Collaborative RCE Tool Library - official discussion thread

[dELTA]

This is the official discussion thread for the Collaborative RCE Tool Library (http://www.woodmann.com/collaborative/tools).

Here you can submit any feedback about it, report any bugs you may have found in it (please don't report individual moderation issues here though, they should be reported by using the built in moderator reporting feature that can be found at the bottom of each tool page), discuss anything concerning it with other members or admins, or simply thank dELTA for the months of hard work he put into designing and implementing the damn thing.

Enjoy!

[JMI]

We'll all now gather around the yule log and sing the songs of praises to dELTA for spending all that time on a project which was dear to his heart and which he would have done anyway, even if we never thanked him.

All Hail the Collaborative RCE Tool Library Maker, and please tip your glasses with Vodka, because it is what dELTA usually drinks. (Don't say that word too loud around Zairon, however, because he's sworn off the stuff after a visit with dELTA, and is now sticking to red wine.)

Thanks dELTA for all your efforts!

Regards,

[Woodmann]

Holy oh holy crap.........

It has come to be.

remember the last 8 years of not asking for tools????......
Well, that has changed. Dont ask ME why, all I know is now you can find all the tools you need right here.

Whats next?? We get to name targets? .

dELTA be praised.

Luv, Woodmann

[xenakis]

Thank you for your hard work, much appreciated! Happy holidays indeed

[dELTA]

Thanks everyone, I'm glad you all like it!

I'm also very happy to say that tool submissions and updates started rolling in within half an hour after the release, and have continued to do since then! It's working exactly as I've been hoping, with different people submitting and updating exactly those tools and tool details that they are familiar and up-to-date with! This in turn makes sure that everyone can always come here and expect the most up-to-date details on all tools, in a way that would be completely impossible if the site was maintained and updated by only a single person of team, however active and dedicated they would be!

So, keep up the good work with the tool submissions and updates, and remember where to go whenever you're in need of a new tool for any RCE purpose whatsoever!

[Silver]

Excellent stuff dELTA, much appreciated.

[JMI]

dELTA's young, shy, and easily overwhelmed with praise. Go gently with him!



Regards,

[Shub-nigurrath]

Hi,
this is an interesting thing..hope will not be like previous RCE related wikis, more or less all death.. 10x for your efforts!

Single teams era is in my opinion going to slowly disappear, on the one hand the recent protections starts to be very complex and already now at the edge of what single isolated reverser can do and on the other hand tools are appearing not only from us, but also from official companies (like what it is already happening for hacking scene). Collaboration and knowledge sharing is the only way to go in my opinion, like the white-hats are already doing...

.. and you know how much we believe in this..

[JMI]

One of the advantages of the system dELTA set up is that members can update and comment on the tools to keep their fellow reversers informed and up to date on developments, as well as the tools themselves.

Regards,

[Externalist]

Too good to be true!!! I'm sure every reverser around the world will appreciate this... Thanks for spending your free time on this wonderful project!!!

[dELTA]

Thanks again for all the praise everyone, it's very appreciated! And again, high quality tool submissions and updates (and good new category suggestions with them) are continuing to pour in, this is so great!

And Shub, I only use wiki software as a back-end, the rest of the design is made explicitly to counter all the disadvantages and negative effects of a "common wiki", which is what practically always make normal wikis turn into an uncontrollable mess and die a painful death, so I really think this will be completely different!

Keep the updates coming people!

[Admiral]

Oh wow, this is pretty special.
I knew there'd be a lot to look through but I was quite unprepared for such an extensive collection of entirely relevant material. And all beautifully categorised, as well . The fact that there are apparently so many promising-sounding tools out there that I've never even heard of is testament to how important this library really is.

Thanks so much for taking this upon yourself, dELTA - I've already found it invaluable, even though the project is still in its infancy. Once I've had a chance to thoroughly scour the database I'll be sure to contribute anything I feel is missing.

Merry Christmas indeed
Admiral

[dELTA]

I'm glad to hear that yet another highly respectable reverser shares my enthusiasm and opinion of the potential of this library, thanks Admiral!

