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Nmap Featured in The Matrix Reloaded

Posted by CmdrTaco on Sun May 18, 2003 09:33 AM
from the ain't-that-special dept.
rajiv was among dozens to report that unlike most "Hacks" in film, The Matrix reloaded actually has an ounce of reality where other films would rely on fancy 3D graphics. You can see more at Insecure.org where they have screenshots. It's only on screen for a split second, but Tritnity uses Nmap to find a vulnerable SSH server, and then exploits it using the SSH1 CRC32 exploit from 2001.
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  • by krisp (59093) * on Sunday May 18 2003, @09:36AM (#5985311) Homepage
    I like her password: Zion1010
      • Re:Nice Password (Score:4, Insightful)

        by soundofthemoon (623369) on Sunday May 18 2003, @05:01PM (#5987866)
        Zion0101 is the 6th Zion.

        It's zero-based, duh.
        • I thought it was actually the 7th incarnation of the city -- 6 saviors came before, after all.
          Well, if you take all the zeros and letters out of the password "Z10N0101", you're left with "111", which is 7 in binary.

          Coincidence? PERHAPS NOT. :-p

              • Re:Nice Password (Score:4, Interesting)

                Yes and he pulled that from real life from when he worked at the BBC. Room 101 was the room where the editors worked.

                Many of his experiences from the BBC and other places made it into his books, like the cleaning women singing in the halls in thee early morning hours became the proles singing in 1984. Bad, sand-dry tobacco during the Spanish Revolution-Civil-War (Homage to Catalonia) that ran out of the cigarette before you could smoke it became Victory cigarettes in 1984, etc.

                Good catch!
        • Re:Nice Password (Score:4, Informative)

          by rutledjw (447990) <johnwrutledge@noSPAM.gmail.com> on Sunday May 18 2003, @01:52PM (#5986683) Homepage
          Are you sure? I thought that the Merillynchian (whatever, the guy who had the twins) said "I've survived your 5 predecessors and I'll survive you as well".

          Wouldn't that mean the first "Neo" built the first Zion, second Neo built the second, etc and now it's the 5th Zion that about to get wasted? This Neo will / was supposed to build Zion 6?

          I could be wrong, but I THOUGHT that's what I heard. The Architect also said the 5 before you, didn't he?

  • Uhm... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 18 2003, @09:38AM (#5985322)
    In response to :-

    > The Matrix reloaded actually has an ounce of
    > reality where other films would rely on fancy
    > 3D graphics.

    So in several hundred years time people STILL won't have patched their bloody SSH holes?

    Yah actually I guess that is reality ;o)

    AL
    • Re:Uhm... (Score:5, Informative)

      by marx (113442) on Sunday May 18 2003, @09:47AM (#5985372)
      So in several hundred years time people STILL won't have patched their bloody SSH holes?
      Inside the Matrix it's present time, and the exploit was launched against a standard power plant computer, not against a Matrix computer.

      So it's accurate.

        • Re:Uhm... (Score:4, Insightful)

          by CoolVibe (11466) on Sunday May 18 2003, @10:51AM (#5985657) Journal
          check the IP number (10.x.x.x, private IANA), it was not on the public internet...

          • Re:Uhm... (Score:4, Insightful)

            by edunbar93 (141167) on Sunday May 18 2003, @12:20PM (#5986142)
            check the IP number (10.x.x.x, private IANA), it was not on the public internet...

            Heh. So?

            So that means that the guys who were doing the hacking previous to Trinity's arrival broke into the public network (or, perhaps they don't have one, but instead the building they were in was appropriately inside their private network) and she was working from a unix box inside the private network that the power station was on. It's like how a lot of crackers these days say that networks tend to be like porcupines: hard and secure on the outside, but nice and soft underneath. They probably never bothered to secure their old SSH1 daemons because they were secure in the belief that noone would get far enough to exploit it. :)
        • Re:Uhm... (Score:5, Informative)

          by soulsteal (104635) <soulsteal@@@3l337...org> on Sunday May 18 2003, @11:15AM (#5985769) Homepage
          While you're correct in saying that mission-critical private servers don't belong on public networks, look at the circumstances:

          She's IN the power plant.
          She's running the attack on a PRIVATE IP address.

