Another Sony Rootkit?

An anonymous reader writes to tell us F-Secure is reporting that the drivers for Sony Microvault USB sticks uses rootkit techniques to hide a directory from the Windows API. "This USB stick with rootkit-like behavior is closely related to the Sony BMG case. First of all, it is another case where rootkit-like cloaking is ill advisedly used in commercial software. Also, the USB sticks we ordered are products of the same company — Sony Corporation. The Sony MicroVault USM-F fingerprint reader software that comes with the USB stick installs a driver that is hiding a directory under "c:\windows\". So, when enumerating files and subdirectories in the Windows directory, the directory and files inside it are not visible through Windows API. If you know the name of the directory, it is e.g. possible to enter the hidden directory using Command Prompt and it is possible to create new hidden files. There are also ways to run files from this directory. Files in this directory are also hidden from some antivirus scanners (as with the Sony BMG DRM case) — depending on the techniques employed by the antivirus software. It is therefore technically possible for malware to use the hidden directory as a hiding place."

Comments

Sony

[jshriverWVU]

What happened to Sony? Growing up they always seemed like a great tech company, pumping out quality products that most people liked. When did politics and this kinda crap really start. It's sad.

Re:Sony

[Prof.Phreak]

It started when they became an entertainment corp, rather than a technology corp.

Re:Sony

[plover]

It happened when they added a movie studio and a recording label to the corporation. The media side of the house demanded copy protection from the technical side of the house, without understanding the technical limitations.

Re:Sony

[Otter]

When did politics and this kinda crap really start.

Hype here notwithstanding, this is not a "rootkit". It seems to be a bizarre form of write-protection.

Re:Sony

[Andy Dodd]

CD was Philips, not Sony.

As to DVD - Not sure about the original DVD format, but Sony effectively created the recordable DVD format war with the + series of formats.

And yes, Sony had a role in VHS vs. Beta - Beta was Sony's format.

Re:Sony

[omeomi]

Philips and Sony collaborated on the CD specification.

Re:Sony

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm finding this all quite entertaining, I must say. So I think that's your answer.

Re:Sony

[AKAImBatman]

Yes, it is a rootkit. It's modifying the kernel space to hide directories from the user. There are better ways of doing such a thing, but a rootkit has the advantage of keeping the files hidden from common methods of hidden-file detection. Something like a virus or trojan would tend to use a kit like this to make sure that it couldn't be found by antivirus software. Such kits also tend to mask the presence of their processes, just to make sure that they REALLY can't be detected.

Re:Sony

[harrkev]

Please note: this software simply creates a directory that is hidden from the Windows API for its fingerprint authentication. It's not actually a rootkit

Please note the defenition of "rootkit," ripped from the beginning of the rootkit wikipedia article:

A rootkit is a set of software tools intended to conceal running processes, files or system data from the operating system.

If it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck, yada yada yada.

Re:Sony

[Harmonious Botch]

If it is a rootkit or not seems to me an academic question. I prefer to be asking: is my computer more vulnerable?

Re:Sony

[jandrese]

But the Memory Stick had all sorts of advantages, like a useless DRM system and twice the price per bit of all of the competing flash solutions. It also capped out on capacity a lot quicker than its contemporaries. Who wouldn't want one?

Re:Sony

[mattpalmer1086]

God, memory stick. I have a Sony phone, which is quite nice. I was recently in Tokyo, and I wanted some extra memory for my phone, so I went to Akihabara - geek central. All the sales assistants in about 20 shops I visited just looked at my phone, shrugged their shoulders and said "Sony!". My Japanese is pretty poor, but I got the message. So I went to the big Sony building at Ginza. No deal. They said they only sold memory sticks in the European market - they were using something else in Japan.

Since I was there, I pulled out a Sony camera I was trying to get a USB cable for. Again, no deal. This camera was North American Sony, and they didn't have those kinds of Sony cables in Japan.

Sigh. This insistence on ignoring standards and doing everything themselves - not even consistently across the world - bugs me like hell. I doubt I'll buy any more Sony consumer electronics until they get it. Hope they do - they know how to make nicely designed bits of technology.

Re:Sony

[ajs]

Please note the defenition of "rootkit," ripped from the beginning of the rootkit wikipedia article:

A rootkit is a set of software tools intended to conceal running processes, files or system data from the operating system.

