Google has recently decided that soon everyone will need to migrate from Manifest v2 of Chrome Plug-ins to Manifest v3. The one big change for me other than some of the new syntax changes, was you can no longer inject scripts into webpages. A lot of the changes for Manifest v3 are around the security context for plugins, which is good to see. In the past I could append to a webpages <script> data, and then have the page process that script in the pages context, now all that processing has to take place within the plugin itself, instead of on the page. You can still add to pages, but it has to be more static content, instead of dynamic.
One change that creates for you is which browser context you are working in. If you are on the page, you can directly hit all aspects of the page, and do AJAX requests under the users context. Now, any scripting you want done has to be done in the plugin itself, and if you want to access a non-public asset, the plugin requires the user to login itself. If you attempt to inject scripts onto the page you will get a CORS error, stating its from a different context..
For the main plugin I dabble with and work on, the API I access is open. This allows me to not worry about the context I am working in the browser too much. If it was an authed API, I would have to worry about having the user auth to the plugin itself. I moved all the logic from a split context of the plugin doing some of the work, then handing high level data to scripts injected into the webpages; to doing all the work in the plugin, then injecting final results (HTML data), and assets I want to change onto the page. In the end, this leads to a cleaner solution, and centralizes all the logic.
A big added benefit I saw to switching from Manifest v2 to v3 was in the security review process that is done when you upload an updated plugin, you get approved faster than in the past. For me, I got my new plugin approved in around a day (note the plugin I was working on is relatively small).
I recently was working to make sure some of my web apps can pass a Tenable Nessus security scan. Since I tend to use the same embedded Tomcat for a lot of the apps I kept hitting similar findings. I had to do a bit of digging to find some of these answers so I thought I would document them. If anyone else has any helpful tips for embedded Tomcat please feel free to comment!
The main issue with this finding is that the 404 page the app presents has the Tomcat version number. This could be a issue because if there is a vuln in that version, you can be targeted.
final Tomcat tomcat = new Tomcat();
var host = (StandardHost) tomcat.getHost();
var errorReportValve = new org.apache.catalina.valves.ErrorReportValve();
errorReportValve.setShowReport(false);
errorReportValve.setShowServerInfo(false);
host.addValve(errorReportValve);
I was domain joining some Redhat Enterprise Linux 7 boxes to a Windows domain. Everything went smoothly except many of my users could only see their Primary groups. Some users whom had more permissions on the domain could see all their groups, just not some particular users. This seems to be a common failure scenario for SSSD with AD, and many people have opened bugs or chimed in with different fixes online. I found the solution on one forum post, and it saved me, and I wanted to amplify it.
As long as some of your users can see all their groups, you know its not exactly a problem with RHEL connecting to AD, or a protocol like LDAP being blocked. A odd side effect of this setup was periodically the groups could be scanned and then it would show the users in that group. If I ran “sss_cache -E“, then “getent group SecondaryGroup“, some of the time it would show the users inside the group. Then once the user logged in, the user would be removed via that command, as well as when I ran “groups” under the user.
The SSSD log didnt have a ton of help other than it couldn’t read all the groups. I tried a TON of the recommended settings, like enabling enumerate = True, enumerate = false, ldap_use_tokengroups = true, ldap_use_tokengroups = false; none of these changed anything. Then https://serverfault.com/a/938893 mentioned it may be a permissions problem between the computer object in AD and the user object. I looked and sure enough, my system had NO permissions on the users that were failing. I attempted to add the tokenGroups permission mentioned in this article and that still didnt help, but we were on the right track!
The answer came from https://serverfault.com/a/796005, there is a permission needed called “Read Remote Access Information”, once that is granted to your computer object onto the user, then secondary groups will start populating. I gave “Domain Computers” that permission, since it seemed to only be effecting some of the Linux systems and Windows was happy to have it as well.
Some random commands that can help you debugging SSSD:
SSSD likes to cache a lot, making it hard to troubleshoot, using the following clears all caches and restarts SSSD:
I have a PXE environment that requires systems to boot up, then automatically login and start a program on boot. All of a sudden this stopped working after years of working. It took me a while to figure it out so figured I would post in case anyone else ran into this.
