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Paper: Socket Capable Browser Plugins Result In Transparent Proxy Abuse



Abstract
"Transparent proxies allow organizations to influence and monitor the traffic 
from its users without their knowledge 
or participation. Transparent proxies act as intermediaries between a user and 
end destination, and aren't generally 
apparent to users sitting behind them. Enterprises, Hotels, and Internet 
Service Providers often use transparent proxy 
products to lower bandwidth consumption,speed up page loads for their users, 
and for monitoring and filtering of web 
surfing. When certain transparent proxy architectures are in use an attacker 
can achieve a partial Same Origin Policy 
Bypass resulting in access to any host reachable by the proxy via the use of 
client plug-in technologies (such as Flash, 
Applets, etc) with socket capabilities. This write up will describe this 
architecture, how it may be abused by Flash, 
its existence in various network layouts, and mitigations."

Paper Link:
http://www.thesecuritypractice.com/the_security_practice/2009/03/socket-capable-browser-plugins-result-in-transparent-proxy-abuse.html

Regards,
- Robert