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Most Sophisticated Rootkit Getting an Overhaul
jfruhlinger writes "TDL4, a rootkit that helps build a powerful botnet, is pegged by security vendor ESET as one of the most sophisticated pieces of malware in the world. But its creators aren't resting on their laurels; they're rewriting some of the code from the ground up to make it difficult for antimalware to detect it, creating a hidden boot partition that guarantees malware code will be loaded even before the operating system is. It's part of a plan to turn TDL4 into a turnkey product that can be sold to other criminal operations."
... please return their call ASAP. They did not leave a message.
Naturally, we'll just make a boot sector with virus protection code that loads before anything else.
Yo Dog, I heard you like bootsectors. So I put a bootsector in your bootsector, so you can boot, while you reboot!
As annoying and irritating and downright destructive as malware can be, the techniques used to implement it can be absolutely fascinating. Hackers are the programmers who dive into the system and understand it's weaknesses, finding holes and exploits.
It's the crackers who field that technology destructively that are the problem.
Technology in and of itself is not evil or wrong. It's the abuse of technology that we all need to be concerned about.
I do not fail; I succeed at finding out what does not work.
"TDL4, a rootkit that helps build a powerful botnet, is pegged by security vendor ESET as one of the most sophisticated pieces of malware in the world.
That we know about.
Stuxnet looked pretty mundane, on the surface. Anyone else wonder how many more such super-sophisticated malware are out there that we have no clue exists?
"None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license." --John Milton
Or switch OSes. I'll give you 3 chances to guess which OS these root kits run on. And the first 2 don't count.
Computers must have a way to boot to a guarenteed-audited environment for virus scanning.
Yes, I know that Windows 8 on computers that have "protected" BIOSes meet this requirement but I'm thinking something more general.
If you turn on a hardware switch labeled "I think I have a virus" and power on your computer, the boot sequence should be:
Protected BIOS preloader:
- audits (checks signature of) the BIOS, if signed AND has the "secure" bit set, lets it load, if not signed, loads read-only factory BIOS.
BIOS (or factory BIOS)
- audits (checks signature of) bootloader/OS loader from first available boot device. If signed and the "secure" bit is set, lets it load. If not goes on to next device in boot sequence.
and so on.
In many cases the user will be presented with "no secure boot device found, insert secure boot device and restart computer" error from the BIOS.
Inserting a signed vendor operating system install CD or live CD or rescue CD should do the trick.
Once the system is booted, security software can be downloaded, audited, and run.
Once the system is clean the user turns off the "I think I have a virus" switch and boots normally.
--
Yes, I know this won't cure a virus or rootkit that isn't DETECTED by current security software bit it will keep anything from getting a permanent (as in "throw your computer or drive away") foothold in a system AND it will make it relatively easy for the layman to get rid of such infections.
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
Give it up mate
So why don't good people write a program that can seek out these bad ones and kill them?
There are people who do, such as those who maintain Spybot Search and Destroy.
Don't know something? Look it up. Still don't know? Then ask.
Good thing I'm gonna get a win8 machine with secure boot. Fuck these assholes.
That's what I was thinking. Then I thought, "Gee, this wasn't a big issue before but now that Windows 8 is going to have a feature to kill it, only then does major malware do this?" I hate to sound like a conspiracy nut, but this suggests that some arm of Microsoft might be involved in this. Knowing how Microsoft departments work (see "mexican standoff") it's not too far fetched to think that IF this were going on, 90% of the company wouldn't know.
On a more salient technical question...exactly how does malware plan on installing a hidden boot partition? Did malware writers figure out how to shrink a live, mounted partition of the hard drive to make space for another one? Or are they just going to take over the "recovery" partition most vendors ship on their computers? Given that the first option is extremely unlikely, this seems like a good reason to suggest that vendors supply an OS install DVD (or read-only USB stick, or embedded read-only flash storage) instead of a recovery partition. Not that it's ever going to happen. Hardware vendors like being able to save on manufacturing (or even licensing) costs for the extra discs, at the expense of space for user data (which doesn't need to be disclosed in advertising). Microsoft is too focused on their secure boot crusade anyway.
Combining the seeming nuttery with the technical question...what would Microsoft's goal be to create or help the development of this malware? To push secure boot? Why secure boot? To kill Linux? To kill Windows piracy? To help their partners ship unremovable crapware? To turn Windows into an iOS-style walled garden?
I sometimes ask revealing, often ignorant-seeming questions. Maybe they're harder to answer than you think.
BeOS. FreeBSD. Linux. Did I win?
Some technologies are created for evil purposes by evil people. They have no beneficial use.
Sorry, but technology is just a tool and some tools are good for only one thing: Bad.
Funny, but no.
RTFA:
"There are many things that make TDL4 stand out from the crowd of rootkits currently plaguing the Internet. Its ability to infect 64-bit Windows systems, its use of the public Kad peer-to-peer network for command purposes and its Master Boot Record (MBR) safeguard component are just some of them."
So we're getting back to the good old days where you needed to wipe the first couple of megs of the disk with a MS debug trick and re-partition to get rid of some of the viruses.
That's a good start. But there needs to be more. Such as having multiple hashes of the KNOWN files for the OS and apps.
That way, not only can you check for KNOWN viruses ... but you can verify that the files you have do not have UNKNOWN viruses.
The only problem (aside from the daily update thing) would be user-created files. So an easy way to move those files from the machine to something like a flash drive would be handy.
Then do something similar for the registry.
And you'd have a better way of evaluating anti-virus companies. Which of them identify the most files from the most legitimate vendors and how accurately.
Every major OS now can shrink a mounted partition out of the box. OS X's partitioner has at least been able to do it since 2006 (it's used for Bootcamp). Windows added the ability with Windows 7 and I don't even know how long Parted has had that ability on Linux.
