It seems like the floodgates have truly opened for Shellshock-related attacks. We have reported on different attacks leveraging the Bash bug vulnerability, ranging from botnet attacks to IRC bots.
We have also mentioned that we spotted Shellshock exploit attempts in Brazil. It appears that these attempts were not limited to that country alone. We saw yet another Shellshock exploit attack—this time targeting a financial institution in China.
Trend Micro Deep Discovery was able to detect this attempt and found that attackers were trying to see if several IPs owned by the institution were vulnerable to a Shellshock vulnerability, specifically CVE-2014-06271. Further analysis revealed that three of the tested IPs were possibly vulnerable, as the attackers tried to the use the command “/bin/uname –a.” The command “uname” displays system information, including the OS platform, the machine type, and the processor information.
At first glance, retrieving system information might seem harmless. But as we mentioned before, the information-gathering could possibly be a sign of preparation for more damaging routines. This one command could be a gateway for bigger, more damaging attacks.
The timing of the attempts is quite interesting, given that Golden Week celebrations in China begin on October 1st. It’s very plausible that this attempt could be the initial phase of an attack that may occur during this holiday, as network administrators will be on leave at this time.
Trend Micro continuously monitors attacks that may leverage the Bash vulnerability, while securing users and organizations from such real world threats. Trend Micro Deep Discovery provides network-wide visibility and intelligence to detect and respond to targeted attacks and advanced threats.
Users are protected from this threat via our Smart Protection Network that detects the malware and blocks all related malicious URLs. Exploits abusing the Bash vulnerability, on the other hand, are detected via the following solutions:
- Deep Discovery rule: 1618 – Shellshock HTTP REQUEST
- DPI rule: 1006256 – GNU Bash Remote Code Execution Vulnerability
- CVE-2014-6271-SHELLSHOCK_REQUEST detection
Other users who may want to check if they are affected should check our free protection for Shellshock. We’ve also released browser extension and device scanners to protect users’ browsers and devices against the risks posed by Bash bug vulnerability. These tools can scan devices to detect if has been affected by the bug.
For more information on the Bash bug vulnerability, you may read our other articles:
- Bash Vulnerability Leads to Shellshock: What it is, How it Affects You
- Bash Vulnerability (Shellshock) Exploit Emerges in the Wild, Leads to BASHLITE Malware
- Shellshock – How Bad Can It Get?
- Shellshock Vulnerability Used in Botnet Attacks
- Shellshock Updates: BASHLITE C&Cs Seen, Shellshock Exploit Attempts in Brazil
- Shellshock Continues to Make Waves with Active IRC Bot
Users can also check out our online article, About the Shellshock Vulnerability: The Basics of the “Bash Bug”, for a quick and easy summary of what Shellshock actually is and why it’s such a big deal.
