Vulnerability and attack labs. In each lab, you are given a system (or program) with hidden vulnerabilities. Based upon the hints provided, you must find these vulnerabilities, and then devise strategies to exploit them. You also need to demonstrate ways to defend against the attacks or comment on the prevailing mitigating methods and their effectiveness.
Exploration labs. The objective of these labs is to enhance your learning via observation, playing and exploration, so you can understand what security principles feel like in a real system; and to provide you with opportunities to apply security principles in analyzing and evaluating systems.
Design and implementation labs. These labs give you the opportunity to apply security principles in designing and implementing systems. The labs are intended to be meaningful assignments that do not require a major commitment of time. The labs are listed below, organized by chapter, together with an estimate of the number of weeks required for the typical student to complete a lab, assuming about 10 hours per week devoted to the task.
Chapter 3 - User Authentication
Pluggable Authentication Module: explore a flexible authentication technique. (1 week)
Chapter 4 - Access Control
Web Access Control: explore the Same-Origin Access Control Policy in web browsers (1 week) —For Ubuntu9.11 VM
—For Ubuntu11.04 and Ubuntu12.04 VMs
Linux Capability-Based Access Control: explore the capability-based access control in Linux (1 week)
—For Ubuntu9.11 VM
—For Ubuntu11.04 and Ubuntu12.04 VMs
Role-Based Access Control (Minix): design and implement an integrated access control system for Minix that uses both capability-based and role-based access control mechanisms. Students need to modify Minix kernel to implement both capability and RBAC. (4 weeks)
Capability-Based Access Control (Minix): design and implement a capability-based access control system for Minix (3 weeks)
Chapter 5 - Database Security
SQL Injection Attack: experience the SQL-Injection attacks (1 week)
Chapter 6 - Malicious Software
Clickjacking Attack: experience the ClickJacking attacks (1 week)
Chapter 7 - Denial-of-Service Attacks
TCP/IP Attacks: exploit the vulnerabilities of the TCP/IP protocols (2 weeks)
SYN Cookie: explore the SYN Cookies mechanism in Linux. (1 week)
Chapter 9 - Firewalls
Firewall (Linux): implement a simple firewall for Linux (2 weeks)
Linux Firewall Exploration: This is the redesign of the Linux Firewall Design/Implementation Lab. The focus is shifted from programming to exploration. Students will explore various firewall-related technologies, such as netfilter, web proxy, URL rewriting, and using SSH tunnels to evade egress filtering (1 week)
Firewall (Minix): implement a simple firewall for Minix (2 weeks)
Chapter 10 - Buffer Overflow
Buffer Overflow Vulnerability: exploit the buffer overflow vulnerability using the shell-code approach (1 week)
—For Ubuntu9.11 VM
—For Ubuntu11.04 VM
—For Ubuntu12.04 VM
Return-to-libc Attack: exploit the buffer-overflow vulnerabilities using the return-to-libc attack (1 week)
Chapter 11 - Software Security
Format String Vulnerability: exploit the format string vulnerability (1 week)
Race Condition Vulnerability: exploit the race condition vulnerability (1 week)
—For Ubuntu9.11 VM
—For Ubuntu11.04 and Ubuntu12.04 VMs
Set-UID Program Vulnerability: exploit the vulnerabilities of the privileged Set-UID programs (1 week)
—For Ubuntu9.11 VM
—For Ubuntu11.04 and Ubuntu12.04 VMs
Cross-Site Request Forgery Attack: exploiting cross-site request forgery vulnerabilities (1 week)
Cross-Site Scripting Attack: exploiting cross-site scripting vulnerabilities (1 week)
Chapter 12 - OS Security
Chroot Sandbox Vulnerability: explore how the chroot sandbox can be broken (1 week)
Encrypted File System (Minix): design and implement an encrypted file system for Minix (4 weeks)
Set-RandomUID Sandbox (Minix): design and implement a simple sandbox for Minix (1 week)
Address Space randomization (Minix): randomize stack and heap in Minix to improve security. (2 weeks)
Chapter 20 - Symmetric Encryption and Message Confidentiality
Secret Key Encryption: explore secret-key encryption and its applications using OpenSSL (1 week)
Chapter 21 - Public-Key Cryptography and Message Authentication
One-Way Hash Function: explore one-way hash function and its applications using OpenSSL (1 week)
Public-Key Infrastructure: explore public-key cryptography, digital signature, certificate, and PKI using OpenSSL (1 week)
Chapter 22 - Internet Security Protocols and Standards
DNS Pharming Attacks: exploit the vulnerabilities of the DNS protocol to launch Pharming attacks (2 weeks)
Packet Sniffing & Spoofing: explore how sniffing and spoofing tools are implemented (1 week)
Virtual Private Network (Linux): implement a simple VPN in Linux (a comprehensive project). This lab involves encryption, hash, public key certificates, SSL, and network tunneling techniquess (4 weeks)
IPSec (Minix): implement a simplified IPSec protocol for Minix (4 weeks)