Technical analysis of the Ultrasurf proxying software
JR Jacob Appelbaum · TU/e Research Portal · 2012
Ultrasurf is a proxy-based program promoted for Internet censorship circumvention. This report gives a technical analysis of the Ultrasurf software and network. We present the results of reverse engineering the Ultrasurf client program, give an in-depth study of the known Ultrasurf network, especially those portions that interface in some way with the client or the Internet, and discuss network signatures that would allow an adversary to detect its use on a network. We cover client bootstrapping methods, censorship and censorship resistance, anonymity, user tagging by Ultrasurf and other parties, cryptographic internals and other previously unknown or undiscovered details aboutthe Ultrasurf client and the Ultrasurf network. We find that it is possible to monitor and block the use of Ultrasurf using commercial off-the-shelf software. In particular, BlueCoat sells software and hardware solutions with such capabilities that have been deployed in Syria and other countries. The vulnerabilities presented in this paper are not merely theoretical in nature; they may present life-threatening danger in hostile situations. We recommend against the use of Ultrasurf for anonymity, security, privacy and Internet censorship circumvention.