I have been doing auto login the recommended systemd for a while, as shown: https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Getty. I copied /lib/systemd/system/getty@.service into /etc/systemd/system/getty@tty1.service. Then with a script edited it using sed in the build pipeline. In the end the line was:
This worked for YEARS, then suddenly stopped. In investigating, I saw another file was being written next to mine at /etc/systemd/system/getty@tty1.servicee ; with another e added to the end of service, making it servicee. After a lot of playing around with it and looking at other guides I figured out, there was a update to systemd/getty and now it cares that all options are before the terminal variable is presented. Changing that line to the following fixed it.
One technology I have played around with a little at work but wanted to get a better handle on is 802.1x. I have taken and passed the Cisco ISE cert a few years back and have used that with other services at work, but for the home setup I mostly wanted to be able to put different wireless devices onto different vlans based on device and user. Windows Server natively makes this possible with Network Policy Server (NPS).
An example of me playing with Network Policy Server
NPS is a Radius server in Windows at the end of the day. It gives you the conditions and a rules system to respond to different Radius calls, as well as a way to setup Accounting. It is fairly simple compared to something like ISE that can also do Posture and Profiling for devices; but for a quick free solution works well for home. You can say of a client is attempting to authenticate over a system like wireless, then accept x methods, vs if its wired or a switch login then accept other forms. Instead of going point by point of how to set it up, which you can find elsewhere online, I want to give some high level edge cases you may run into. First NPS need Windows Server with the Desktop experience, if you are running member servers or domain controllers as Server Core to simplify the environment then it will not work. NPS also does not easily HA. You can run multiple servers with it running, and export the config from one, then import it in another, but there is not a good system for dynamically syncing these (less you call random peoples PowerShell scripts a good system).
Some good reasons to use NPS is the simple AD integration, you can have users use their domain auth and easily get access. Or do as I do, really too much for home, or possibly anywhere, setup a domain CA, have a GPO that creates certs for each machine, then use cert based auth via 802.1x deployed via GPO. If anyone has questions about this I am happy to answer, but there are many places online that will talk about each of those configs and how to do them. Another place to integrate Radius other than 802.1x for wired and wireless is network device login. I use Radius for the stack of Ruckus switches (2 is considered a stack (like when you run k3s as a “cluster” of 1)) I have at home.
This is one of those Windows Services that works well, but also has not been touched in YEARS by Microsoft; like WSUS, or any other service that is useful. To backup this point, I installed several old versions of Windows Server in ESXi that I had laying around. Lesson 1 that I learned, the web console doesn’t work well with some of the legacy mouse support systems. Second you may need legacy VMware tools iso VMware Tools support for Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003 (81466). The internet seems to say it came out in Server 2008.
I have not written in a bit so I thought I would give a quick update. I haven’t had a lot of time recently to work on things because I was moving, and had to re-certify for Cisco. Cisco gave everyone 6 months additional time on certificates because of Covid last year (yay), but then I saw a reddit post that mentioned they had no extended the time between tests for multi test certs (booo). With a bit over a month left of time I studied for the CCNP Core Security cert and was able to pass. Now I have a CCNP “Enterprise” (the old Route and Switch) and a CCNP Security. The new Cisco cert system is very odd with each test being a “specialty” and then combinations of different tests adding up to other certs.
I have continued to play with the Mister FPGA. I never had an Amiga and there are some fun games for that system. A lot of the other games I have been laying on it are from my childhood, running the ao486 core. A bit ago I got another retro computer kit that will eventually be added to the list, but this one is a bit more involved. It is a full replica IBM 5170 motherboard. It needs soldered together, as well as add on cards found for it. Hopefully I will have more time for projects in the upcoming months, and at the same time I will try to do some more documentation of the current homelab.
This is a post I was working off and on for several years. It is something I always was meaning to finish, and got very near the end, the Covid and life happen. Instead of throwing it out I figured I would do some small edits then put out as is.
(2017) Friends and I always found the game Pac-Man Battle Royale to be fun, but when we went to look at the price of a cabinet they were $5,000! Worth it if you are a bar or arcade, but for a few friends playing games a bit over the top. After a evening at Barcade, I started the trek to see if I could build one myself for less.
Original Table
The first step was figuring out where I could legally get the game, a number of sites offered the ROM but that is not what I was looking for. Next I found it was ported and available on Steam! We are in luck! The game is available for less than $10! But once I start it, I am greeted by a “fun” border and changes they made to the screen for the Windows version.
