Security Architecture, Endpoint/Device Security, IoT, Network Security, Endpoint/Device Security, Endpoint/Device Security, Endpoint/Device Security

Amnesia botnet targeting DVRs, Palo Alto report

Over a quarter of a million devices used with DVRs around the globe are susceptible to a new botnet its discoverers have dubbed Amnesia.

Unit 42 researchers at Palo Alto Networks announced on Thursday their detection of a new variant of the IoT/Linux botnet Tsunami, which they are referring to as Amnesia.

The Amnesia botnet looks for an unpatched remote code execution vulnerability affecting DVR (digital video recorder) appliances manufactured by China-based TVT Digital and identified in nearly identical products from more than 70 global vendors. The flaw was made public in March 2016. Unit 42 is claiming that the flaw is impacting about 227,000 devices all over the planet, with Taiwan, the United States, Israel, Turkey, and India being the most susceptible.

Further, the researchers believe this is the first Linux malware to adopt virtual machine evasion techniques to defeat malware analysis sandboxes. Not only that, should the code recognize it has reached into VirtualBox, VMware or a QEMU-based virtual machine, it will wipe the virtualized Linux system by deleting all the files in file system, the post stated.

"This affects not only Linux malware analysis sandboxes but also some QEMU based Linux servers on VPS or on public cloud," the researchers said.

The power is in how the malware can exploit the remote code execution vulnerability to scan for, locate and attack vulnerable systems. Once connected, the malware enables the remote attackers to gain full control of the affected device. The researchers speculate that bad actors could potentially use the Amnesia botnet to launch wide-scale DDoS attacks on a scale previously seen in the fall 2016 with the Mirai botnet.

Apparently, no patches have yet been issued to address the flaw, the researchers said.

As to why a patch has yet to be issued to fix this year-old flaw, Ryan Olson, intelligence director of Unit 42 at Palo Alto Networks, told SC Media on Thursday that it's up to the manufacturer to create a patch. His team hasn't found any evidence they have released one. "We don't know why this is the case," he told SC.

The vulnerable DVRs are typically connected to closed circuit TV (CCTV) equipment, which are often installed in offices and stores, Olson said. "The people operating these should limit access to those devices from the internet so they are not exposed to potential malicious actors."

This, he added, is typically accomplished using a firewall that stops the traffic before it reaches the vulnerable device.

The fact that the actors behind this malware are using VM-detection mechanisms in a Linux malware family indicates that they likely have prior experience creating malware, Olson explained.

But the nightmare may be still to come. "However, the fact that they took a widely known Linux malware family (Tsunami) and modified it, rather than creating their own original malware, indicates they may still be learning."

The good news is that no large-scale attacks have yet been launched using the Amnesia botnet, though judging by the harm from Mirai, the researchers at Palo Alto warned the damage large-scale IoT-based botnets could do is substantial.

They recommended users have "the latest protections" installed and to block traffic to Amnesia's command-and-control server (listed in their post).

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