Router-rooting malware pwns Linux-based network devices
Bad for your ELF
Agentless Backup is Not a Myth
Security researchers have discovered a rare strain of router-rooting malware that targets network devices running either Linux or Unix.
The malware, which poses as an Executable and Linkable Format (ELF) file, carries out a brute-force attack on router user name-password pairs from compromised PCs.
If successful, the malware sets up an IRC backdoor onto compromised systems. Early tests by net security firm Trend Micro have confirmed that the malware works on routers from D-Link. Other systems may also be affected.
Trend reports that the malware (dubbed ELF_Tsunami-R) is circulating in Latin America. While incidents of the malware are low the damage potential is high, Trend Micro warns.
Strains of viruses or Trojans that attack network infrastructure components are rare but not unprecedented. For example, a 2008 attack involving DNS poisoning targeted modems in Mexico.
The attack targeted a known vulnerability in 2Wire modems, a brand issued by local ISPs to an estimated two million customers at the time, and was ultimately designed to redirect surfers from one of the largest banking website in Mexico to a counterfeit site.
More recently the so-called Chuck Norris botnet hijacked poorly-configured routers and DSL modems last year. ®
COMMENTS
brute forces it from an already compromised PC? *yawn*
Not really a vulnerability in the router, more a case of stupid people using weak passwords and insecure computers.
@does ANYONE use the bundled junk that comes with an ADSL connection?
but you are an I T professional
@Stupid people with stupid hardware with stupid passwords running stupid security settings and doing stupid things
you mean non IT professional general public
Reading Trend Micro announce
I wonder how some one in his right mind would trust this company ? I know, the announce is made specifically for Windows users but, come on people from Trend Micro, anyone who has a minimal knowledge of Linux/Unix will smell the (security) farce.
How should I put this to you, an ELF file does not run on Windows. In order to bring it into my Linux device, I have to download it somehow and the Linux router would not help me with this. I would need a Windows machine (yes, a Linux, Mac or *BSD will do just fine but then there would be no point for your anti-virus scanning it). Then I'll have to get a shell on my router, preferably with root privileges, put my elf there and... no Windows fans, you can't just run it just because it's an executable, you'll have to modify its file attributes in order to make it really executable.
So as you can all see, a lot of hurdles for a poor Linux malware to do its devious deeds.
IT infrastructure monitoring strategies
Requirements Checklist for Choosing a Cloud Backup and Recovery Service Provider
Data control in the cloud
Cloud based data management
Agentless Backup is Not a Myth
