Posted on 10/01/2009 11:05:22 AM PDT by Swordmaker
Security researchers at Symantec have uncovered what they suspect may be the first Mac OS X botnet launching denial-of service attacks. As revealed in a recent edition of Virus Bulletin, the researchers claim to have found two malware types which use different tricks to grab control of infected Mac OS X machines.
The two malware bundles are called OSX.Iservice and OSX.Iservice.B, and appear to be spread within pirated copies of iWork 09 and Photoshop CS4, distributed on the popular P2P torrent network. We've talked about these before but now these infected machines are springing into action.
Seems the malware maker got hold of original copies of both application and inserted the malicious binaries into the software. Users who download and install these apps may then be affected. Researchers Mario Ballano Barcena and Alfredo Pesoli warn this to be “the first real attempt to create a Mac botnet”, and state that these zombie Macs are already going about bad business. Thousands of Macs may have been infected, they warn.
The men also note the malware author appears to have used the most flexible and extendible approach when creating the code, “therefore, we would not be surprised to see a new, modified variant in the near future,” the researchers said.
We’re attempting to unearth further information at this time.
UPDATE: We've managed a little chat with Symantec, details follow:
- The infection is also known as: OSX/iWorkServ.A [F-Secure], OSX/IWService [McAfee], OSX/iWorkS-A [Sophos], OSX_KROWI.A [Trend], OSX/iWorkS-Fam [Sophos], OSX/Krowi.A [Computer Associates].
- They warn: "Users who download files from third party sites and from P2P networks such as BitTorrent are at risk. More generally, anyone who surfs the internet should be aware of the threat of fake web sites, called phishing sites, that steal passwords, identity information and credit card numbers. "
- Asked if Mac users are under attack, Symantec notes: "The short answer, no. Users of Macintosh computers continue to have little to fear from viruses, trojans and worms so long as they take reasonable precautions."
More general info on the malware:
The two versions of the trojan, called OSX.Iservice and OSX.Iservice.B both create a network of computers (a “botnet) that can used by cyber criminals to attack web sites, send junk email, steal passwords (SPAM) and other malicious activities. This network has been called by some, "iBotnet".
The trojans are distributed in pirated copies of Apple Computer’s iWork ’09 and Adobe Photoshop CS4 found on some P2P networks. Other than installing the company's anti-virus technologies (and warning against free solutions purporting to do this. as these are often flawed), the company advises Mac users who frequently download files and apps should, "Create a limited or non-administrator account for day to day activities. Use an account with full privileges only when necessary."
The fake iWork ’09 installer has the filename iWork09.zip and is approximately 450MB in size. In contrast, the legitimate trial version of iWork ’09 that is available from Apple is named iWork09Trial.dmg and is slightly over 451MB. The iWorkServices.pkg contains the Trojan executable named iworkservices, and is approximately 404KB in size. The Trojan first determines if it is the root user on the compromised computer and if not, it will end. Then, it checks to see if it was executed with the file name iWorkServices. If not, it will create the following folder:
/System/Library/StartupItems/iWorkServices
The Trojan then copies itself to both of the following locations: /usr/bin/iWorkServices
/System/Library/StartupItems/iWorkServices
It then modifies the following file to ensure that it runs when the compromised computer restarts:
/System/Library/StartupItems/iWorkServices/StartupParameters.plist
The Trojan then restarts itself from its new location in /System/Library/StartupItems/iWorkServices, and decrypts an AES encrypted configuration file, which is located in /private/tmp/.iWorkServices. Finally, the Trojan acts as a back door and opens a port on the local host for connections. It then attempts to connect to the following remote hosts:
69.92.177.146:59201
qwfojzlk.freehostia.com:1024
We're fairly confident now this isn't a wide-spread outbreak, but do hope that any Mac user who may have been affected now has the knowledge they need to identify if indeed they have been, and potentially to protect themselves from any further propogation of this malware thingummy...
I didn’t even know I had something called root. And I now am beginning to seriously doubt that “The Opera Gala: Live from Baden-Baden (2007)” was one of the infected downloads. Oh well. Better the DVD.
I hope you get over it real soon. lol
“My toof hurts!”
If you don’t know whether you are you probably aren’t!
1. The malware checks to see if it's running as root, meaning euid=0 (effective uid). This is easily accomplished by any Mac user who set up their own machine, because you don't have to "activate the root account" to do it.
"sudo" is available to all members of group "admin", and the default install user is made a member of group admin so they can administer their own machine. As you know, if you run sudo from the commandline, it requests your password and then runs the command that follows, as root (euid=0). I expect that the well-known installation gui-dialog prompt for password is exactly the same mechanism -- allowing the current user to elevate to root privilege by doing a setuid of 0.
It does NOT require activating the user account called "root".
2. You mean "run as root", not "run in root".
True.
Not really. The virus here can be done easily on any machine that someone idiot is willing to steal programs and install them not knowing if they had a virus or not.