Updates and additions are continuing to pour in, which is very promising for the future of this project! Remember that the quality of it depends on contributions from all users, so please make sure to plug any holes you find when browsing the different categories, whether it's a missing tool or outdated info for an existing tool (or even just a rating vote for any tool in there that you have experience with)! Looking forward to your (and everyone else's) contributions) Admiral!

Please also help spread the word about the library to anyone you think might be interested in it.

[tDJ]

Is it possible to add a section for the changelog?

[dELTA]

More exactly what do you mean tDJ?

[EDIT]
Ok, I saw your other thread and answered it there.

[Silver]

Hi dELTA, think I've found a small bug. If I go to the library then click on "My Contributions", on the resulting page I am unable to expand the "by target"/"by tool" categories. When I mouseover the + symbol an underscore appears; clicking the + does nothing. It's as though the CSS for that icon is broken on that one page. Clicking the library logo (or manually returning to the front page) lets me expand the categories as normal.

Firefox 2.0.0.11.

[Shub-nigurrath]

The library is starting to be quite big and an extended search function is becoming an urgent addition. The google engine is not satisfactory, most of the times doesn't give results, it is not up-to-date, because of google spiders delays, and is not able to resolve dynamic pages..
When there will be a custom internal search engine?

[dELTA]

Google has just started to index it, so let's give it some time. Also, the category hierarchy should be very efficient for finding most things.

There are a bunch of obstacles for creating a local search engine, so I will probably don't have time to complete such a thing in a while (other things have much higher priority), but I will look into it later.

[EDIT]
Hmm, on second thought, I might be able to whip something together sooner than I thought, stay tuned...

[dELTA]

And thanks for the heads-up Silver, I've been planning to remove those pages altogether actually, for several reasons, so now I did. Problem solved.

[dELTA]

I'm happy to report that all the tool pages are now properly indexed by Google, and thus the "search option" in CRCETL works like a charm. I will still be looking into adding a "local" search option too though, as soon as time permits.

[KaKeeware]

just an idea - why not using PAD files to refresh info about the updated tools automatically?
a lot of tools use these to submit the software to the sites like tucows or download.com.

see: http://www.asp-shareware.org/pad/

A.

[dELTA]

Hi KaKeeware, and thanks for your suggestion. I'm indeed familiar with PAD files, and there are sadly several disadvantages making them unsuitable for the Collaborative RCE Tool Library:

They contain only information from the application/tool authors themselves, while the CRCETL is meant to contain quality information from real users of the tools, not semi-facts with a sale-spin.
Practically only more serious shareware program authors use PAD files for their products (contrary to smaller informal tools, most free tools, and also more serious commercial tools). This applicable category of tools is quite uncommon in this field, so this feature would sadly not be applicable to most tools to begin with (irrespective of the quality and desirability of the contents of the PAD files).

Actually, both these problems are two of the main reasons to create this tool library to begin with. With its update RSS feeds (both individual, per category or for the entire library), it's meant to be a quality source of PAD-equivalent information for all RCE tools, created collaboratively by the people who know the tools best, from a user perspective!

Thanks for your input anyway, suggestions and feedback is always appreciated.

[evlncrn8]

hmm, what do we do if the tool type sort of overlaps?... making multiple entries could get messy and be a right pain to update

[Maximus]

@delta:
read http://www.google.com/coop/
and add a single custom engine based on http address of the library -setting to NOT return other results that those in site.

You then have your personal google search on your library. No need to wait refresh or such.

[dELTA]

Thanks for the tip Maximus, I'll look into that. I will also see what I can do for a fully local search engine soon. I have reserved some time to do some update work on CRCETL during the next three weeks. Hopefully a local search engine and some other cool stuff will come out of it. Stay tuned...

And evlncrn8, if you are referring to multiple categories for the same tool, this is one of the main ideas that have always been handled from the start. The entry of a tool will automatically appear in all categories that it is tagged as being member of. It is really the same entry though, so if any of these locations are updated, it will be immediately reflected in every other place where the tool is visible too.

