Run a command on client machine without ActiveX using IE 11 Browser - javascript

Would like to run a command/script/exe/bat/shell on client machine using IE 11 Browser without ActiveXObject creation. Since ActiveX is disabled default
please help me to execute a command without ActiveX object creation.
Note: can't go for SSH using PHP

There are only three ways I can think of to do this, none of which I think is likely to work for you:
ActiveX. You've said it's disabled and apparently you can't get it enabled, so that's probably not going to happen.
Write a .Net "no touch deployment" (NTD) application that does the work, roll out an Active Directory security policy allowing that application FullTrust to the target workstations, and have your web page in IE11 link to the application's .exe. Note that NTD is deprecated by Microsoft, but you can still build NTD apps with .Net 2.0. However, I suspect that if you can't get ActiveX enabled in your organization, you won't be able to get the necessary FullTrust permission pushed either.
Write a signed, unsandboxed Java applet, since I think IE11 still supports the obsolete Java plugin (Oracle no longer does, though). But I bet support for the Java plugin is also disabled by default, and of course you'd have to have the Java plugin installed on the target workstations, and writing a signed, unsandboxed Java applet is, again, markedly non-trivial.
I think if you have a legitimate reason for doing this, you're probably going to have to write a script or .exe and get users to download and execute it outside the browser. (It will, of course, be subject to their permissions.)

Related

Is there any way to detect any installed application from browser using Javascript or Jquery?

I am stuck somewhere in my functionality where I want to check any specific application is installed or not?
For example : I have installed Microsoft Excel or MS-Teams in my windows laptop and from browser I want to check these application is installed or not? If it is installed then I want to show alert that particular application is installed.
Note : I do not have any code snippet for same to attach with Question. If you need any further information the please do let me know.
No, browser-based JavaScript code can't look to see if an arbitrary application is installed on the computer the browser is running on. It would be a massive security hole.
Certain applications or libraries install things that are then shown in the browser's userAgent string (for instance, Internet Explorer used to include information about which version(s) of the .Net framework are installed), but in the general case, you can't detect this (and Edge doesn't do that anymore).

How to change registry settings on a system through web browser

I am trying to develop a web page that will allow user to edit registry settings in windows system. Can i achieve it with client side scripting language.? If yes please suggest me language to do.
Can we do it with jQuery or any other type of library.
Due to obvious security concerns, this is only possible in Internet Explorer(!). This is not a jQuery library, but an activeX control; so it's quite unpleasant to use.
You have been warned, so here is the documentation :
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee156602.aspx
Fortunately is impossible to access the registry from a web app: the only way you have is through an ActiveX control but I would not go down this road.
have a look at the below
Access registry from a web aplication
Far from ideal but ...
If you serve up a ".hta" file (HTml Application) from your web server, Windows will run it as a program outside of IE and give it the privileges of the PC user. It will be in a separate window and there won't be any browser features (Back/Refresh/Address bar etc).
Even then, modern versions of Windows will prompt the user with security warnings if a HTA is launched from anywhere other than a local drive.
I know this thread is old, but I am not sure I like any answers for this problem. Instead of trying to access the Registry directly through Javascript, try writing a Java Applet and talk to the java applet using Javascript. Then in the JavaApplet you can write some JNI code to write a native dll to do what you need. It isn't a direct solution to your problem, but it will allow you to do what you need across multiple browsers. The downside is that you can't use it on browsers that do not support running a Java Applet, such as a mobile platform.
This method will also require you to sign your Java Applet. This is how you get around the security issues. The user will have to accept the applet the first time to give the security access.

