malware in signatures.
All in all, the Sun contributor felt that OpenOffice's security mechanisms were better than the ESIEA paper claimed. He wrote: "...with OOo 3.2 there should be some more improvements..." He continues: "The idea in the paper about a special OOo version ('Trusted OOo') is interesting, but would mean to create an isle. That special version would warn every time you load a document which was created/modified with vanilla OOo or any other ODF application." The suggestion that certain parts of the OpenOffice code should be closed for security reasons elicited the response, "Beside the fact that it's not an option, would proprietary software make attacks only more difficult [security by obscurity], but not impossible."
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.
News
-
Canonical Bumps LTS Support to 12 years
If you're worried that your Ubuntu LTS release won't be supported long enough to last, Canonical has a surprise for you in the form of 12 years of security coverage.
-
Fedora 40 Beta Released Soon
With the official release of Fedora 40 coming in April, it's almost time to download the beta and see what's new.
-
New Pentesting Distribution to Compete with Kali Linux
SnoopGod is now available for your testing needs
-
Juno Computers Launches Another Linux Laptop
If you're looking for a powerhouse laptop that runs Ubuntu, the Juno Computers Neptune 17 v6 should be on your radar.
-
ZorinOS 17.1 Released, Includes Improved Windows App Support
If you need or desire to run Windows applications on Linux, there's one distribution intent on making that easier for you and its new release further improves that feature.
-
Linux Market Share Surpasses 4% for the First Time
Look out Windows and macOS, Linux is on the rise and has even topped ChromeOS to become the fourth most widely used OS around the globe.
-
KDE’s Plasma 6 Officially Available
KDE’s Plasma 6.0 "Megarelease" has happened, and it's brimming with new features, polish, and performance.
-
Latest Version of Tails Unleashed
Tails 6.0 is based on Debian 12 and includes GNOME 43.
-
KDE Announces New Slimbook V with Plenty of Power and KDE’s Plasma 6
If you're a fan of KDE Plasma, you'll be thrilled to hear they've announced a new Slimbook with an AMD CPU and the latest version of KDE Plasma desktop.
-
Monthly Sponsorship Includes Early Access to elementary OS 8
If you want to get a glimpse of what's in the pipeline for elementary OS 8, just set up a monthly sponsorship to help fund its continued existence.