[dELTA]

During the last week I've applied a bunch of additions and smaller bug fixes to the Collaborative RCE Tool Library site.

If you notice any problems, please let me know!

Please see the following update announcement for more details:

http://www.woodmann.com/forum/showthread.php?t=11349

Enjoy!

[dELTA]

I just made the following updates to the CRCETL:

Switched the search engine to Google Custom Search.
Fixed a bug that previously made the "Full Library Index" page not display correctly for all users (this page is available from the left hand menu, and at the direct URL http://www.woodmann.com/collaborative/tools/index.php/Special:Allpages, and is a very good way to get an overview of the library, see if a certain tool is already in there, or just quickly find a certain tool page).
Fixed a bug that previously made the "Most Recent Updates" page not display correctly for all users (this page is available from the left hand menu, and at the direct URL http://www.woodmann.com/collaborative/tools/index.php/Special:WhatsNew/RCE_Tools/feed?recursive=1, and is good for keeping track of the most recent updates to the library if you for some reason don't want to use the mcuh better suited RSS feed for this (http://www.woodmann.com/collaborative/tools/index.php/Special:FeedListing/RCE_Tools/feed?recursive=1&feed_type=rss)).

Enjoy!

[JMI]

dELTA keeps "polishing" his baby and it keeps shinning brighter and brighter. Keep up the good work!

Build a better Collaborative RCE Library and the whole world will beat a path to your server.

Regards,

[condzero]

I think this concept is great. Hopefully, more ppl will share and use this very useful library.

Quote:

All Hail the Collaborative RCE Tool Library Maker, and please tip your glasses with Vodka, because it is what dELTA usually drinks. (Don't say that word too loud around Zairon, however, because he's sworn off the stuff after a visit with dELTA, and is now sticking to red wine.)

That would be me, also.

cheers mate.

[Admiral]

That's a thankless job you're running there, dELTA. It's so very easy for us all to take and give nothing back, but I'll take the liberty to speak for everyone when I say that we truly appreciate your efforts with the CRCETL. I'm not going to make this year's RECON, but you can rely on me for a pint when our paths meet

[dELTA]

Thanks for the kind words everyone, I'm glad you like the concept and the library as much as I do. And please keep spreading the word and keep your own tool updates coming (which is indeed the very best way to show appreciation for the library, and it's also never too late to start contributing)!

So whenever you get word of a new (or even updated) tool, take a two-second look on the "Full Library Index" page (http://www.woodmann.com/collaborative/tools/index.php/Special:Allpages) to see if it's in the library, and if not, take yet another minute to add it, for both your own and thousands of other people's future benefit.

But then again, I won't turn down a beer or two either.

[JMI]

He really means he wouldn't turn down a "bottle or two" of vodka. Chilled, of course.

Regards,

[bobby]

@dELTA
Is something wrong with the library in last couple of days? If I try to edit/update the page about Malzilla, it stay forever at "loading, please wait" stage.
Is this problem just at my end here, or it is so for everyone?

[JMI]

I just tried opening a category entry with version 2.0.0.14 and it worked without issue. I then updated Mozilla to version 2.0.0.17 and tried again and still had no problem opening an item for possible editing.

Check you are running the latest version and perhaps try again. It appears the issue is on your end.

Regards,

[bobby]

I'm talking about the library's entry for my tool - Malzilla, I can't update the page:
https://www.woodmann.com/collaborative/tools/index.php/Malzilla

Latest version is 1.2.0, published yesterday.

If I click on "Click this button to instantly update..." it opens the new page, but the form does not fulfill with the data, so that I can edit that data.

btw. I'm using Firefox 3.x, in the case you think it is problem with my browser.

[JMI]

My bad!

From a quick read I thought you were having a problem with spelling "Mozilla". Duh!

Anyway, just opened your page and updated it without problem to list version 1.2.0 dated November 2, 2008.


It "still" appears that the problem is on your end. By the way, this time I used IE8 Beta and, again, I had no problems. I don't have firefox installed to test that browser.