I know that no one here is will to say a good thing about the proposed Windows 8 secure boot "feature", but isn't this rootkit scenario the one it's trying to prevent? Would the secure boot prevent a user from booting into Windows if rootkit like this was on the computer?
to bad that most business uses will make that lock down unworkable for quite some time.
* Most business are just moving over to windows 7 now and I don't see going to windows 8 any time soon.
* In house apps will take some time to move over to any kind of new ios style app store only system.
* anti trust laws
* Lot's of old software that business need.
* The use of vender systems with there own software / os's
* Lot's business don't use the OEM install and do there own but the secure boot system can let dell lock you into dell hardware / dell video / dell HDD / other hardware that can cost up to $100 more then buying for any other on line store/ as well locking you into the crap ware loaded dell windows 8 OEM install.
* The use of Linux
Ironically, that's the most mature comeback I'eve ever seen from a gamertard windows user.
To scan for a hidden partition and examine the contents
A complete rewrite ? Don't these guys read Joel On Software ? They're going to ruin their ... oh, um carry on.
If all else fails, immortality can always be assured by spectacular error.
If there is no free entry in the partition table then the malware reports to the C&C server and terminates.
So if you make sure you have 4 primary partitions created, you are essentially immune?
I don't know if I'd call Mark Zuckerberg *evil* per se...
My beliefs do not require that you agree with them.
Hence the line about "daily updates" in my post.
You boot the CD and it checks the anti-virus vendor's site for the latest information on what files are where with which hashes. That includes the OS and the applications.
With that, the only place the crackers can hide the viruses are in the user's files. And those files SHOULD be easily movable to a flash drive or such.
exactly how does malware plan on installing a hidden boot partition?
In principle, it's not hard once you get control of the system.
Step 1. Get control of system. If this is a problem for your virus then it is lame. Don't bother with the rest, it's over your head.
Step 2. While the system is running seemingly normally, locate un-partitioned space. If there is enough skip to step 6.
Step 3. Locate space at the end of a primary partition. If needed move any user data and meta-data out of that space to elsewhere. Make sure the space remains unused until you finish step 4.
Step 4. Schedule a change in the filesystem size on next reboot, wait for reboot, change filesystem size. OR if the OS allows it, just change the filesystem size.
Step 5. Schedule a change in the partition size on next reboot, wait for reboot, change partition size. OR if the OS allows it, just change the partition size.
Step 6. Create a new partition and mark it hidden. Put whatever you want on it. Mark it active.
I know I left out some housekeeping chores, like making sure there is a free entry in the partition table and a host of other little things.
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
So we're getting back to the good old days where you needed to wipe the first couple of megs of the disk with a MS debug trick
I think today's version is
dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda bs=1M count=2
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
That is why we are moving to GPT. I guess that that would work until you get new computer.
I don't see spybot SD installing itself and spreading automatically....
Flappinbooger isn't my real name
Isn't this supposed to be a secret or something?
Or 3 primary and 1 extended, which is how I ended up having to partition my netbook:
1) Win Boot Part /home
2) Win7 OS Part+Wubi
3) Extended
a) Linux
b) Linux swap
c) Win8 OS Part
4) Factory Recovery
Win32/Olmasco.R .. Affected platforms: Microsoft Windows .... enough said .....
The only thought that comes to mind is how nice it was of the malware creators to give everybody the heads up on what they're currently working on.. Just so, you know , we can have a fix for it right away... (!)
a. Make your own open BIOS, protect changing the BIOS settings without proper authorization (I mean booting with USB stick), then boot the system from the BIOS.
b. Overwrite the boot sector from the one stored in BIOS.
c. Boot from a USB stick which overwrites the disk boot sector every time. (Bonus: sha1 check the binaries on the disk too, without booting the system)
I'd go for c, since it has physical security in there too.
These ideas under GNU GPLv3.
what does "marketshare" mean for a free OS such as GNU/Linux?
even with Microshaft's coercive sales tactics, usage of Linux shits all over windoze... datacenters, set-top boxes, android phones, routers, nas drives, etc.
most homes would have one or maybe two windows machines, but would also have at a minimum two linux devices (tv/set-top box and modem-router), and that's not including all the corporate stuff that linux has infiltrated
it will never be "year of the linux desktop", but it is "year of the linux device" every year. Linux doesn't need marketshare to put windoze to shame - Microshaft/Windoze brings shame to itself better than anything else could ever hope for. so what if microsoft makes a shitload of money; so do mafias, nazis and drug cartels.
oh, and you do care or you wouldn't be so obviously offended
windick
I just picked up the new iNTeL-Asus "just fuckin boot it!" v9.7 Mainboard.
I should be good to go for 10 years.
now get to your pencils and track those C&C servers,
share your lists and round us up,
off to the fema camps, in the sun and the mud,
where ever she stops nobody knows.
Ah profit of dooms,
go long - dhs,tsa,online_ID_license, kaspersky,facebook,nsa,oracle,databases
going long - swat team equipment, gas masks, broken marble, glass, and cement, chemicals, and lead
going short - 201K, 401K, USDX, bonds,
Oh how shall ye clone ye hard drive when all hard drive factory are destroyed?
short - western digital,maxtor
short - raw materials
Keep going slashdot, it's almost here now.
Secure has potential to be a really useful tech, if the OEM's let the users manage the keys.
Wait, we're moving to GPT so that boot sector malware doesn't get cockblocked?
Boot from a write-protected floppy which is always in the drive. The boot sector of the floppy loads a tiny piece of code that checks the checksum on the parition table and MBR and alerts you that it changed. Problem solved. Until they stop producing floppy drives, that is.
Every end has half a stick.
Do you know where you are?