Steam Version
Arcade Version
On the left you can see the Steam version; there is a border, along with all the player text is facing one direction. On the right is the original version, where the screen goes to the edge, and the 3rd and 4th players face the other direction for when players are standing around the table. This version also has been made to play with Xbox 360 wired controllers, it works with keyboard but a lot of the interface seems to be built around that.
The solution, a brave hero on Github made a modified DirectX9 driver that edits the game screen as you play! https://github.com/vikbez/pacbrcade After installing this file, I was able to get the game to look just like the original! Below are the before and afters from the repo, and I can attest it does a great job! Throw in a script to start the game at startup of a Intel Compute Stick (a full pc on a HDMI dongle), and this was ready to go.
(2021) Now it came time to build the cabinet, I hadn’t built something thing big before and didn’t really have a large plan. The hope was to have this live at the office. Being in NYC it needed to be able to fold up, and then be put somewhere when not in use. Part of my plans were to give it folding legs, and one side of the table should be a rest, so the legs can be folded and it can be put on its side somewhere out of the way.
Most of the construction was actually done in one weekend in 2017, I got some 2x4s and went to the maker space I am a member of fat cat FAB LAB – NYC Hackerspace to cut the boards down to the sizes. Now this was a bit of a rough day because I was in NYC, and I am literally grabbing large 2x4s (some are 6 or 7 feet long) then walking a few blocks to the woodshop as people are drinking on a Saturday around me on the streets, then cutting them and walking several blocks to the office. After all is said and done, I used a normal drill and some wood screws to put it all together. I then used yellow vinyl wrap to make the table a bit more dressed up. Getting bubbles out of the vinyl wrapper, on a wood surface that isn’t completely flat was a bit of a challenge. I had a area for the screen to go in, then 4 sides; 2 with cup holders, and 2 with joysticks.
I used Teensy micro controllers as the joysticks, they emulate joysticks on a computer and you an make any input trigger any signal you want. I wanted to add some more style to the unit so I made Player 1 through 4 acrylic panels to go around the joystick and button. These were laser cut at the same woodshop I used before. I also ended up getting craft beer labels, and putting it on the inside of the buttons; that gave the unit a little more character. I put the rubber molding along the side of the unit, as you would expect from any good arcade system. After installing an old screen I found around I toped it with a sheet of clear plexiglass. This was a learning experience of plexiglass scratches easily and can crack if too much pressure is put in say a screw hole.
The whole thing worked, it booted up on the Compute Stick, auto loaded Steam, and started the game. The main issue that had me put it away for a while was the joystick handling. The joysticks I had were 8 way joysticks; they could go to the 4 sides but also to all the corners, we didn’t want the corners. In a game like Pac-Man, going to the corners of the joystick made the character either not move or go in one of the 2 directions you were facing.
The bottom of the joysticks had a plastic piece which allowed the rod of the joystick to go in certain directions. On the bottom of the units I had it was a empty square. I wanted it to be a diamond, this would have forced the player in going one of 4 directions instead. The plan was to design a piece then 3D print it and attach it to the bottom of all the joysticks.
Joystick I Needed
Joystick I Had
With that I put the system into a closet, where it sat for several years. There was the issue on top of all this of being in NYC and there was no place to put the thing where it would not be in the way. I worked on this before I had a 3D printer and could have put the piece together quickly.
In the end it was fun to put something together quickly like this. I got to do some bigger wood working and vinyl wrap something. One take away I have from it was the momentum of a project cant be a very motivating thing. I started and put most of the system together in a single weekend. Then the last few percent of the project, getting the joysticks correct, I lost the energy (and didn’t have a place to put the thing) and went onto other projects. I try to use that motivation to push through projects when possible, and use this project as a reminder to do that.
I recently ordered the Briel Computers Replica I Plus, a Apple I clone. Instead of the originals big board to do a lot of NTSC generation, it uses a more modern single chip. The shipment came in a small box, and with everything I needed. The creator of the kit did a great job including everything you need, down to including an anti-static strap! The project came with some solder, but not nearly enough for everything, I think it was thicker to go with the structural points. Briel Computers sells the kit through ReActiveMicro.com. At $135 it is one of the less expensive kits I have had, but also comes with just the board. If you want a case that needs to be 3D Printed (more on that later).
The kit was fairly easy and straight forward; I ran into a few small issues around the PS/2 port since the solder points are close together. Getting the few connector ports in can be a bit difficult with a few tiny pins and getting them in the board. As long as you have patience, then you can get through it.
