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Malvertising Campaign Infects Your Router Instead of Your Browser (bleepingcomputer.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from BleepingComputer: Malicious ads are serving exploit code to infect routers, instead of browsers, in order to insert ads in every site users are visiting. Unlike previous malvertising campaigns that targeted users of old Flash or Internet Explorer versions, this campaign focused on Chrome users, on both desktop and mobile devices. The malicious ads included in this malvertising campaign contain exploit code for 166 router models, which allow attackers to take over the device and insert ads on websites that didn't feature ads, or replace original ads with the attackers' own. Researchers haven't yet managed to determine an exact list of affected router models, but some of the brands targeted by the attackers include Linksys, Netgear, D-Link, Comtrend, Pirelli, and Zyxel. Because the attack is carried out via the user's browser, using strong router passwords or disabling the administration interface is not enough. The only way users can stay safe is if they update their router's firmware to the most recent versions, which most likely includes protection against the vulnerabilities used by this campaign. The "campaign" is called DNSChanger EK and works when attackers buy ads on legitimate websites and insert malicious JavaScript in these ads, "which use a WebRTC request to a Mozilla STUN server to determine the user's local IP address," according to BleepingComputer. "Based on this local IP address, the malicious code can determine if the user is on a local network managed by a small home router, and continue the attack. If this check fails, the attackers just show a random legitimate ad and move on. For the victims the crooks deem valuable, the attack chain continues. These users receive a tainted ad which redirects them to the DNSChanger EK home, where the actual exploitation begins. The next step is for the attackers to send an image file to the user's browser, which contains an AES (encryption algorithm) key embedded inside the photo using the technique of steganography. The malicious ad uses this AES key to decrypt further traffic it receives from the DNSChanger exploit kit. Crooks encrypt their operations to avoid the prying eyes of security researchers."
Better yet, I'd just say that it's your duty to use an ad blocker, mich like it was to use antivirus software in the past.
If you are a web advertising company, why should you ever allow advertising clients to include arbitrary Javascript in their ads? Could you not provide a Javascript library of your own to do the legitimate things ad Javascript might do, and only allow advertising clients to use simple calls into your library?
I'm not knowledgeable about Javascript or web advertising - these are genuine questions, not rhetorical ones.
Quattuor res in hoc mundo sanctae sunt: libri, liberi, libertas et liberalitas.
There is some kind of grand conspiracy of unimaginable stupidity going on with router vendors. I cannot for the life of me fathom how it is even possible to implement a consumer router so full of holes. You have to either not give a shit at all or be involved with intentional sabotage to explain the outcomes we are seeing.
Even if routers offered no local authentication whatsoever and just simply checked HTTP_REFERER first this crap would fail outright. What is it... 2...3..4..5.. lines of code max and whole categories of remote exploitation possibilities disappear overnight.
Unbelievable how f*****lame these exploits continue to be and how vendors are not in any way held accountable for not even trying.