← Back to team overview

touch-packages team mailing list archive

[Bug 1351113] Re: password input box after suspend/resume was not focused but looked like it was; keyboard input was being intercepted by another window

 

[Expired for Unity because there has been no activity for 60 days.]

** Changed in: unity
       Status: Incomplete => Expired

-- 
You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu
Touch seeded packages, which is subscribed to unity in Ubuntu.
https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1351113

Title:
  password input box after suspend/resume was not focused but looked
  like it was; keyboard input was being intercepted by another window

Status in Unity:
  Expired
Status in “unity” package in Ubuntu:
  Expired

Bug description:
  This is a HUGE SECURITY ISSUE.

  I suspended, then I resumed.

  Upon resume, I was presented the usual screen where you have to insert
  the password to unlock the screen.

  The password input box had a blinking cursor, as expected.
  I tried to type the password but it appeared to be not responding to keystrokes (from an external usb keyboard), meaning the usual dots would not appear at every keystroke.

  I thought the external usb keyboard was not working (due to another
  known bug) so I plugged it to another port, with no luck.

  So I tried to use the builtin keyboard of the laptop, but it wouldn't
  (apparently) respond to keystrokes either.

  So I clicked with the mouse on the language selection indicator in the
  upper right corner of the screen, and selected the (unique and already
  selected) language: spanish. A posteriori I think this was irrelevant.
  What I guess was relevant is that I gave focus to anything other than
  the password input box and then clicked on the password input box
  again.

  So now it worked and I could type my password and unlock the screen.

  AND HERE'S THE TERRIFYING THING: after inserting the password and
  unlocking the screen, Google Chrome was the active window (because it
  had been prior to suspending), and in the active tab there was
  facebook open. In the status-update textarea there were all the keys
  that I had been hitting when trying to input the password.

  Do you realize the enormous security hazard here? If I had typed the
  whole password quickly without looking at the screen and hit Enter
  before realizing the keystrokes were not being intercepted by the
  password input box, I could have posted my password on facebook
  without seeing it. Perhaps even twice. Fortunately, I saw the
  keystrokes were not being registered from the very beginning, and
  reacted by repeating the first few characters several times, and then
  hitting random keys, so I only typed a nonsense sequence of characters
  that doesn't even remotely resemble my password and I never got to hit
  the Enter key anyway.

  
  So, to sum up the issue:
  - after resume, the password input box wasn't focused and it should have been
  - worse: it completely looked like it was focused, with a blinking cursor inside, so everything looked like keyboard was not working at all
  - worst of all: keystrokes were actually being intercepted by an active application (which was not visible because the screen was locked). NOTHING that is "behind" the locked screen should be able to intercept keystrokes or mouse interaction, under any circumstance. If you are not seing something, that something must be non-existent to keyboard and mouse interaction.

  
  This is far from systematically reproducible. This is the first time I have observed this, ever, and have no idea what triggered this. I suspend and resume very often on a daily basis so this must be something pretty rare. Yet it is hugely dangerous.
  My very real-life case could have led to posting my password on facebook.
  Imagine if the active window was a terminal and if you happen to have a funny password such as "sudo rm -f /*"

  ProblemType: Bug
  DistroRelease: Ubuntu 14.04
  Package: unity 7.2.2+14.04.20140714-0ubuntu1
  ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.13.0-32.57-generic 3.13.11.4
  Uname: Linux 3.13.0-32-generic x86_64
  ApportVersion: 2.14.1-0ubuntu3.2
  Architecture: amd64
  CompizPlugins: No value set for `/apps/compiz-1/general/screen0/options/active_plugins'
  CurrentDesktop: Unity
  Date: Fri Aug  1 02:40:29 2014
  InstallationDate: Installed on 2013-10-11 (293 days ago)
  InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 13.04 "Raring Ringtail" - Release amd64 (20130424)
  SourcePackage: unity
  UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to trusty on 2014-05-24 (68 days ago)

To manage notifications about this bug go to:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/unity/+bug/1351113/+subscriptions