Can .aspx files be used as an exploit?

ramblingrebel · Nov 9, 2011

Hi Folks.

Great website you keep here, it's been invaluable over the years. I'm suprised this is the 1st time I've ever had to post here. If I've put this in the wrong section then I am sorry.

Any help would be gratefully appreciated thanks...Anyways...

After years of drumming it into my daughter that she should be careful what she is doing on the internet and reading what her computer is saying to her, I think she's finally starting to listen :-o (I think charging her a weeks pocket money to fix her computer helped...Might start charging her taxi fares too now :-D)

She said she's been chatting to a lad from America online and she asked for a picture. So he sent her one in an email, as an attachment. Now the file is a .aspx file, which she thought didn't add up because she said they are usually .jpeg.

Now I'm not too clued up on programming at all. But isn't a .aspx file some kind of script?

Could it be used to 'hack' her in some way, maybe gain access to her webcam or whatever?

I can upload the file here if needed, if someone can assure me that by downloading it I won't infect her laptop.

I must admit I am curious to know what it is, or perhaps it could just be a simple mistake, and nothing sinister is going on.

Any forthcoming help would be very much appreciated thanks.

Cheers

Ste.

PC-XT · Nov 11, 2011

jpegs can sometimes have an .aspx or other extension if downloaded via a web script, but usually pictures taken by a camera or saved by an editor have a proper extension. You can open the file in Windows Notepad to see the contents without danger. JPEGs start out with a few strange characters followed by "JFIF". Most of the file will be surrounded by all kinds of symbols, letters, numbers, etc. unlikely to mean anything in English. If there is text you can understand, it usually describes the camera, editing software, people who worked on the file, or other things related to the picture.

An ASP.NET (.aspx) script usually starts like
Code:
<%@ Page Language="C#" %>
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "---//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0  //EN"
 "http://www.example.com">
<script runat="server">
or
Code:
<%@ Page Language="C#" CodeFile="SampleCodeBehind.aspx.cs" Inherits="Website.SampleCodeBehind"
AutoEventWireup="true" %>
or similar: closer to meaningful English than a picture file. I sometimes download these instead of pictures due to Internet errors, but I usually catch it before passing them on. If you think it might be malicious, we may be able to tell from the code, if you post it. This kind of script usually just runs on a web server.

ramblingrebel · Nov 12, 2011

Thanks a lot for the help. It is just a picture. Not at all impressed with the subject matter though. rolleyes.

Thanks again!

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Can .aspx files be used as an exploit?

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