Slashdot Mirror
Spam Opt-out Link Triggers Malicious Code Attack
Maestro4k writes "The Register is reporting on a new spam E-mail circulating out there. In it, clicking on the 'Click here to remove' link launches a site, that when the user scrolls the page, triggers a drag-drop javascript exploit. Scarily the E-mail actually complies with the CAN-SPAM act as it only requires spammers to put an opt-out link in their mailings. As The Reg says "It comes as little surprise that this feature is been taken advantage of in a social engineering exploit; but it does illustrate the security problems of the opt-out approach that were always apparent to security experts - and ignored by legislators." The link in questions points to www. xcelent.biz (As in The Reg story, space intentionally included) so even if you can't block the mail yet it should be easy to block access to the site with the exploit. I suspect this is just the beginning and most spam will include "features" such as this in the near future."
Fortunately, there is a patch for it, Mozilla is unaffected, and Norton and McAfee (at minimum) seem to detect it. That just leaves the millions of unpatched Windows machines that are running out-dated or low-grade antivirus!
Your hair look like poop, Bob! - Wanker.
Here is the pertinent CERT advisory for this flaw.
The idea is that all the website designer has to do is make an image that LOOKs like a scrollbar. The user goes and clicks and drags it to scroll down, not knowing it's fake. If there is a DYNSRC="..." attribute specified in the <IMG...> tag, Internet Explorer downloads and runs whatever program is specified, without any kinds of prompts whatsoever.
Even with SP2 installed.
Spammers have often used an "unsubscribe" link or something similar only to verify your email address and send you more spam. While not the same as triggering an exploit, I've been under the impression that spammers have taken advantage of users with an "opt out" type of link in this way for quite a while now.
host www.xcelent.biz
www.xcelent.biz has address 61.218.79.53
host 61.218.79.53
53.79.218.61.in-addr.arpa domain name pointer 61-218-79-53.HINET-IP.hinet.net
and people wonder why i firewall 60/7
Lawyers, MBA's, RIAA? A jedi fears not these things!
The article didn't give much explanation about the drag-and-drop exploit itself. Understandably, given the audience, but I was curious. Here's a good link: http://xforce.iss.net/xforce/xfdb/13679
a b c d. "d" looks pretty heavy on graphics.
.02
cLive ;-)
-- Trinity in high heels carrying a whip: The donimatrix - there is no spoonerism
That comment means it was ripped from a proof-of-concept website published a while ago: http://www.mikx.de/scrollbar/ Amazingly shameless. They stole this guy's code, AND they're using it for phishing attacks.
There is a slew of sites on that same server according to Webhosting Info that are infected, some with windows-update.exe and others with windows-update32.exe
Pete Carr Owner Chatmag.com
Of course, anyone who installs that on a non-isolated, non-virtual machine pretty much deserves the results. It looks like it has the standard "Software\Microsoft\Windows\Current Version\Run", "Software\Microsoft\Windows\Current Version\RunServices", and "SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\SafeBoot\" registry hooks. (Unix "strings" is your friend....)
//Information does not want to be free; it wants to breed.
http://www.xcelent.biz/d/ is a link to another page in that domain. Also has more graphics for better slashdotting potential.
P.S. Still be careful. They could always move the pages around.