Latest Security News

Windows images for sandbox or other use

Catch  this quick LINK for ISO file for windows operating system for your sandbox \virtual machine installation


Exploit kit roundup - early June 2015

taken from SANS internet storm center :

Introduction
Security Operation Center (SOC) analysts investigate alerts on suspicious network activity.  However, these analysts might not run across exploit kit (EK) traffic that often.  An organization's web gateway can stop a great deal of bad traffic before you see a full infection chain.  Investigating other types of suspicious activity will likely take up the majority of an analyst's workday.
Some of us are lucky enough to review EK traffic on a routine basis.  What that in mind, I want to share examples of the most common exploit kits I've noticed so far this year.
In order, the EK traffic I've seen most often in 2015 has been:
  • Angler
  • Fiesta
  • Nuclear
  • Neutrino
  • Magnitude
  • Rig
This isn't a comprehensive list.  Other exploit kits are out there, but these are most common that I've seen this year.  I don't have any hard numbers, and the last four (Nuclear, Neutrino, Magnitude, and Rig) are more of an educated guess for the ranking.  The EK scene can evolve fairly quick.  The list will likely change within a few months, and my observations are only one person's view.
Angler EK
Angler is the most common exploit kit I run across.  It's also the most advanced.  Angler changes URL patterns frequently, and these changes have recently happened on a near-daily basis.  Angler started using "fileless" infection techniques in 2014 [1], and it now sends its payload in a fairly sophisticated encrypted manner (meaning it doesn't use a straight-forward ASCII string to XOR the payload when it's sent over HTTP).  In recent months, I've had a hard time obtaining the payload from Angler EK.  In the example for this diary, I wasn't able to obtain or decrypt the payload.
Previously, I've seen Angler sending some form of ransomware like the TeslaCrypt/Alpha Crypt variants [2] or CrytoWall 3.0 [3].  In the past few days, I've mainly seen Bedep and related payloads sent by Angler.
  • An example of Angler EK traffic on 2015-06-03: click here for the pcap file.

Shown above: Angler EK traffic and post-infection activity on Wednesday 2015-06-03.
Fiesta EK
Fiesta is probably the next-most common exploit kit I've run across, most of it related to the BizCN actor that I described in a previous diary [4].  Other actors certainly use this exploit kit.  Like Angler EK, Fiesta also uses a more sophisticated type of encryption when sending the malware payload.  Fortunately, I can usually grab a copy of the payload from an infected host in my lab or decrypt the payload when necessary.
  • Example 1 of Fiesta EK traffic on 2015-06-03: click here for the pcap file.
  • Example 2 of Fiesta EK traffic on 2015-06-03: clichere for thpcap file.

Shown above: Fiesta EK traffic on Wednesday 2015-06-03.
Magnitude EK
Magnitude EK often sends several payloads, sometimes 6 or more.  It's a very noisy exploit kit.  I'll often see CryptoWall 3.0 as one of the payloads.  In the example for this diary, Magnitude only sent one payload, and that was CryptoWall 3.0.  I've usually seen Magnitude EK send the malware payloads unencrypted, at least when using IE 8 as a web browser in the vulnerable host.  I don't see Magnitude now as much as I did last year.
  • An example of Magnitude EK traffic on 2015-06-03: click here for the pcap file.

Shown above: Magnitude EK traffic and post-infection activity on Wednesday 2015-06-03.
Neutrino EK
In 2014, this exploit kit disappeared for about six months then came back in a much different form [5].  Traffic patterns have remained relatively unchanged since it reappeared in late 2014.  Neutrino EK uses a more sophisticated style of encryption when sending the malware payload (not merely a straight-forward XOR using an ASCII string).
Neutrino's current URL patterns remind people of Sweet Orange EK; however, Sweet Orange seems to have disappeared from the scene back in February of 2015.  I haven't found any Sweet Orange after February, but I've seen plenty of Neutrino since then.  If you see recent traffic you think is Sweet Orange, double check it.  It's probably Neutrino EK.
Neutrino has been relatively consistent over the past few months.  Haven't seen a lot of it, but it's never gone away.
  • An example of Neutrino EK traffic on 2015-06-03: click here for the pcap file.

Shown above: Neutrino EK traffic on Wednesday 2015-06-03.
Nuclear EK
Last year, this exploit kit seemed much more common than it is today.  Operation Windigo still uses Nuclear EK [6], but in recent weeks, I've rarely seen Nuclear outside of that.  Nuclear EK obfuscates its payload by XOR-ing it with an ASCII string.
  • An example of Nuclear EK traffic on 2015-06-03: click here for the pcap file.

Shown above: Nuclear EK traffic and post-infection activity associated with Operation Windigo on Wednesday 2015-06-03.
Rig EK
When Rig first appeared in 2014, it looked remarkably similar to Infinity EK [7] (which was first identified as Goon EK).  Rig EK apparently borrowed a great deal from Infinity.  While I haven't seen Infinity this year, I've definitely run across Rig every once in a while.
In April 2015, Rig EK changed the encryption it uses for sending the malware payload.  Now, it uses the same method as Nuclear EK, obfuscating its payload by XOR-ing it with an ASCII string [8].
  • An example of Rig EK traffic on 2015-06-03: click here for the pcap file.