          Personally, I think she wasn't on "teh Intarweb!!1"
    • Re:Uhm... (Score:5, Insightful)

      Don't forget that the matrix was simply a projection of the world as it was circa 1999-2001

      In that regard it would be rather accurate.
              • Re:Uhm... (Score:5, Funny)

                by Nathaniel (2984) on Sunday May 18 2003, @03:59PM (#5987474) Homepage
                "Yes this is all assuming that there isn't a meta-matrix in which the matrix is run. It seems pretty obvious to me that that is what the last scene was trying to portray in a subtle way.

                And if there is a meta-matrix, what prevents having a meta-meta-matrix and so on? Its really impossible to speculate the age of the matrix based on this information."

                Yeah, so there's a meta matrix, and Neo has woken up in that outer world, which explains the coma.

                Right, whatever.

                So I expect the third movie will go something like this: Neo realizes he is in the meta matrix, and begins to wonder if there is a meta meta matrix. He tries to wake up from that matrix, by hitting something to see if it also feels 'wrong'. Repeat this a few times, and Neo is just diving out windows each time he 'wakes up', until at the end of the third movie we see some pimple-faced kid take a dive out a high-rise apartment complex, and the movie ends with a news crew interviewing neighbors, who blame teen suicide on these new immersive video games.

                  • Re:Uhm... (Score:5, Interesting)

                    by The Only Druid (587299) on Sunday May 18 2003, @03:17PM (#5987183)
                    Exactly.

                    The only other alternatives I can think of at the moment are:
                    1: Neo's power, unbeknownst to him, actually extends to distorting the real world, not just the matrix. This seems implausible and undesireably theological.
                    2: Neo's power extends to controlling the machines somehow in or outside of the matrix. This could be a result of the machines' conception of Neo always including his matrix-bending powers. In other words, this would be a programming flaw in the machines. This seems a little lame.
                    3: The ENTIRE "real world", including Zion, is inside the matrix. Just as the oracle seems to be part of a control scheme, so is the supposed ability to leave the matrix. I like this explanation, although its a bit dark for most people: it would be a serious philosophical blow to Morpheus, of course.
                    • Re:A theory (Score:5, Insightful)

                      by jmccay (70985) on Sunday May 18 2003, @08:33PM (#5988866) Journal
                      Basically, I agree, but I think he got the ability to stop the machines from Mr. Smith. There are a couple lines that point to this. Remember when Mr. Smith says that there is a connection between Neo and himself, and I think the architect had a line that hinted he some code too. I believe that Neo has access to the Machines Mainframe because of code that came from Mr. Smith (the fore mentioned connection) when he "Merge/Destroyed" Mr. Smith (and Mr. Smith gained some of the code that represents Neo in the matrix when this happened which gave him some of the freedom he now has to operate freely in the matrix outside of his normal programming).
                      Remember, Mr. Smith tells himself at one point that everything is the same except for him (just after he made a new copy). So there is differences between the five previous "ones" and the current situation. Remember, the architect was surprised at how fast Neo answered who the mother of the matrix was.
                      Because of the altered code from Mr. Smith (remember the Agents can control the Sentinels), Neo was able to sense and stop the Sentinels from the Machine's mainframe.
  • by Trevalyx (627273) on Sunday May 18 2003, @09:38AM (#5985323) Homepage
    When I went to the 1AM showing on release night, there were a lot of interesting people.. When it got to the hacking scene, only a few people cheered, however, they did it with enough vigor that everyone else was caught of guard.. And when I tried to explain to the guy nibbling his foot next to me, "Nmap," I just got a blank stare...
    • by HardCase (14757) on Sunday May 18 2003, @12:10PM (#5986083)
      ...who's always talking during the movie. Hey, do you have a cell phone too? And a beeper? Maybe a crying child or two?


      All of this managed to make my Matrix experience just that much harder to enjoy.