I went back and again opened it in Mozilla and this time it indicated that the "certificate had expired" and asked me to accept or not accept the expired certificate. Then it told me that the certificate was for localhost.localdomain and that I was trying to access woodmann.com and did I want to proceed. So maybe your settings on Firefox 3.x are blocking the page because of this issue. It also told me that I was accessing an excrypted page with unencripted content and asked me if I wanted to proceed.

Maybe dELTA can check this out.

[EDIT] Noticed on the vBulletin Forum a post with a reader indicating someone using FireFox 3.3 was getting blank pages on a vBulletin forum, so it might be related to the issue you are having.

Regards,

[bobby]

It can be because of that new security mechanism in Firefox. The messages about Expired certificates are a real PITA.
Unfortunately, I have no other browser around here (except of the old IE6 that I do not use at all).
I apologize in advance if I'll need to ask for updating the page again (if it does not get working in Firefox again).

[bobby]

Forgot to say "Thank you" for help

[JMI]

If you continue to have access problems, do not hesitate to ask for someone to update it for you. We certainly aren't too proud to help out.

regards,

[dELTA]

Hey Bobby, thanks for updating your tools in the CRCETL/CISTL.

First of all, the certificate problem is because you added "https" instead of "http" at the beginning of the URL. I have no idea why we even have SSL enabled on the server, but it should not be used for the CRCETL at the moment anyway.

Does that solve your problem?

It works just fine for me in Firefox 2.0.0.17 too?

[bobby]

@dELTA
Hi,

Well, I have no idea how that "s" got there. It may be that I have followed a link that was already with https at the beginning.
Anyway, even if I remove the "s", it still does not work for me.

Attached is the screenshot of where it gets stuck, if it can be of any help for debugging the problem.

Please do not bother with this problem if none can reproduce it.

[dELTA]

That would indicate that some of the AJAX stuff has gone wrong for you.

But you're quite able with a javascript debugger, aren't you bobby, being the author of Malzilla and everything? If you'd like to take a look at where the Javascript code fails (not very complex, and not even obfuscated at all, contrary to what you're used to ), that would probably spot the problem quite easily, and allow us to get to the bottom of this (if only for being able to allow you continue with your contributions to the library). And maybe this happens to some other people too, just not reading this thread, so it would always be good to analyze it.

[blabberer]

ah if dELTA was able to persuade you to look into ajayxie whatever i could pitch in with the place of error and some google bashing that yielded a few things
when i happened to be seeing the same error some long time ago while i was trying to update some stuff

Code:

1:31 AM me: this is the function thats fucking up

  function fetchCurrentEntryData()

{

xhttp = new XMLHttpRequest(); 

xhttp.onreadystatechange = HandlerOnReadyStateChange;

//Use this line to debug the php_urlencode_emulate() function

//alert("SOMETHING THAT WAS BEING UPDATED- " + php_urlencode_emulate("SOMETHING THAT WAS BEING UPDATED"));

xhttp.open("GET",

"/collaborative/tools/index.php?title=SOMETHING THAT WAS BEING UPDATED=edit",

true);

// xhttp.overrideMimeType("text/xml");

xhttp.send(null); 

}



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 14 minutes 



1:46 AM me: he prolly needs somepin like dis

  function Initialize(){

req=null;

try{

req=new ActiveXObject("Msxml2.XMLHTTP");

}catch(e){

try{

req=new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP");

}catch(oc){

req=null;

}

}

if(!req && typeof XMLHttpRequest!="undefined"){

req=new XMLHttpRequest();

}

}

1:49 AM or some tin like tis

  var AJAX = null; //

Initialize the AJAX variable.

if (window.XMLHttpRequest) { //

Are we working with mozilla?

AJAX=new XMLHttpRequest(); //

Yes -- this is mozilla.

} else { //

Not Mozilla, must be IE

AJAX=new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP"); //

Wheee, ActiveX, how do we format c: again?

} //

End setup Ajax.

if (AJAX==null) { //

If we couldn't initialize Ajax...

alert("Your browser doesn't support AJAX."); //

Sorry msg.

return false //