The talking point you are referring to is being able to attack a Mac over the wire without the need of a user installing a trojan. And that was already defeated with the first version of Mac OS X when the man in the middle attack was found to be viable against their update website.
Once again Mac is just too small a footprint to worry about.
This isn’t a virus but a trojan.
Once again, if the footprint is so small, all someone needs to do is write one virus that affects OS X for all to see. Then you can continue with the nonsensical argument that the Mac “footprint” is too small. How many millions of Macs will it take?
Give us a number or continue to move the goal post.
I’ll give a number 20% of the user base. Then it might actually get some attention.
Microsoft today just announced FREE Anti-virus software they have had in beta for years. Now all these anti virus folks are going to go bye bye.
It was viable, but only for a malicious server on your own LAN masquerading as Apple's server. No Mac user ever was attacked in such a way. That unexploited vulnerability was closed seven years ago.
so. Point is it was a viable attack vector so the point is moot—meaning it’s already been done. The fact it didn’t occur in the wild see the previous posts about it being a waste of time to attack such a small percentage of machines.
You really don't know what you are talking about, for-q-Clinton. I agreed it was a viable vulnerability but I did not agree that it was a viable vector. For this to work your your local area network had to already be compromised. It was a vulnerability in the early versions of OS X that was first announced by Apple when it fixed the problem. It was never exploited, nor was the possibility of it being exploited very credible, given the extreme difficulty of placing a spoofed server on a LAN.
In other words, it hasn't "already been done." This was not even a "proof-of-concept" demonstration as it was not demonstrated, merely closed.
Every vulnerability has the potential to be exploited but some are almost impossible. This man-in-the-middle attack is not a means of attacking thousands of computers, it was a retail hacking trick.
Attacking computers with malware is not a matter of percentages of all computers, for-q; it's a matter of sheer numbers. With the upcoming announcement of Apple selling more than ten million Macs this fiscal year, the sheer number of un-protected Macs out there in the wild is somewhere north of 45 million. Viruses have been written targeting just 12,000 vulnerable Windows XP computers protected by BlackIce's firewall. Others were written aimed at fewer than 30,000 smart cell phones and there was even a virus written that targeted the dozens of iPods that had been converted to run Linux, so why are the crackers and virus authors NOT writing malware for the potentially lucrative target of 45 million sitting ducks? There is a reason, but it isn't obscurity.
Oh I see you dont’ deal with big enough customers or government business to understand how this was/is a significant point of attack.
Yes there are huge risks with that point of attack, but you’re right if you’re a home user it’s doubtful that it will be exploited. But if a government was using Mac OS X at that point they would be vulnerable.
Nenernenernener..... Warning! Warning! Danger Will Robinson!!! The Sky is falling!!!
All your base are belong to us!!! Somebody sent us up the bomb!
10 million new macs sold in Apple’s fiscal year, add to that the fact that the OS has been out in some form for 7 years - and how many millions of OSX machines are now online? Even if we said 45 million, would that not be an attractive target, since 99.9997% believe their machines are essentially virus and trojan-proof and thus run no form of antivirus?
That is why the “obscurity” argument just doesn’t fly...
It might be the first time, but a second time... then it isn’t the first!
Why are you crowing about a mere "speck" in the eye of OS X, while ignoring the multiple "logs" in your own preferred platform's eyes, for-q?
I fully understand it was a potential point of attack with "huge risks"—there have been thousands of such potential points of attack on Windows—but I also understand that this one for OS X was never exploited. I also understand that such an exploit depended on the existence of an already compromised—by some other means—computer on the local area network where the targeted computers are connected before it could have been a danger. I also completely understand that this so-called "significant point of attack" was in a very early version of a developing technology and that the vulnerability was present only for a very short time before it was pro-actively CLOSED, SEALED SHUT, ENDED by Apple soon after it was discovered, before it was ever known about by anyone who could have exploited it.
The point is, for-q, Apple added digital security signature technology to all of its Software Update packages to prevent a success of man-in-the-middle attacks using this means of attack. That preventive measure is something not done by Microsoft for Windows Update until at least a year after Apple did it.
Shall we discuss some of the "logs" in Windows eyes? Shall we talk about all the "significant points" of attacks that existed in every version of Windows of the past, for-q? Ones that were actually exploited... for example, the vulnerabilities used by the various versions of the Conficker/downadup/kido worm that did indeed infect thousands of military and government computers this past year?
Are you aware, for-q, after Apple had closed the vulnerability you are claiming "has already been done" implying to readers of this thread that the mere existence of the vulnerability means that it WAS exploited and that the Mac has been infected with malware, that the man-in-the-middle attack WAS used by crackers to intercept update requests from Windows' users and infect those users' computers?
You, with your claim "that it has already been done," are apparently incapable of understanding the difference between a potential vulnerability and a real world, out-in-the-wild, exploit doing actual damage.
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