What is clickjacking

• Clickjacking, also known as a “UI redress attack”, is when an attacker uses multiple transparent or opaque layers to trick a user into clicking on a button or link on another page when they were intending to click on the top level page. Thus, the attacker is “hijacking” clicks meant for their page and routing them to another page, most likely owned by another application, domain, or both.
• There are several variations of the clickjacking attack, such as:
  • Likejacking – a technique in which the Facebook “Like” button is manipulated, causing users to “like” a page they actually did not intend to like.
  • Cursorjacking – a UI redressing technique that changes the cursor for the position the user perceives to another position. Cursorjacking relies on vulnerabilities in Flash and the Firefox browser, which have now been fixed.
• Using a similar technique, keystrokes can also be hijacked. With a carefully crafted combination of stylesheets, iframes, and text boxes, a user can be led to believe they are typing in the password to their email or bank account, but are instead typing into an invisible frame controlled by the attacker.
• Clickjacking is when a cybercriminal tricks a user into clicking a link that seemingly takes them one place but instead routs them to the attacker’s chosen destination most often for malicious purposes. Clickjacking is also known as redressing or IFRAME overlay. In many cases, the user may not realize that their clicks aren't going where they're supposed to, which can open up a number of vulnerabilities.
• Impact - The hacker has several ways they can use the redirected clicks for their own gain. A common form of clickjacking involves mirroring a login and password form on a website. The user assumes that they're entering their information into a usual form but they're actually entering it in fields the hacker has overlaid on the UI. Hackers will target passwords, credit card numbers and any other valuable data they can exploit.
• An attacker may also choose to redirect the clicks to download malware or gain access to vital systems as a starting point for an advanced persistent threat (APT). This spells trouble for any organizations that rely on protecting sensitive data and intellectual property.
• Examples
  • Links can be hidden under media and trigger a particular action, such as liking a Facebook page or ordering a product on Amazon. The user may need to meet certain conditions for the attack to actually be successful, such as staying logged into social media accounts.
  • If the user gets tricked into downloading something on their computer, then they have to deal with a compromised computer. In the best case scenario, they can get rid of the malware through an anti-virus scan. In the worst case, they would need to reformat their computer and reinstall the operating system.
  • Clickjacking can turn system features on and off, such as enabling your microphone and camera when a Javascript prompt asks for permission to access this information. It could also pull location data from your computer or other details that could facilitate future crimes.
  • For example, imagine an attacker who builds a web site that has a button on it that says “click here for a free iPod”. However, on top of that web page, the attacker has loaded an iframe with your mail account, and lined up exactly the “delete all messages” button directly on top of the “free iPod” button. The victim tries to click on the “free iPod” button but instead actually clicked on the invisible “delete all messages” button. In essence, the attacker has “hijacked” the user’s click, hence the name “Clickjacking”.
  • One of the most notorious examples of Clickjacking was an attack against the Adobe Flash plugin settings page. By loading this page into an invisible iframe, an attacker could trick a user into altering the security settings of Flash, giving permission for any Flash animation to utilize the computer’s microphone and camera.
  • Clickjacking also made the news in the form of a Twitter worm. This clickjacking attack convinced users to click on a button which caused them to re-tweet the location of the malicious page, and propagated massively.
  • There have also been clickjacking attacks abusing Facebook’s “Like” functionality. Attackers can trick logged-in Facebook users to arbitrarily like fan pages, links, groups, etc