Shown above: Rig EK traffic on Wednesday 2015-06-03.
Final words
As mentioned earlier, this is merely one person's view into the current state of exploit kits.  It's not comprehensive, and there are other exploit kits I don't have visibility on.  Here's a list of pcap files from the previous paragraphs:
I've also collected the exploits and malware payloads where I could.  A zip file with this collection is available at:
The zip file is password-protected with the standard password.  If you don't know it, email admin@malware-traffic-analysis.net and ask.
---
Brad Duncan
ISC Handler and Security Researcher at Rackspace
Blog: www.malware-traffic-analysis.net - Twitter: @malware_traffic
References:

Nmap 6.49BETA1 released



Fyodor has announced the release of Nmap 6.49BETA1.This version will have hundreds of improvement, including:
 
  •  Integrated all of the latest OS detection and version/service detection submissions (including IPv6)
  •  Infrastructure improvements: an official bug tracker
  •  Added options --data and --data-string to send custom payloads in scan packet data.
  •  25 new NSE scripts (total is now 494):
       bacnet-info gets device information from SCADA/ICS devices via BACnet (Building Automation and Control Networks)
      o   docker-version detects and fingerprints Docker
      o   enip-info gets device information from SCADA/ICS devices via EtherNet/IP
      o   fcrdns performs a Forward-confirmed Reverse DNS lookup and reports anomalous results
      o   http-avaya-ipoffice-users enumerates users in Avaya IP Office 7.x systems.
      o   http-cisco-anyconnect gets version and tunnel information from Cisco SSL VPNs
      o   http-crossdomainxml detects overly permissive crossdomain policies and finds trusted domain names available for purchase
      o   http-shellshock detects web applications vulnerable to Shellshock (CVE-2014-6271).
      o   http-vuln-cve2006-3392 exploits a file disclosure vulnerability in Webmin.
      o   http-vuln-cve2014-2126, http-vuln-cve2014-2127, http-vuln-cve2014-2128 and http-vuln-cve2014-2129 detect specific vulnerabilities              in Cisco AnyConnect SSL VPNs
      o   http-vuln-cve2015-1427 detects Elasticsearch servers vulnerable to remote code execution.
      o   http-vuln-cve2015-1635 detects Microsoft Windows systems vulnerable to MS15-034
      o   http-vuln-misfortune-cookie detects the "Misfortune Cookie"    vulnerability in Allegro RomPager 4.07, commonly used in SOHO                    routers for TR-069 access.
      o   http-wordpress-plugins was renamed http-wordpress-enum and extended to enumerate both plugins and themes of Wordpress                       installations and their versions. http-wordpress-enum is now http-wordpress-users.
      o   mikrotik-routeros-brute performs password auditing attacks against Mikrotik's RouterOS API.
      o   omron-info gets device information from Omron PLCs via the FINS service.
      o   s7-info gets device information from Siemens PLCs via the S7 service, tunneled over ISO-TSAP on TCP port 102.
      o   snmp-info gets the enterprise number and other information from the snmpEngineID in an SNMPv3 response packet.
      o   ssl-ccs-injection detects whether a server is vulnerable to the SSL/TLS CCS Injection vulnerability (CVE-2014-0224)
      o   ssl-poodle detects the POODLE bug in SSLv3 (CVE-2014-3566)
      o   supermicro-ipmi-conf exploits Supermicro IPMI/BMC controllers.
      o   targets-ipv6-map4to6 generates target IPv6 addresses which correspond to IPv4 addresses mapped within a particular IPv6 subnet.
      o   targets-ipv6-wordlist generates target IPv6 addresses from a wordlist made of hexadecimal characters

Microsoft Plans to Add Secure Shell (SSH) to Windows






Until now Unix and Linux system administrators have to download a third-party SSH client software like Putty on their Windows machines to securely manage their machines and servers remotely through Secure Shell protocol or Shell Session (better known as SSH).

This might have always been an awkward feature of Windows platform, as it lacks both – a native SSH client software for connecting to Linux machines, and an SSH server to support inbound connections from Linux machines. But…

Believe it or not:


You don't need to deal with any third-party SSH client now, as Microsoft is working on supporting OpenSSH.
- See more at: http://thehackernews.com/2015/06/windows-secure-shell.html#sthash.40ZCfuy1.dpuf

Yes, Microsoft has finally decided to bring OpenSSH client and server to Windows.

The PowerShell team at Microsoft has announced that the company is going to support and contribute to OpenSSH community in an effort to deliver better SSH support in the PowerShell and Windows SSH software solutions.

So, the upcoming version of Windows PowerShell – the command-line shell and scripting language – will allow users to manage Windows and Linux computers through SSH


For those who are unaware, SSH is basically designed to offer the best security when accessing another computer remotely. It not only encrypts the remote session, but also provides better authentication facilities, with features like secure file transferring and network port forwarding.

This is not first time Microsoft has planned to adopt SSH for its Windows platform, the company had tried to allow the secure shell protocol to be used within Windows twice but was unable to implement it.

However, developers who are eager to use this new functionality in PowerShell still have to wait for some time, as the project is still in the early planning phase. So far, there isn’t any definite release date.

The PowerShell team will update more information on when users can expect SSH support shortly.


-