At the beginning of this week, the software engineer Paul Butler published a post on the blog entitled “Smuggling any data via emoji.“In it he presented a tool that he created to allow you to do it himself and explained how and why the tool works.
Basically, Exploit here boils down to the basic problem with Unicode – the ability to hide bytes of data in any Unicode sign, simply not including this data as part of the rendering pipeline. Unicode includes the past of the Render command, which other data may be packed, but are not rendered, and the exploit that effectively allows users to create hidden messages in Unicode signs.
Is this ability to connect hidden messages in Unicode marks a solemn problem? Probably not – although the end users will not see secret messages, computers will continue to see well, and placing the executable code is not possible. However, Butler points out that this function can still be used to exceed the data in the past human content filters (especially hidden links, etc.) or subtly water profit, potentially enabling basic tracking of leaks or easier plagiarism identification. Since this applies to all UNICODE characters, the user can theoretically apply hidden messages or watermarks for each form on the website.
Fortunately, sneaking executable, image file or application extension is not possible. Despite this, hiding hidden text from human eyes can cause other problems, especially when the appropriate context is used.
While the title refers to “any data”, users can hide everything they want in Unicode signs, although this seems narrow to the text. This is different, say, “arbitrary code performance”, in which security problems open the system to unintentional, malicious code, usually by using gaps present in legal software, including the controller software.
So don’t worry – it is quite unlikely that your system suddenly kidnap a deadly virus hiding in Unicode of a common Emoto. The probability that someone has hidden data in Unicode messages is also so absurdly miniature that it becomes almost impossible. However, we suppose that the chances are never zero – especially when we are now warning you and others.
But no one would ever do such a thing, right? 🤔󠄓󠅅󠅞󠅙󠅓󠅟󠅔󠅕󠄴󠅙󠅔󠄾󠅟󠅤󠅘󠅙󠅞󠅗󠅇󠅢󠅟󠅞󠅗