      -h-

      • by Trevalyx (627273) on Sunday May 18 2003, @12:37PM (#5986229) Homepage
        Well, minus the little hellians and the beeper, that's me. Sometimes I bring my laptop along in anticipation that there are going to be a few dull scenes. Though I try to keep conference calls on my phone with tons of flashy multicolored lights to a minimum after credits, sometimes it just happens, ya know? Also, I always always carry bang-snaps to movies. They're to throw at people who complain. The firecrackers are for people who complain twice. Roman candles for anyone who dares go beyond that.
  • by Speare (84249) on Sunday May 18 2003, @09:39AM (#5985329) Homepage
    Where did the nmap folks get all these screenshots of a movie that's ostensibly fresh-in-theaters? And why oh why did they name their sources? I'm imagining Agent Smith from the MPAA will be giving out a few cease and desist visits soon.
    • by ThePatrioticFuck (640185) on Sunday May 18 2003, @10:02AM (#5985434)
      If you read the article @ Insecure, the guy says when he heard it was in the movie, he asked if anybody could send him some screen captures and ended up being flooded with pics, video, etc. And mentions he found it strange that many of them showed Windows Media Player in the capture :) TPF
  • by hillct (230132) on Sunday May 18 2003, @09:40AM (#5985332) Homepage Journal
    Severla hundred years in the future and still, IPv6 hasn't been adopted. Personally, I'm not suprised. It'll take an act of god to get it deployed.

    --CTH
    • by Waffle Iron (339739) on Sunday May 18 2003, @09:59AM (#5985425)
      Even if everyone on Earth were ready to migrate to IPv6, it still wouldn't happen. As we found out in Independence Day, IPv4 is an entrenched *intergalactic* standard. There are just too many star systems involved to be able to roll out this upgrade in the forseeable future.
    • by markov_chain (202465) on Sunday May 18 2003, @10:36AM (#5985577) Homepage
      Recall the first Matrix, where Agent Smith rants about the humans' deficiencies, and mentions the failure of an early beta version of the Matrix. It failed because they made the simulation too good, and people were missing all the pain and suffering.

      So they put IPv4 back in.
  • Private Network! (Score:4, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 18 2003, @09:41AM (#5985338)
    Now we know that we cannot hack into the Matrix from our Personal Computer:

    As you can see on the screenshot, the IP is 10.2.2.2, which is on the 10.0.0.0/255.0.0.0 network reserved for private usage.

    It's impossible to reach such an IP directly (without hacking their server / router / firewall first) from an arbitrary point of the Internet.

    Damn!
  • Before you say it... (Score:5, Informative)

    by tbmaddux (145207) * on Sunday May 18 2003, @09:41AM (#5985339) Homepage Journal
    ...exploits it using the SSH1 CRC32 exploit from 2001.
    I'm sure there will be lots of funny jokes posted about using a 2001 exploit far into the future, patching systems, etc. etc. However, while the Matrix films are set in the future, the Matrix is set in the present, at the "peak of your civilization" according to Agent Smith. So it is appropriate for Trinity to hack a present-day system using a present-day exploit. She could even be ahead of her time, if the first movie was set in 1999 and it's only 6 months later, then the Matrix might not even have gotten through Y2K yet (did I just spoil the third movie).

    Aside from the amusing idea of having someone hack a computer program using their avatar inside the computer-generated construct of the Matrix, this sameness of the Matrix over long time periods raises an unanswered question in my mind. Why don't the people notice the lack of advancement in the Matrix? Over a hundred years of 1999-ness... no stunning advances in CGI, or science, or anything!

  • by Adam Rightmann (609216) on Sunday May 18 2003, @09:42AM (#5985343)
    While namp is a neat hack, before any of you juvenile deliquents think of using it to commit computer hacking felonies, be aware that it is easily fooled.

    If you look at the source code, you can see which ports it queries, and which responses it maps against. We used this for great affect at Adequacy, http://www.adequacy.org, editing the registry of our Win 2k box, and the configuration files of the various TCP/IP programs to make it appear as a simple FreeBSD to the casual hacker.

    Oh, the laughs were on us when those script children proceeded to attempt to hack us with canned scripts for use against FreeBSD, only to fail. The looks on their pimply, greasy faces were probably priceless, only to be matched when the local law enforcement arrived at their parents house to confiscate their computers.

