Short for Padding Oracle Exploitation Tool, Poet is able to decrypt secret data encrypted by the JavaServer Faces web development framework without knowing the secret key. Attackers can use the technique to access private customer data on websites operated by banks, e-commerce companies and other businesses, according to a paper (PDF) released in February by researchers Juliano Rizzo and Thai Duong. In some cases, the exploit can be used to run malicious software on the underlying server.
Released Monday, Poet exploits a well-known vulnerability in the way many websites encrypt text stored in cookies, hidden HTML fields and request parameters. The text is designed to help servers keep track of purchases, user preferences and other settings while at the same time ensuring account credentials and other sensitive data can't be intercepted. By modifying the encrypted information and sending it back to the server, the attackers can recover the plaintext for small chunks of the data, allowing them to access passwords and restricted parts of a webserver.
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