Slapper worm slowly spreading

Denise Dubie, Network World   Today’s Top Stories   or  Other Spam, Malware and Vulnerabilities Stories  

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September 17, 2002 (Network World) -- The Slapper worm identified late last week is slowly but surely infecting thousands of vulnerable Linux Apache Web servers across the Internet, according to security firms monitoring its progress.
Slapper has now infected at least 30,000 Linux Apache Web servers that haven't been patched to fix vulnerabilities related to the OpenSSL protocol that were detailed by the OpenSSL Project on July 30. Once infected by Slapper, the Linux Apache Web servers are forced to join a peer-to-peer network that can be used by anyone on that network to drop any kind of application file directly into the infected servers (see story).
Though Slapper is so far not suspected of carrying any dangerous payload, it opens the path for hackers to join the insidious peer-to-peer network to take advantage of compromised machines.
"We see .net, .mil and .com domains that have all been infected," said Tony Magallanez, systems engineer at Finland-based security firm F-Secure Corp. "Slapper sets up a Trojan [horse] on machines it infects and listens on the UDP [User Datagram Protocol] port. You can drop files or applications right into the system."
In a statement, F-Secure detailed how quickly the worm has spread.
Unlike most viruses, the Slapper worm, which spreads by scanning for new victims, delivers its own source code and comes with instructions on how to use it, said Magallanez. F-Secure deployed a Linux Apache server as a sacrificial lamb to become infected so the security firm could observe the worm's spread and potential activity.
The main difficulty the Slapper worm has in spreading is that it has to compile itself, and "each and every binary will be a little different on each machine," said Magallanez. "All binaries on all Linux systems are a little different."
Linux Apache Web servers using the OpenSSL protocol -- which should be patched according to the OpenSSL group's instructions -- include Red Hat, Caldera International Inc.'s OpenLinux, StackWare and Debian.
Chances are that the worm is grabbing root privileges when it infiltrates a vulnerable Linux Apache Web server, Magallanez noted, adding that Slapper may have originated somewhere in Eastern Europe. The unknown author has included a disclaimer in good English saying the code is not intended for destructive use.
To remove Slapper from infected machines, it's necessary to look for three files in the directory, said Magallanez: .uubugtraq, .uubugtraq.c and .bugtraq. The harder job will be doing a close inspection of any infected machine to determine whether important files have been changed or destroyed by anyone exploiting the peer-to-peer network created by Slapper.

Reprinted with permission from

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