  • by gurnb (80987) * on Sunday May 18 2003, @09:42AM (#5985346) Homepage
    How do they have screen shots ?! Is it possible that this movie has been leaked out to the INTERNET?!

    It's madness I tell you, madness!!!

    Still waiting for disc 2 to d/l, so I can verify this for myself. Purely for educational reasons.
    • Re:Screen Shots ?! (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Istealmymusic (573079) on Sunday May 18 2003, @12:05PM (#5986049) Homepage Journal
      Is there anything morally wrong with downloading an esoteric release of Reloaded online? I went to the movies, paid my money, contributing to the $44 billion or so profit of Warner Brothers. I don't feel guilty downloading a crappy quality VCD to notice all the details and things I missed. (But I did notice the terminal with ssh and nmap on it).

      Nothing wrong at all.

  • Pix (Score:5, Interesting)

    by spoonist (32012) on Sunday May 18 2003, @09:43AM (#5985351) Homepage Journal

    Pictures can be found on Fyodor's site [insecure.org].

    Oh, and I must say, that Trinity freakin' kicks ass. As you can see from the pictures [insecure.org], nmap says "No exact OS matches for host". Trinity goes ahead and throws the sploit anyway without knowing the system's architecture AND IT WORKS!

    That just kicks ass.

    A big Eartha-Kitt-Cat-Woman growl for Trinity.

    • Re:Pix (Score:5, Funny)

      by kampit (48398) on Sunday May 18 2003, @10:43AM (#5985620)
      Yeah, and if you look at the pictures closer, you notice

      (The 1539 ports scanned but not shown below are in the state: closed)
      /t State Service
      /tcp open ssh


      So she does know there's an sshd running on the system, then she throws the 'spoit and it works.. maybe you'd prefer it if there had been a 3 hour sequence where she coded up her own exploit, DDoS'd the whole matrix and pranced around in the nude saying 'marvelous!', but sometimes you just have to make sacrifices to please the general audience :)
  • Whoah (Score:5, Funny)

    by parkanoid (573952) on Sunday May 18 2003, @09:44AM (#5985357)
    Deja Vu! (read: dupe. Must be a glitch in the matrix).
  • by iceT (68610) on Sunday May 18 2003, @10:04AM (#5985439)
    "The envelope, please."

    "And the award for the best open-source hacking tool used in a motion picture goes to nmap, for it's cameo-appearence in Matrix: Reloaded"

    "Camera scans the audience where we see tripwire, sitting with his girlfriend ethereal... cuts to ndiff, who is just beaming w/ pride..."

  • Bay Area (Score:4, Interesting)

    by tedrlord (95173) on Sunday May 18 2003, @10:04AM (#5985440)
    The great thing about watching the Matrix in a theater in Mountain View, CA, is that when that hacking scene came up, half the theater laughed or cheered. We're all geeks here.
  • by Mossfoot (310128) on Sunday May 18 2003, @10:28AM (#5985553) Homepage
    What gets me is how some people go out of their way to nippick the movie to pieces "oh this is stupid, this makes no sense" and others love it so much that they read WAY too much into it.

    Take all the religous and phylosphical stuff about it. Yes, there is a lot of connections in there, it was put in the same way that other good story tellers use myth to make their world and stories feel more real and grander. The first Star Wars trilogy comes to mind. But then you have people who think every little thing is an intentional reference to something or other.

    One example. I heard that Neo dies for 72 seconds before he comes back to represent the 72 hours (3 days) Jesus died. I timed it, and it's crap. You can find 72 seconds in there, sure, but there is no place you can say "okay logically you start Neo's death here and his coming back to life here" and it adds up to 72 seconds. Very fuzzy logic going on there. But it is symtimatic of how much people want to find meaning in things like this.

    Is this a bad thing? Perhaps. One of the complaints I've heard of the sequal is that it's trying even harder to sound psudo-religious-phylosophical as a result of this faction of the fandom base.