how to start up a desktop application in client side

In my web page, I have to start a desktop application on the client's computer if it's installed. Any idea how I can do this?
If the application is MS Office or Adobe Reader, I know how to start them, but the application I want to start is a custom application. You can not find it on the internet.
How can I open the application?
Basically it's not possible to achieve unless an application registers a protocol that will trigger it. If it does that all you need to do is to provide a link using this protocol
yourcustomapp://some.parameters
Another way the 3rd party app can integrate with the browser is if it hooks to it as a plugin. This is how flash apps work etc.
If the app you are trying to launch does not support something like that it's going to be close to impossible to achieve what you want.
The browser sandbox prohibits you from executing local resources, for good reason - to thwart a website destroying your box with malicious code. I've been researching the same functionality.
The only solution I've found is to build an extension in Mozilla Firefox which can launch your app. Extensions live outside the sandbox so they can execute local resources. See this page for how to do that. You may be able to do it cross-browser using crossrider, though I haven't had success with that yet.
You could alternatively build a thick client populated from a web service, and launched from the browser through an extension as mentioned above. This is what I'm doing to get around the sandbox. I'm using local XUL for this.
See my question for additional discussion.
First off - you can't do it using javascript in any sort of a portable mechanism.
If the application is ms office or adobe reader,I know how to startup them
No you don't - you know how to send a document, which the browser associates with these applications and invokes them supplying the name of the local copy of the response. You can't just start the programs.
You just need to do the same for your app - invent a new mime type (the major type would be 'application' and by convention, non-standard minor types are prefixed with 'x-', so you might use application/x-hguser) then associate that mimetype with the relevant program browser side.
i.e: You need to explicitly configure each browser
I already encouter that problem in some complex production environnements.
I do the trick using the following code :
function launch(p_app_path)
{
var oShell = new ActiveXObject("WScript.Shell");
oShell.Run('"' + p_app_path + '"', 1);
}
In IE options > Security > Customize the level > ActiveX controls and plugins > Initialization and script ActiveX controls not marked as safe for scripting, set the value to Ask or Active.
It isn't a security problem when your website is enclosed into a specific security context.
And as they say, it's not worth it to build a gas plant.
JavaScript alone can't do this. (No, not even with MS Office or Adobe Reader.) Thankfully.
There are a number of old ways, including using ActiveX, which may work for your needs. As others have pointed out while typing this, you can customize responses based on the mime type or the protocol, etc.
Any way you look at it, you're going to need control over the end users' browser. If you're in a close environment where you can dictate policy (users must use a specific browser, with a specific configuration), then you're going to need to do that. For an open environment with no control over the end users, you're out of luck.
I'm actually having a lot of success right now with SiteFusion. It's a PHP client/server application framework that serves out XUL/JavaScript applications from a server deamon running in Apache. You access applications from a very thin client in XULRunner, or potentially off a web page using extensions. Clients can execute on any platform, and they're outside of the browser sandbox so you can access local resources such as executables. It'a a fairly elegant solution, their website provides great examples and documentation, and their forum is very responsive. I actually found a minor bug in passing arguments to local executables, posted a question about the forum, and it was fixed by the chief developer in under 15 minutes. Very impressive, overall!

Access(read-only) Windows registry from a web-page?

Barring a custom browser-plugin, is there a way to read the Windows registry from a web-page? It sounds like a big security issue but the situation is we have very non-savvy users and we want to have them get some info about their machines for us. Even downloading and running a little app might confuse them, but a web-page that magically gets the info would be fine as they just click a link we send.
Any thoughts on how to do this, or if it's simply impossible, are welcome. Note it is corporate therefore Windows-only and can even be IE-only if needed.
No; you need ActiveX or a plugin.
You can't do it from an ordinary web page.
If it's acceptable to have the user download a file, you can write an HTA -- a standalone web page with access to certain Windows features, including the file system and registry.

How are windows executables [.exe] launched out of browsers?

I'm not talking about browser exploits. I'm talking about real applications used in real companies, like Ijji and Nexon.
Basically, from their websites you can click a "Start Game" button, which will launch an executable located at c:\ijji\english or c\nexon[gamename] respectively. These applications are real desktop applications, meaning that they can take advantage of the filesystem, direct3d, and OS [in the form of executing other applications]. The applications can also be launched through command line [as opposed to going to the game host's website].
I figured this would be possible if the application created an ActiveX object to call for the creation of a new process. However, the websites are able to launch applications from multiple browsers other than Internet Explorer, including chrome, which, to my knowledge, does not implement ActiveX.
Obviously the people developing these applications use their own means to do this.
From looking at the services list as well as currently running applications list, I have no indication that they're running something like "gameLaunchingServer.exe" which listens to some obscure port for an incoming connection [to be accessed using iframe - HTTP Protocol] and responds by launching an application...
I'm stumped, and this is sort of stuck in my mind. Obviously, they're not using some random browser exploit, otherwise people at http://www.[insertMaliciousWebsiteHere].com would have jumped on the opportunity already to install random crap. Regardless, it seems pretty cool, and I wanted to know how it worked.
Just curious, hehe.
I believe what they're doing is setting up their own protocol handler on install - when a browser is asked to access an address with a protocol that it doesn't know how to handle (for instance, a steam:// address), it looks at all the installed protocol handlers to find a match.
So you can register your application as a myApplication:// protocol handler, and then your web page can link to a myApplication:// address and launch your application.
I didn't quite find the button you are talking about, but I'm thinking it works only after you installed the application once, isn't it?
In that case, the application probably created its own protocol, just as skype, msn and a bunch of clients.
Having a protocol is the easiest way (and very easy indeed to implement - a simple registry key).
Another way which is used is an extension or plugin.
I thought they were run through plug-ins or like applets.
For example, MS SilverLight

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