New terrorist attack on the Internet??
Posted: 9/18/2001 2:18:21 PM
By: Comfortably Anonymous
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Topic: News: Politics
A new internet worm was released this morning called Nimda. It is spreading incredibly faster than Code Red or Code Red II. Initial reports say it may have been released, down to the minute, to coincide with the one week anniversary of the World Trade Center attacks. Already this morning I've seen thousands of attempted attacks here at ooze.bloomnet.com. (I've got ALL the latest patches from Microsoft, I hope they're enough. I checked Microsoft's site and they are saying NOTHING as of yet.) Kinda scary!

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New terrorist attack on the Internet??
Posted: 9/18/2001 2:18:21 PM
By: Comfortably Anonymous
Times Read: 1,946
0 Dislikes: 0
Topic: News: Politics
I cannot access the link to www.trusecure.com right now, so I am going to post the full text of their report here for now, and then pull it in a couple days:

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TruSecure Alert- TSA-01-024
Nimda: W32.nimda.a.mm
Publish Date: September 18, 2001
Publish Time: 1119 EDT
Initial Assessment Date: September 18, 2001
Initial Assessment Time: 1000 EDT

RISK INDICES:
Initial Assessment: Red Hot
Current Assessment: Red Hot
Threat: High ( Growing The rate of growth and spread is exceedingly rapid - significantly faster than any worm to date and significantly faster than any variant of Code red. )

Vulnerability Prevalence: High ( effects IIS servers version 4.0, 5.0, and internal networks. Milllions of Internet Web server hosts: TruSecure process and essential configurations should generally be protective. The vulnerability prevalence world-wide is very high )


Cost: High ( command execution is possible )

Vulnerable Systems: IIS 4.0 and 5.0


SUMMARY:
A new IIS worm is spreading rapidly. Its working name is Nimda: W32.nimda.a.mm

It started about 9am eastern time today, Tuesday,September 18, 2001, Mulitple sensors world-wide run by TruSecure corporation are getting multiple hundred hits per hour. And began at 9:08am am.

The worm seems to be targeting IIS 4 and 5 boxes and tests boxes for multiple vulnerabilities including:

Almost all are get scripts, and a get msadc (cmd.exe)
get_mem_bin
vti_bin owssvr.dll
Root.exe
CMD.EXE
../ (Unicode)
Getadmin.dll
Default.IDA
/Msoffice/ cltreq.asp

This is not code red or a code red variant.

The worm, like code red attempts to infect its local sub net first, then spreads beyond the local address space.

It is spreading very rapidly.

TruSecure believes that this worm will infect any IIS 4 and IIS 5 box with well known vulnerabilities. We believe that there are nearly 1Million such machines currently exposed to the Internet.



DETAILED DESCRIPTION:
The worm itself is a file called README.EXE, or ADMIN.DLL a 56K file which is advertised as an audio xwave mime type file.

Other RISKS:
There is risk of DOS of network segments by traffic volume alone There is large risk of successful attack to both Internet exposed IIS boxes and to developer and Intranet boxes inside of corporations.

Judging by the Code Red II experience, we expect many subtle routes of infection leading to inside corporate infections.

We cannot discount the coincidence of the date and time of release, exactly one week to (probably to the minute) as the World Trade Center attack .

REPLICATION:
There are at least three mechanisms of spread:
The worm seems to spread both by a direct IIS across Internet (IP spread)
It probably also spreads by local shares. (this is not known for sure at this time)
There is also an email vector where README.EXE is sent via email to numerous accounts.



MITIGATIONS:
TruSecure essential practices should work.
Block all email with EXE attachments
Filter for README.EXE
Make sure IIS boxes are well patched and hardened, or removed from both the Internet and Intranets.

Make sure any developer computing platforms are not running IIS of any version (many do so by default if either. Disconnect mail from the Internet Advise users not to double click on any unexpected attachments. Update anti-virus when your vendor has the signature.

More Mitigations to follow, and additional information from TruSecure.


COMMUNICATION:
Please contact your TruSecure analyst if you have any questions or if you see actual attempts to exploit this vulnerability.

TruSecure Corporation provides information security assurance services including TruSecure which significantly reduces the likelihood of participating companies having information security breaches in six areas of risk: Electronic (hacking and related) risk, Malicious Code risk (virus, Trojan worm and related), Privacy risk, Downtime risk, Physical risk and Human Factors risk. See www.trusecure.com for further information on these services.

DISCLAIMER:
Copyright 2001 TruSecure Corporation. All rights reserved. This Alert is the property of the TruSecure Corporation. It may not be redistributed except within your own company or organization. This Alert is being provided for informational purposes only and is provided AS IS."The TruSecure Corporation makes no warranties of any kind, express or implied, including, but not limited to warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, non-infringement, and warranties arising out of any course of dealing or course of conduct.

Impenetrable security is unattainable in real world environments; the TruSecure Corporation cannot and does not guarantee protection against breaches of security.

IN NO EVENT WILL THE TRUSECURE CORPORATION BE LIABLE FOR ANY BUSINESS INTERRUPTION, LOST REVENUE, PROFITS OR DATA, OR FOR DAMAGES OF ANY KIND, HOWEVER CAUSED, ARISING OUT OF YOUR USE OF OR INABILITY TO USE THE INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS WARNING, OR YOUR FAILURE TO RECEIVE ANY PRIOR OR FUTURE ALERTS, WATCHES OR WARNINGS, EVEN IF THE TRUSECURE CORPORATION HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.

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