    Tolkien said it best when he got annoyed at how people thought The Lord of the Rings was an analogy for World War 2 (and would be rolling over in his grave if he knew how people tried to equate the movies with September 11 and the war against terrorism).

    "I think that many confuse 'applicability' with 'alegory'; but the one resides in the freedom of the reader, and the other in the purposed domination of the author"

    Hey, didn't Morpheus himself say "free your mind"? Stop thinking every gawd damn word is meant to be spiritually profound! :P
  • by neema (170845) on Sunday May 18 2003, @10:43AM (#5985617) Homepage
    Off-topic on the nmap discussion, but on-topic as far the Matrix goes, here is something I just thought of. It's pack full of spoilers for reloaded and speculation about revolutions, so consider that your warning.

    SPOILERS AND SPECULATION FOLLOW:

    Now, the theory that Zion is really a matrix within a matrix has been floating around and I happen to agree with it. The premise of the movie, I think, is that not only is Neo "The One" from the first layer of the matrix (which was exposed in the first movie), but happens also to be the small percentage that becomes "The One" in the second layer of the matrix, something the machines didn't count on.

    As for him having to make a decision between saving Trinity and saving mankind, I don't think he's gotten to the choice yet and that will come in revolutions. The Architect said that the expulsion of humans from the first matrix servered a purpose for the machines, so, theoretically, perhaps Morpheus, Trinity and the rest of them are actually computer programs, to assist moving the dissident population of the first layer of the matrix to the second layer. Of course, there is a possibility they are not aware of their own existance. This would explain Morpheus' adamant belief in "The One" (it's been programmed in him). Of course, Neo's love for Trinity complicates things and I think that will be the choice in the third matrix. He will have to decide between destroying this second layer of the matrix, which would destroy Trinity the computer program too, or preserving it because of his love for her.

    Feel free to point out flaws, because I'd really appreciate that.
    • Just got back from my third viewing tonight. It took that many times for all that architect talk to sink in. A few thoughts...

      First, AFAICT, they are definitely still in the Matrix. The architect is intentionally difficult to follow, but I think his point was, the 99% acceptance rate is nice, but something must be done with those who do not accept. And the answer is simply have the Matrix make them think they busted out. Also, there's no need for any meta-Matrix, as the first Matrix could easily simulate the escape. Think chroot vs. user-mode Linux. But that's a small point.

      If you watch again, you will notice the Merelvengian (sp) say that Neo's predecessors had much more respect, and also that he has survived those predecessors, and he will survive Neo. But that's all said before you know what he means. But what I got is that eventually, the shit hits the fan, and they just reboot the whole damned thing every hundred years or so (not a bad uptime).

      Also, unlike you, I think he made the choice. Neo chose not to go to the source. At first, I thought this was weird, because the Neos on TV did the same. I thought this was the previous recordings (i.e. all 6 made the same choice); but after watching again, it looks like the TVs are showing now, not the past. That makes sense. This is the first time Neo made the wrong choice. I'm thinking this fits the Hollywood formula pretty well. The previous 5 Neos were simply benevolent mankind-lovers; but this time, we get the predictable theme that love conquers all or such.

      I thought it was pretty cool, but the plot is treading into dangerous ground. When you start blurring reality with dreams, you're walking on cheesy, overused deus ex machina storylines. It's easy to get lame and make crap. E.g. look at how dumb Existenz ended up being. But then, I liked Total Recall, so there is hope for a great finale.

      So I think there's still a lot up for grabs. Since Zion and the war are still a computer simulation, for all we know, there might not even be a war going on at all! Although there probably is, since it wouldn't be very Hollywood to just handwave away two movies worth of bad guys.

      Anyway, I'm thinking now that they know they're still in the matrix, perhaps the people in Zion will start breaking the rules and have some actual means of fighting the approaching machine army? Or maybe they'll all just pop up a level, leaving the machine army there to twiddle their thumbs.
      • by OmniVector (569062) <egapemoh ym ees> on Sunday May 18 2003, @12:25PM (#5986167) Homepage
        ****SPOILER ALERT****

        I think the best explination i've heard, or at least the one I like the most, is someone said Neo is really just a computer program too. The purpose of Neo, and the whole reason 5 different versions of him have existed alreay, is to try and find the "perfect" AI. The Matrix is really run by humans, the the humans are trying to find a version of Neo that will truely be human enough to be considedered actual AI.