Some bad solder up top, but those are structural to hold plugs so…
I got it all together, and the board started the first try. I did have the same issue the person who made the video had; I was getting a lot of noise and characters added to the screen. I reflowed a lot of the sockets, and made sure all the socketed chips were fully seated. That cleared up the garbage at startup. The wiki also has some other notes on noise issues the board can show.
I also could not find a PS/2 keyboard in the house, and all the USB keyboards I had didn’t seem to like the USB->PS/2 Adapter. I am not very surprised by this because I didn’t have any very simple, older keyboards.
The USB port that is used for power is also a serial device for a PC/Mac. I plugged into that and got the serial driver working from SparkFun website, they produce the module. Then the output worked well, and I could enter BASIC on the board!
Case
I wanted to put the board in some sort of case, and after searching online I couldn’t find any. I thought I would throw something together quickly that I could put the board in. I took some measurements and threw together a V0 of the case. One small issue was I didn’t account for the RCA jack the video comes out of little let that sticks out. Instead of spending another 7 hours printing a new one, I used a little saw I have to cut a hole out.
Part of my thought of creating a case was to have something I could put the board in, then store it in a cabinet or shelf and not be worried that the board would get damaged. I also made a case that can go over the entire unit to protect it in storage.
Again, looking back small design things could have been changed, like flip the name of the project in the case, so looking at it in the protective cover, the text would be right right way. Getting the scaffolding out of the protective case was not the easiest of things. I designed the protective case with a rail that brings the edge of the mounting board into a locking position when you slide it in. I have to say, that was a nice aspect to the design. It took over 6 hours to print though.
I had to password recover a Cisco ISR 4451, and kept having issues getting into the ROMMON prompt. Every guide mentioned sending a BREAK character during startup, but I could not get that to work. I was using the mini-USB port in the front, and as far as I knew did not have password recovery disabled. It turns out there is a problem with the mini-USB port and the Mac driver, I switched to using a traditional serial cable with a DB-9 connector/RJ45 serial port and suddenly I could get into ROMMON. I wanted to post incase anyone else runs into this.
Below is the startup process, at the end there you should be able to send a BREAK character.
Initializing Hardware ...
System integrity status: 00000610
Rom image verified correctly
System Bootstrap, Version 15.3(3r)S1, RELEASE SOFTWARE
Copyright (c) 1994-2013 by cisco Systems, Inc.
Current image running: Boot ROM0
Last reset cause: PowerOn
Cisco ISR4451-X/K9 platform with 4194304 Kbytes of main memory
Warning: filesystem is not clean
File size is 0x1d482044
Located isr4400-universalk9.03.16.04b.S.155-3.S4b-ext.SPA.bin
<SEND BREAK HERE>
I have been enjoying 3D printing projects recently. I saw a little control board for changing audio levels, and having hotkeys while playing games. The printing took a good long while, and I had to edit some of the parts to work with the parts I found currently on Amazon. I will post the parts list below. The soldering was straight forward, and the project came with a PDF that had good instructions. This also turned into a good opportunity for me to use the new Wiring Pencil, which worked surprisingly well.
Diode soldering jig
Diodes In!
Diodes Soldered!
Sliders In!
Messy Wires
All Over Wires!
Tie Wires Together!
Cleaner
Coming Together Clean
Together Without Knobs and Buttons
Toda!
For hardware, I am using a Teensy; the Teensy can be a USB keyboard or MIDI device or joystick or serial over the USB connection. The project comes with a premade Arduino file to run it as a MIDI controller. I had not worked before with MIDI input like this, but it seemed the best path forward compared to trying to emulate a keyboard and hitting odd key combinations. Or the alternative of writing something that output serial data then finding, or writing, a daemon for my PC to listen to that device.
For software, I looked at several pieces of software to use the keys and sliders with. I looked at software like VoiceMeeter. While overall that worked, it was very inflexible, and had a giant interface for things I didn’t want to use. Then I found Midi-Mixer, a passion project by a single dev and it is EXACTLY what I needed. The sliders can control single app volume, which is easy to select. And the buttons can be programmed for anything! And easily with a GUI instead of conf files like some other open source projects.
Overall I am enjoying the finished project. It sits next to my keyboard, and allows easy changing of levels while playing games. I added little rubber feet I had laying around so the plastic housing doesn’t slide around on the desk.
BuildingTents 