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View Full Version : PHP Worm, I know it hit here but a warning for others...


KaneKahn
12-22-2004, 03:06 AM
Please read these articles about this new Worm for PHP Sites...

Worm uses Google to find vulnerable sites

A worm which exploits serious vulnerabilities (http://smh.com.au/articles/2004/12/17/1102787258613.html) in the open source server-side scripting language PHP is using Google to locate bulletin boards which are using the phpBB bulletin board software.

Anti-virus software company Sophos said the Santy worm was written in Perl and could attack vulnerable sites on both Windows-based and Unix-based platforms.

"Once the worm has spread to three or more servers it will attempt to overwrite all HTM*, PHP*, ASP*, SHTM*, JSP* and PHTM* files with a web page containing the following message: 'This site is defaced!!! NeverEverNoSanity WebWorm generation'," Sophos said.

Finnish anti-virus software maker F-Secure said Santy used Google search to randomly find other hosts; part of the search strong contained "viewtopic.php".

Exploit code showing how the flaws could be used to steal database passwords from sites using phpBB was released (http://smh.com.au/articles/2004/12/21/1103391741227.html) on public mailing lists a few days ago.

The phpBB team has already released fixes (http://www.phpbb.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=248046) for the vulnerabilities and advised users to upgrade.

Multiple flaws found in PHP, Ethereal
Multiple critical vulnerabilities have been reported in the open source scripting language PHP, according to an advisory issued by security advisory service Secunia.

Researcher Stefan Esser, who runs the hardened PHP project, which adds security hardening features to PHP, discovered some of the vulnerabilities which could allow local and remote execution of arbitrary code.

Others were found by researcher Martin Eiszner and by the PHP project.

The PHP team issued a new releases (http://www.php.net/downloads.php), 4.3.10, which fixes all the bugs and also a number of non-critical issues.

Serious issues have also been discovered in Ethereal, an open source network protocol analyser for Unix and Windows.

The vulnerabilities, reported by researchers Matthew Bing and Brian Caswell and the vendor, could be exploited to cause a denial of service, potentially compromise a vulnerable system or execute arbitrary code,

An update (http://www.ethereal.com/news/item_20041215_01.html) has been released to fix these problems.

Exploit code targets PHP flaws
Exploit code that takes advantage of serious vulnerabilities (http://smh.com.au/articles/2004/12/17/1102787258613.html) in the open source server-side scripting language PHP has been published on public mailing lists.

The exploit shows how one can steal database passwords from sites using the popular phpBB bulletin board software.

The phpBB team has notified users of the exploit, advising them to upgrade to versions of PHP in which the vulnerabilities have been fixed.

"Remember, this is not a phpBB exploit or problem, it's a PHP issue and thus can affect any PHP script which uses the noted functions," the advisory said.

The network security provider Netcraft said similar flaws could affect other popular web applications such as Invision Power Board, vBulletin and PHPAds.

psoTFX,Sat Dec 18, 2004 6:57 AM

Recently a serious exploitable issue was discovered in PHP (the scripting language in which phpBB, IPB, vB, etc. are written) versions prior to 4.3.10. The problematical functions include unserialize and realpath. phpBB (along with a great many other scripts including IPB, vB, etc.) use these two functions as a matter of course.

It has come to our attention that code has now been released which uses this exploit in PHP to obtain confidential information in phpBB. Such information includes data contained in phpBB's config.php file. We therefore recommend the following:

1) If you maintain your own server be sure to upgrade to the newest available release of PHP (both versions 4 and 5). Be aware that at this time phpBB 2.0.x has problems functioning under PHP5 without modification.

2) If you pay for hosting ensure you hosting provider has upgraded thier installation of PHP (again remember that phpBB 2.0.x and other scripts will not function under PHP5 without modification).

Please do not submit this PHP issue to our security tracker, it is beyond our control. Fixed versions of PHP do exist and as above we encourage you to ensure your system is running such a version. Equally please examine any "hacking" issues you have carefully to ensure they are not caused by this PHP problem (rather than phpBB). Remember, this is not a phpBB exploit or problem, it's a PHP issue and thus can affect any PHP script which uses the noted functions.
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<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: KaneKahn on 2004-12-22 01:08 ]</font>

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: KaneKahn on 2004-12-22 01:09 ]</font>

Tycho
12-22-2004, 11:26 AM
Damn.
So it was a random worm, not some spiky-haired-character playing kid.

I'm glad the site is okay again. x.x;

Sef
12-22-2004, 11:32 AM
Upgrade to the latest phpBB.

And yeah, well... I wonder if it's better that it was a worm and not some actual person we could nab...

Nah...

KodiaX987
12-22-2004, 11:52 AM
On 2004-12-22 09:32, Sef wrote:
Upgrade to the latest phpBB.


We can't. eRUPT modified the PSOW site so much that if he did upgrade, I think he'd have to redo a lot of the stuff. o_O

Sef
12-22-2004, 12:03 PM
On 2004-12-22 09:52, KodiaX987 wrote:

On 2004-12-22 09:32, Sef wrote:
Upgrade to the latest phpBB.


We can't. eRUPT modified the PSOW site so much that if he did upgrade, I think he'd have to redo a lot of the stuff. o_O


It's about time, lol.

Well hmm... Eh, we're fine now.

ABDUR101
12-22-2004, 04:32 PM
Erupt has all but rewrote everything for the site, and I beleive it was said before that if we went and tried to upgrade to the latest, we'd lose features and he'd have to re-write all over again just to incorporate what features that the site currently has.

Problem is over with anyway.

SpikeOtacon
12-23-2004, 03:30 PM
Personally, I'd like to have the site 'fully' functioning again, even if it meant some downtime to get everything back up to speed.

AquaFlare7
12-24-2004, 12:30 PM
Just find out what portion of the code was updated and see how the update would prevent worm attempts, and then simply do a "search and replace" or quite possibly go into a single file and rewrite the function(s) that improve security. That would prevent you from actually neededing to rewrite the site altogether, and is what I do to my team forums (when I am not working that is)

KaneKahn
12-27-2004, 05:49 PM
Personally I think with PSOW like it is now, a revamp would be great. Because no Graphics work, the Update for your Forum Profile is sketchy, and probly more things I just want to search the site for them because it would take too much time I think to fix than to restart.

KodiaX987
12-27-2004, 07:42 PM
On 2004-12-27 15:49, KaneKahn wrote:
Personally I think with PSOW like it is now, a revamp would be great. Because no Graphics work, the Update for your Forum Profile is sketchy, and probly more things I just want to search the site for them because it would take too much time I think to fix than to restart.



OK. You willing to pay for all that work? http://www.pso-world.com/psoworld/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_wink.gif

Hrith
12-28-2004, 05:27 AM
Better yet, why don't you do it ?