        If you remember where Trinity types in her password to crack the power system, Z1ON0101, the binary 0101 translates to 5. Is Trinity aware of this being the 5th incarnation through the fact that she too is just a computer program or is this just odd coincidence?

        For the people who say the 2nd was too much action, and not enough plot i think it was twice the plot and action... This second one raises a lot more mindfuck questions.
        • by reverseengineer (580922) on Sunday May 18 2003, @11:01PM (#5989396)
          The Merovingians weren't terribly interesting in a historical sense- they set up shop in the power vacuum left by the Romans, and ruled over the Franks for a few hundred years (5th to 8th century CE). Their rules regarding inheritance were not terribly well thought out (kingdoms were split among surviving sons), and so the kingdom slowly fragmented. Also, Ummayad Muslims were starting to make incursions over the Pyrennes. With the fragmentation of central royal authority, real power was held by palace mayors. One of these, Charles "The Hammer" Martel turned back the Arabs at Tours, which was a turning point not only against the Arabs, but for the balance of power in the kingdom. Charles Martel's son, Pepin the Short, became king of the Franks. His son, Charles, would go on to found the Carolingian dynasty and become the first Holy Roman Emperor in 800 CE; he is better known as Charles the Great, or Charlemagne.

          So, the actual history of the Merovingians, not so exciting. The mythology is better though, and far more relevant to "The Matrix." The founder of the Merovingians, Merovec, is considered to be somewhat mythical. The first Merovingian for which there is good historical evidence for is Merovec's supposed grandson, Clovis. As the above poster notes, one story has Merovec as half beast. Other accounts (with connections to Gnostic Christianity, a subject that has been much discussed in relation to "The Matrix") claim that Merovec was the descendant of Jesus (and Mary Magdelene). Yeah, I know, but just bear with me. Now, after the Carolingians took over, supposedly a secret society was formed to reinstall the Merovingians to the throne (after all, who could have more authority than someone with the bloodline of David and Jesus?). This society is named the Prieure de Sion, or the Priory of Zion. (ominous music plays for effect)

          This secret society, as all secret societies eventually must (seems to be a rule of conspiracy theory), has been linked to the Knights Templar (which were quite real, actually (formed during the Crusades, became quite wealthy through guarding banking transactions, like a medieval Brinks, were annihilated by Philip the Fair in 1307), though the mythology that has sprung up regarding them is vast) and through them to every secret society you've ever heard of- the Freemasons, the Illuminati, etc.... In other words, the character "the Merovingian" is connected in name to bunch of real world secret conspiracy plots, just the sort of thing you'd like for a fictional character connected in deep with secret conspiracy plots. I must admit it's nice to see that the brothers Wachowski have really done their homework.

  • "Alias" (Score:4, Interesting)

    by ElGanzoLoco (642888) on Sunday May 18 2003, @10:45AM (#5985625) Homepage
    The "Alias" series on TV also features quite realistic computer manipulation. SSH, "ping -f", traceroutes, recompiles, etc...

    They pushed realism quite far: in one particular episode (can't remember the name, but this scene takes place in Mexico), one of the agents goes undercover as a DJ, and uses an iBook (macs are popular among musicians and DJ's) instead of his PC laptop, for more realism... Cool :)

  • by LoudMusic (199347) on Sunday May 18 2003, @12:27PM (#5986180)
    Will NOT be Z1ON0101. However, I will be adding that to my dictionaries (:
    • Re:10.2.2.2 (Score:4, Funny)

      by recursiv (324497) on Sunday May 18 2003, @11:33AM (#5985856) Homepage Journal
      Congrat-u-fucking-lations.

      You have determined that the controller for the power grid was on a private network. Maybe this explains the need for Trinity to infiltrate the lab to use a specific computer rather than any internet cafe. (hint: behind firewall)

      People like to talk a lot of shit about the matrix, but when you do it, you might as well make an argument that makes some small amount of sense.