If it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck, yada yada yada. This is a naive definition (I'll edit it later, with appropriate sources). Many programs attempt to conceal files which are not rootkits. Rootkits are the core of a type of software that seeks to hide its own existence. This Sony software does no such thing. You can see the software. You can remove the software. You can view every one of the software's files. Even F-Secure said that they believed the software was designed only with the security of the thumbnail drive data in mind, not with any subversion of the host (like the real Sony rootkit that got them in so much trouble). It only seeks to protect sensitive biometric data which should not be visible to all programs) from the normal Windows API. Again, I'm not defending how they did this. It's poor design, as it has huge security implications. However, it's not a rootkit, but a poorly designed driver.

We need to be more careful to cry wolf when there's, you know... a wolf. Otherwise, when some company decides to deploy a real rootkit again, no one is going to listen to us.

Consider

[nlitement]

It is therefore technically possible for malware to use the hidden directory as a hiding place. Isn't software behaving like that already considered malware?

Re:Consider

[wizardforce]

Isn't software behaving like that already considered malware?

yes and no. it depends on what and how you use it. if you use the property of hiding directories as a simple way of keeping data from less experienced people [eg. slashdotters hiding the porn from their parents] then it isn't malware; in this case sony's software doesn't seem to be hding a directory for any good purpose, so yes it is malware.

Re:Consider

[B'Trey]

No. The distinction is WHO's doing the hiding. If a user on the computer intentionally hides files or directories from other possible users on the computers, it's not malware. It may or may not be ethical, depending on who's doing the hiding and why. Presumably, it's the owner of the computer and they have a right to hid info from prying eyes. If not, the issue is with the user's actions and not with the software. If, however, a program creates files or directories and hides them (by means other than simply using the H attribute, at least) from the owner/user of the computer, it's malware. It's understandable for a content owner to wish to protect their content, but that doesn't justify them altering the behavior of a computer without the owner's express understanding and permission for what they're doing.

Hidden files

[king-manic]

Is root kit now the new buzzword for "please send me traffic"? This isn't the same as a rootkit, it's just a annoyingly hidden directory. Can we tag this as FUD?

Re:Hidden files

[j00r0m4nc3r]

It doesn't matter what their intent is, they are using rootkit techniques to hide shit on your computer. This allows other parties to piggyback on that tech and install other nastier UNDETECTABLE malware. It would be like if your house cleaning lady leaves your front door wide open when she leaves. Someone could stroll in, fuck your shit up, and leave undetected. Definitely something to seriously worry about.

Re:Hidden files

[Applekid]

Hiding from the API is pretty important, actually. That's done by pulling the rug under the pointers to the functions that retreives lists of files/directories. If that's not a Windows rootkit, what is?

And much like their last rootkit, this one can easily be used to cloak files on your system and is pretty much a fantastic place to put your virus. Way to really push the limits, guys.

Re:Hidden files

[MontyApollo]

First sentence from wikipedia article:

"A rootkit is a set of software tools intended to conceal running processes, files or system data from the operating system"

So, it sounds like a rootkit as described by wikipedia.

Re:Hidden files

[aztracker1]

If it doesn't show up in nautilus via ctrl+h it is... if it doesn't show up in windows with "show hidden files and folders" checked it is.... simply setting an *intended* file system attribute isn't the same as hiding from the operating system.

tsk tsk tsk...

[JazzyMusicMan]

They are simply conditioning a public growing weary of dishonest tactics and policies to steer clear of any products they produce. Sony has many divisions and has a presence in many markets, and they are royally screwing all of them up. First the music cd fiasco, now this, no wonder they were prematurely blasted for the SecuROM program that was talked about on here a few days ago. Most people automatically saw it as a rootkit or something they didn't want on their computer because of the record that Sony is establishing for itself. It doesn't matter that maybe it wasn't a rootkit or something malicious, if the public starts thinking that everything you produce is going to create security vulnerabilities and screw up their machine, they'll simply stay away without giving you a second (or third, [or fourth]) chance...

kiosk

[SolusSD]

It seems to me that our personal computers are becoming more and more like kiosks where "vendors" install software they want and the "end users", ie) us, have less and less control over our own PCs. Think about it- DRM, (truly) hidden folders, subscriptino software, product activation, ..vista?

Wow...

[shoptroll]

Did anyone read the article before coming up with the post title? They say right in the middle of the article that it's not a rootkit, and "It is our belief that the MicroVault software hides this folder to somehow protect the fingerprint authentication from tampering and bypass. It is obvious that user fingerprints cannot be in a world writable file on the disk when we are talking about secure authentication. However, we feel that rootkit-like cloaking techniques are not the right way to go here."

This is also nothing new in terms of USB drives. I have a USB flash drive, which I can't remember the name of, that essentially keeps a secure partition hidden from Windows unless you run a special app to put in a password to make it visible to Windows.

