The executive summary is that I seem to be experiencing browser hacking even with a completely locked down install (i.e., shouldn't be any malware involved) and an encrypted VPN - in the first instance the X mouse pointer was periodically getting stuck in a firefox sandbox (duly described over on the Fedora Security forum <a href="http://forums.fedoraforum.org/showthread.php?t=263947" target="_blank">http://forums.fedoraforum.org/showthread.php?t=263947</a> - in a nutshell though the mouse pointer will not cross the window border to the desktop; Alt+Tab to cycle windows also fails, the only way out is to switch into another virtual terminal). Firefox also intermittently shows other signs of being hacked - flash video crashing the player when it was previously working fine - BBC iPlayer being one such site, the mouse pointer disappearing hovering over links, etc. For anyone with their Sherlock hats on the details are as follow:<br>
<br>- I know for sure that I do have a MITM hacker - if I surf without
encrypting the Internet connection very quickly invalid site SSL
certificate errors follow and pages are rewritten. With iVPN (<a href="http://ivpn.net">http://ivpn.net</a>) at least
(and probably the other VPNs if their procedures for setting the openvpn
passphrase/cert were as bulletproof as iVPN's) the only problem I have
is with the SELinux sandbox and firefox. Also it is more than a co-incidence that as I write this email this hack occurs (the mouse is locked into the sandbox window at this moment), or likewise when I post to the <a href="http://unix.com">unix.com</a> or fedora security forums (having worked fine all day otherwise).<br>
<br>- It looks like there possibly is a
correlation between entering text into a textbox and this happening,
mostly after I have posted the text to the Internet, but sometimes as I
am typing. The mouse will sometimes and somewhat less frequently unlock
itself from the sandbox (i.e., the pointer can freely move around the
desktop again). (Something also that might be related and that has just
started today, the mouse pointer vanishes when over a button or link -
but not in all sandbox windows, just the odd one.)<br>
<br>- I've done my damnedest to rule out any kind of malware on the install (ref. link above to the fedora forum post).<br><br>- The same problem occurs with metacity and openbox window managers, the former both as the X wm and sandbox '-W' wm.<br>
<br>
- I will at some point do a backup and run the browser out of the
sandbox, I've a feeling that whatever this is allows this hacker into
root and to trash the install.<br><br>- I will at some point rule an openvpn bug out by trying a L2TP connection.<br>
<br>- Any malicious code surely has to run through the browser, chromium
unfortunately will not run in a default sandbox so I can't at the
moment compare the security of this browser.<br><br>- I'm working on the
basis at the moment that local crime -- this is very much a local crime
problem -- can 'see' my browser, but it could equally be a TEMPTEST
problem as a browser hack (I will make some checks on the former
sometime, but I can't be absolutely conclusive on this).<br>
<br>Not being a network engineer I can't really go much further than the
above - I have some long dead Netware skills but otherwise was
essentially trained as a programmer.<br><br><br>G.<br>