A new Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) crimeware bot known as “Zemra” and detected by Symantec as Backdoor.Zemra. Lately, this threat has been observed performing denial-of-service attacks against organizations with the purpose of extortion. Zemra first appeared on underground forums in May 2012 at a cost of €100.
This crimeware pack is similar to other crime packs, such as Zeus and SpyEye, in that is has a command-and-control panel hosted on a remote server. This allows it to issue commands to compromised computers and act as the gateway to record the number of infections and bots at the attacker’s disposal.
Similar to other crimeware kits, the functionality of Zemra is extensive:
256-bit DES encryption/decryption for communication between server and client
DDoS attacks
Device monitoring
Download and execution of binary files
Installation and persistence in checking to ensure infection
Propagation through USB
Self update
Self uninstall
System information collection
However, the main functionality is the ability to perform a DDoS attack on a remote target computer of the user’s choosing.
Initially, when a computer becomes infected, Backdoor.Zemra dials home through HTTP (port 80) and performs a POST request sending hardware ID, current user agent, privilege indication (administrator or not), and the version of the OS. This POST request gets parsed by gate.php, which splits out the information and stores it in an SQL database. It then keeps track of which compromised computers are online and ready to receive commands.
Inspection of the leaked code allowed us to identify two types of DDoS attacks that have been implemented into this bot:
HTTP flood
SYN flood
Symantec added detection for this threat under the name Backdoor.Zemra, which became active on June 25, 2012. To reduce the possibility of being infected by this Trojan, Symantec advises users to ensure that they are using the latest Symantec protection technologies with the latest antivirus definitions installed.
Security expert Thomas Cannon working at viaForensics as the Director of R&D has demonstrated a custom-developed app that installs a backdoor in Android smartphones – without requiring any permissions or exploiting any security holes.
Thomas built an app which requires no permissions and yet is able to give an attacker a remote shell and allow them to execute commands on the device remotely from anywhere in the world. The functionality they are exploiting to do this is not new, it has been quietly pointed out for a number of years, and was explained in depth at Defcon-18 Presentation.
It is not a zero-day exploit or a root exploit. They are using Android the way it was designed to work, but in a clever way in order to establish a 2-way communication channel. This has been tested on Android versions ranging from 1.5 up to 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, and it works in a similar way on all platforms.
The application operates by instructing the browser to access a particular web page with specific parameters. This web page, and the server behind it, will, in turn, control the app by forwarding the browser to a URL that starts with a protocol prefix that is registered as being handled by the app, for example app://. This process can then be repeated and in doing so it enables two-way communication.
“In this demonstration Android’s power and flexibility were perhaps also its downfall. Other smartphone platforms may not offer the controls we are bypassing at all, and the multi-tasking capabilities in Android allowed us to run the attack almost transparently to the user. This power combined with the open nature of Android also facilitates the customisation of the system to meet bespoke security requirements. This is something we have even been involved in ourselves by implementing a proof of concept Loadable Kernel Module to pro-actively monitor and defend a client’s intellectual property as it passed through their devices. It is no surprise that we have seen adoption of Android research projects in the military and government as it can be enhanced and adapted for specific security requirements, perhaps like no other mobile platform before it.” – Thomas Cannon said
OSX/Tsunami.A, an IRC controlled backdoor Trojan for Mac OS X, has been discovered that enables the infected machine to become a bot for Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks.
The analyzed sample contains a hardcoded list of IRC servers and channel that it attempts to connect to. This client then listens and interprets commands from the channel. The list of accepted commands can be seen in the following comment block from the C source code of the Linux variant.
In addition to enabling DDoS attacks, the backdoor can enable a remote user to download files, such as additional malware or updates to the Tsunami code. The malware can also execute shell commands, giving it the ability to essentially take control of the affected machine.
In terms of functionality, the Mac variant of the backdoor is similar to its older Linux brother, with only the IRC server, channel and password changed and the greatest difference being that it’s a 64-bit Mach-O binary instead of an ELF binary.
BlackHole is a variant of a well-known Remote Access Trojan (RAT) for Windows known as darkComet.
“Hello, Im the BlackHole Remote Administration Tool.
I am a Trojan Horse, so i have infected your Mac Computer.
I know, most people think Macs can’t be infected, but look, you ARE Infected!
I have full controll over your Computer and i can do everything I want, and you can do nothing to prevent it.
So, Im a very new Virus, under Development, so there will be much more functions when im finished.
But for now, it’s okay what I can do?”
This message, displayed in the full screen window with the reboot button blocks user’s screen.
As even the malware itself admits, it is not yet finished, but it could be indicative of more underground programmers taking note of Apple’s increasing market share.
Functions :
Remote execution of shell commands.
Opens URL using victim’s default browser.
Sends a message which is displayed on the victims screen.
Creates a text file.
Perform shutdown, restart and sleep operation.
Popping up a fake “Administrator Password” window to phish the target.
A new Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) crimeware bot known as “Zemra” and detected by Symantec as Backdoor.Zemra. Lately, this threat has been observed performing denial-of-service attacks against organizations with the purpose of extortion. Zemra first appeared on underground forums in May 2012 at a cost of €100.