A Nasty Trick

[Sigismundo]

It reminds me of the time that some friends and I discovered that a labmate had left himself logged in as root on a virtual console at his Linux workstation. Here's what we did:

1. Created a directory with the name " " (single space)
2. Added that directory to his path
3. Wrote a Perl script that would spit out a random quote from zippy 1/3 of the time, and then execute the program pointed to by argv[0]
4. Populated the special hidden directory with symlinks to the perl script, each given the name of a common command like ls, ps, and so on.

So whenever he ran a common command from his shell, he would first get a random quote from fortune appearing, followed by normal command output. He figured it out pretty quickly, but I like to think that there were a few moments where he entertained the idea of his workstation gaining sentience.

Desensitized

[Dachannien]

The overuse of the term "rootkit" points to (at least) one thing: we've become so desensitized to security hazards that it takes a new buzzword for nefariousness to grab people's attention. Regardless of whether this is itself a rootkit or not, it's still a security hazard, and what's perhaps more ironic, that hazard was created in an attempt to effect "security through obscurity".

Re:This article is retarded

[LarsG]

First, the article has so many grammatical errors, that it's laughable.

F-Secure is from Finland. You try writing Finnish some time.

My "Windows API" as this article calls Explorer, is already set to view hidden folders.

Turn in your geek card at the door when you leave.

This is a driver that patches the Windows APIs in order to hide a directory. It will not show in Explorer or in any other program for that matter, even if Explorer is set to show 'hidden files'. Rootkit hunters like Blacklight and Rootkit Revealer do not flag regular 'hidden directories'. They read and parse the raw on-disk directory structure (that is, they have their own NTFS parser) and compare that to what the Windows FS API reports.

Re:Rootkits aside...

[deftcoder]

A malicious driver is being installed that patches the Win32 API ( FindFirstFile() and FindNextFile() ) not to report the presence of a directory when enumerating through your C:\Windows folder.

How is this *NOT* a rootkit? This is the very definition of one!

Re:This article is retarded

[deftcoder]

Hi.

They are patching 2 API functions, FindFirstFile() and FindNextFile(), not to report the presence of a directory. They are doing this by loading a malicious *DRIVER*.

This is quite different than simply toggling a flag for a given directory.

Wikipedia?

[Spy der Mann]

So, it sounds like a rootkit as described by wikipedia.

Not for long! *rushes to edit wikipedia*

"A rootkit is a set of software tools intended to conceal running processes, files or system data from the operating system, except when it's with Sony products"

There! Now by definition, sony's isn't a rootkit anymore! :D

(Legal Disclaimer: This was actually a joke, I didn't vandalize wikipedia or the like. <-- you can't never be too sure these days)

If it looks like a duck...

[IBBoard]

If it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck,...

Then lawyers for some large corporation will argue that it's actually some previously rare form of feathered marsupial?

You're missing the point.

[KingSkippus]

It only seeks to protect sensitive biometric data which should not be visible to all programs) from the normal Windows API.

The intentions behind the software are irrelevant. The only thing that matters is what it does. What this software does is an end-run around the operating system, deliberately hiding things that should not and need not be hidden.

Why shouldn't it be hidden? Because as has already been pointed out, malicious software can take advantage of the rootkit—which is what this is—as an attack vector to control someone's machine without their knowledge, and with damn little they can do about it.

Please remember also that a lot of computer viruses and worms didn't start out with people saying, "I'm going to write a computer virus today!" They started out with someone saying, "Hmmm... I wonder if that would work..." and it goes from there. In fact, the guy who is credited with writing the first computer virus said, "It was a practical joke combined with a hack. A wonderful hack." Maybe, but it's stupid to deny what it was, a virus, just as it is to deny what this is, a rootkit.

Re:A virus could put its files in the hidden folde

[nschubach]

A virus wouldn't put itself in this hidden folder instead?

%USERPROFILE%\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files\Content.IE5

Or this one?
%USERPROFILE%\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files\OLK6F

Maybe one this windows built in rootkit folder?

c:\$Extend

..or maybe one of these hidden files?
c:\$AttrDef

c:\$BadClus

c:\$Bitmap

c:\$Boot

c:\$LogFile

c:\$Secure

c:\$Volume

All which the handy SysInternals hides as "Standard NTFS Metadata Files" by default.

The existence of these files/folders are hidden to most users and most of them don't even know about them. You think virus scanners check the c:\$Extend folder? Is someone willing to drop in a known virus and see if it detects it? Honestly, I'm curious as to how many actually check this folder...