

bengizmo

Premium Member

join:2010-02-28

Calgary, AB

bengizmo Premium Member Botnet Trend: phpMyAdmin & SSH Attacks



There are one or multiple large botnets around the world that are actively exploiting a vulnerability in phpMyAdmin. This was outlined in a security bulletin in April 2010 (»



Upon execution the attacker drops the malicious files in /tmp/vm.c and /tmp/dd_ssh, and then start the dd_ssh service. If you execute the ps command, you shall see "dd_ssh" running in the process list. The first thing one must do is kill this process. After you stop the bot, delete the tmp directories that were created. Next, change all passwords and either reinstall or upgrade your phpMyAdmin (outlined here: »



Here is an excerpt from one of my friend's logs. The 91.x.x.x ip is the attacking bot which is requesting the version of phpMyAdmin from his server.

91.x.x.x - - [07/Aug/2010:XX:XX:XX -0500] "GET /sqladmin/scripts/setup.php HTTP/1.1" 200 13725 "http://[ip_omitted]/sqladmin/scripts/setup.php" "Opera"

91.x.x.x - - [07/Aug/2010: XX:XX:XX -0500] "POST /sqladmin/scripts/setup.php HTTP/1.1" 200 456170 "http://[ip_omitted]/sqladmin/scripts/setup.php" "Opera"



And here's some info on the file(s) in question:

[root@server_name]# ls -l /foo/dd_ssh

-rwxr-xr-x 1 apache apache 1280240 Aug 7 XX:XX /foo/dd_ssh



Also, here is some info from a different security advisory that may be related (»

Once executed, the attacker drops the files in /tmp/vm.c and /tmp/dd_ssh, and then the "dd_ssh"; service starts, which looks like this when the ps command is executed:

root 5535 0.0 0.0 2960 832 ? S 21:24 0:00 \_ /tmp/dd_ssh

root 5547 0.0 0.0 2960 828 ? S 21:24 0:00 \_ /tmp/dd_ssh

root 5548 0.0 0.0 2960 828 ? S 21:24 0:00 \_ /tmp/dd_ssh

root 5549 0.0 0.0 2960 828 ? S 21:24 0:00 \_ /tmp/dd_ssh



Here's some related posts and forum threads:

»www.debian.org/security/ ··· dsa-2034

And heres 2 forum threads on the issue:

»www.directadmin.com/foru ··· ?t=37262

»forums.cpanel.net/f185/a ··· 302.html

»lists.debian.org/debian- ··· 074.html This is for everyone, but specifically those running phpMyAdmin. The following is a recent trend that I've compiled through multiple outlets of data, please share your thoughts!There are one or multiple large botnets around the world that are actively exploiting a vulnerability in phpMyAdmin. This was outlined in a security bulletin in April 2010 (» www.debian.org/security/ ··· dsa-2034 ). This exploit in older versions (below 3.2.4) of the package allows remote code execution on the server. These botnets have been using this exploit to upload a nasty bot named "dd_ssh" which can be executed at root level. This bot then conducts brute force SSH attacks on random IP addresses specified by the bot herder. Ive found that many people who have been attacked have logs showing a flood of http requests from IPs in Asia and Eastern Europe that query the version of phpMyAdmin. These attacks may resemble a DDoS attack server side, but have an ulterior motive.Once discovered the version to be vulnerable, they inject the code.Upon execution the attacker drops the malicious files in /tmp/vm.c and /tmp/dd_ssh, and then start the dd_ssh service. If you execute the ps command, you shall see "dd_ssh" running in the process list. The first thing one must do is kill this process. After you stop the bot, delete the tmp directories that were created. Next, change all passwords and either reinstall or upgrade your phpMyAdmin (outlined here: » lists.debian.org/debian- ··· 074.html ). The newest versions are not vulnerable.Here is an excerpt from one of my friend's logs. The 91.x.x.x ip is the attacking bot which is requesting the version of phpMyAdmin from his server.91.x.x.x - - [07/Aug/2010:XX:XX:XX -0500] "GET /sqladmin/scripts/setup.php HTTP/1.1" 200 13725 "http://[ip_omitted]/sqladmin/scripts/setup.php" "Opera"91.x.x.x - - [07/Aug/2010: XX:XX:XX -0500] "POST /sqladmin/scripts/setup.php HTTP/1.1" 200 456170 "http://[ip_omitted]/sqladmin/scripts/setup.php" "Opera"And here's some info on the file(s) in question:[root@server_name]# ls -l /foo/dd_ssh-rwxr-xr-x 1 apache apache 1280240 Aug 7 XX:XX /foo/dd_sshAlso, here is some info from a different security advisory that may be related (» support.f5.com/kb/en-us/ ··· 9.html): Once executed, the attacker drops the files in /tmp/vm.c and /tmp/dd_ssh, and then the "dd_ssh"; service starts, which looks like this when the ps command is executed:root 5535 0.0 0.0 2960 832 ? S 21:24 0:00 \_ /tmp/dd_sshroot 5547 0.0 0.0 2960 828 ? S 21:24 0:00 \_ /tmp/dd_sshroot 5548 0.0 0.0 2960 828 ? S 21:24 0:00 \_ /tmp/dd_sshroot 5549 0.0 0.0 2960 828 ? S 21:24 0:00 \_ /tmp/dd_sshHere's some related posts and forum threads:And heres 2 forum threads on the issue: