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Stay aware of security/ Attention Linux perl monks

by scottstef (Curate)
on Mar 24, 2001 at 08:35 UTC ( [id://66828]=note: print w/replies, xml ) Need Help??


in reply to Re (tilly) 2: Stay aware of security
in thread Stay aware of security

I don't know if this appropriate here, but I know a lot of perl monks are penguin lovers also. I was forwarded this PGP signed message from my LUG. It was sent to one of the sysadmins at the university i attend:
Subject: ALERT - A DANGEROUS NEW WORM IS SPREADING ON THE INTERNET
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1
ALERT! A DANGEROUS NEW WORM IS SPREADING ON THE INTERNET
March 23, 2001 7:00 AM
Late last night, the SANS Institute (through its Global Incident
Analysis Center) uncovered a dangerous new worm that appears to be spreading rapidly across the Internet. It scans the Internet looking for Linux computers with a known vulnerability. It infects the vulnerable machines, steals the password file (sending it to a China.com site), installs other hacking tools, and forces the newly infected machine to begin scanning the Internet looking for other victims.
Several experts from the security community worked through the night to decompose the worm's code and engineer a utility to help you discover if the Lion worm has affected your organization.
Updates to this announcement will be posted at the SANS web site, http://www.sans.org
DESCRIPTION
The Lion worm is similar to the Ramen worm. However, this worm is significantly more dangerous and should be taken very seriously. It infects Linux machines running the BIND DNS server. It is known to infect bind version(s) 8.2, 8.2-P1, 8.2.1, 8.2.2-Px, and all 8.2.3-betas. The specific vulnerability used by the worm to exploit machines is the TSIG vulnerability that was reported on January 29, 2001.
The Lion worm spreads via an application called "randb". Randb scans random class B networks probing TCP port 53. Once it hits a system, it checks to see if it is vulnerable. If so, Lion exploits the system using an exploit called "name". It then installs the t0rn rootkit.
Once Lion has compromised a system, it:
- - Sends the contents of /etc/passwd, /etc/shadow, as well as some network settings to an address in the china.com domain.
- - Deletes /etc/hosts.deny, eliminating the host-based perimeter protection afforded by tcp wrappers.
- - Installs backdoor root shells on ports 60008/tcp and 33567/tcp (via inetd, see /etc/inetd.conf)
- - Installs a trojaned version of ssh that listens on 33568/tcp
- - Kills Syslogd , so the logging on the system can't be trusted
- - Installs a trojaned version of login
- - Looks for a hashed password in /etc/ttyhash
- - /usr/sbin/nscd (the optional Name Service Caching daemon) is overwritten with a trojaned version of ssh.
The t0rn rootkit replaces several binaries on the system in order to stealth itself. Here are the binaries that it replaces:
du, find, ifconfig, in.telnetd, in.fingerd, login, ls, mjy, netstat, ps, pstree, top
- - "Mjy" is a utility for cleaning out log entries, and is placed in /bin and /usr/man/man1/man1/lib/.lib/.
- - in.telnetd is also placed in these directories; its use is not known at this time.
- - A setuid shell is placed in /usr/man/man1/man1/lib/.lib/.x
DETECTION AND REMOVAL
We have developed a utility called Lionfind that will detect the Lion files on an infected system. Simply download it, uncompress it, and run lionfind. This utility will list which of the suspect files is on the system.
At this time, Lionfind is not able to remove the virus from the system. If and when an updated version becomes available (and we expect to provide one), an announcement will be made at this site.
Download Lionfind at http://www.sans.org/y2k/lionfind-0.1.tar.gz
REFERENCES
Further information can be found at:
http://www.sans.org/current.htm
http://www.cert.org/advisories/CA-2001-02.html, CERT Advisory CA-2001-02, Multiple Vulnerabilities in BIND
http://www.kb.cert.org/vuls/id/196945 ISC BIND 8 contains buffer overflow
in transaction signature (TSIG) handling code
http://www.sans.org/y2k/t0rn.htm Information about the t0rn rootkit.
The following vendor update pages may help you in fixing the original BIND vulnerability:
Redhat Linux RHSA-2001:007-03 - Bind remote exploit http://www.redhat.com/support/errata/RHSA-2001-007.html
Debian GNU/Linux DSA-026-1 BIND http://www.debian.org/security/2001/dsa-026
SuSE Linux SuSE-SA:2001:03 - Bind 8 remote root compromise. http://www.suse.com/de/support/security/2001_003_bind8_ txt.txt
Caldera Linux CSSA-2001-008.0 Bind buffer overflow http://www.caldera.com/support/security/advisories/CSSA-2001-008.0.txt http://www.caldera.com/support/security/advisories/CSSA-2001-008.1.txt
This security advisory was prepared by Matt Fearnow of the SANS Institute and William Stearns of the Dartmouth Institute for Security Technology Studies.
The Lionfind utility was written by William Stearns. William is an Open-Source developer, enthusiast, and advocate from Vermont, USA. His day job at the Institute for Security Technology Studies at Dartmouth College pays him to work on network security and Linux projects.
Also contributing efforts go to Dave Dittrich from the University of Washington, and Greg Shipley of Neohapsis
Matt Fearnow
SANS GIAC Incident Handler
If you have additional data on this worm or a critical quetsion please email lionworm@sans.org
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.0.4 (BSD/OS)
Comment: For info see http://www.gnupg.org
iD8DBQE6u17n+LUG5KFpTkYRAgn9AJ0ffubakBA47teAe9lF92lrS2H+TwCgh3T/
ek+YCliAS832nnMIzP28ezM=
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-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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Re: Stay aware of security/ Attention Linux perl monks
by LD2 (Curate) on Mar 24, 2001 at 09:58 UTC
    Good idea for the warning, but I think many sys admin's should not have fallen prey to this attack - since the worm uses the security hole in Bind. Most have upgraded, if not.. I guess that's a good lesson in procrasination. :(

    The Bind warning of the security bug has been out for some time and most who have not upgraded ... well, they usually haven't due to personal reasons (i.e. home server) or have not considered the consequences thoroughly. It was only a matter of time, where someone would exploit these bugs. In any case, those who use Bind 8.. should upgrade to Bind 8.2.3

    p.s. It's not only linux systems but all unix systems running Bind DNS.
Re: Stay aware of security/ Attention Linux perl monks
by dusk (Friar) on Mar 24, 2001 at 09:22 UTC
    Yes, 'tis a sad day for Linux. Although not the first worm for Linux, it is becoming painfully apparent that viruses for Linux are becoming more widespread, and will without question become a problem :(
      -Dpedantic

      So far, the only true virus for Linux has been one called "bliss" ... due to the concept of users, only the most incompetent will do any real damage (running as root, maybe? :o)

      The rest of these "viruses" all depend on holes in the system, and are aptly named "worms."

      --
      Me spell chucker work grate. Need grandma chicken.

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