Charles Edge: Attacking Apple’s Xsan

Black Hat Briefings, Las Vegas 2006 [Video] Presentations from the security conference

A fundamental of many SAN solutions is to use metadata to provide shared access to a SAN. This is true in iSCSI or FibreChannel and across a wide variety of products. Metadata can offer a way around the built-in security features provided that attackers have FibreChannel connectivity. SAN architecture represents a symbol of choosing speed over security. Metadata, the vehicle that provides speed, is a backdoor into the system built around it. In this session we will cover using Metadata to DoS or gain unauthorized access to an Xsan over the FibreChannel network."