Looking at the source code for the IRC bot installed on all compromised system shows the IRC server it connects to. The source is here: http://88.198.20.247/k.c
The IRC server is cvv4you.ru:6667 #rails
There are currently 2164 idling bots on there. Holy fuck. Its run by a guy with the handle "ryan".
- Both IRC servers are currently down (connection refused).
- The C code is full of bugs, but they're probably only exploitable if you can get either a nick more than 1024 characters or a full line more than 4096 characters (in the latter case, aside from there being an off-by-one error, the data after 4096 characters will be treated as a command, so you could spoof a privmsg and cause the bot to execute a shell command).
This is a botnet being ran, at least in part, by hacking group HTP.
ryan is one of its lead members. Other evidence is the fact that "starfall.cu.cc" is one domain being used to grab this script: http://starfall.cu.cc/chips.txt
Comments
Looking at the source code for the IRC bot installed on all compromised system shows the IRC server it connects to. The source is here: http://88.198.20.247/k.c
The IRC server is cvv4you.ru:6667 #rails There are currently 2164 idling bots on there. Holy fuck. Its run by a guy with the handle "ryan".
Connect to it and see for yourself: http://chat.mibbit.com/
Some notes other than what has already been said:
- Both IRC servers are currently down (connection refused).
- The C code is full of bugs, but they're probably only exploitable if you can get either a nick more than 1024 characters or a full line more than 4096 characters (in the latter case, aside from there being an off-by-one error, the data after 4096 characters will be treated as a command, so you could spoof a privmsg and cause the bot to execute a shell command).
Here are the commands for the bot:
NICK <nick> = Changes the nick of the client
SERVER <server> = Changes servers
KILL = Kills the client
GET <http address> <save as> = Downloads a file off the web and saves it onto the hd
HELP = Displays this
IRC <command> = send_msgs this command to the server
SH <command> = Executes a command
I'm a little light on IRC proxies right now - anyone care to test if you can kill all 2,164 bots in one easy peasy MIRC script?
you cant. it seems that they only respond to messages in the channel #rails and the channel is set +m
This is a botnet being ran, at least in part, by hacking group HTP.
ryan is one of its lead members. Other evidence is the fact that "starfall.cu.cc" is one domain being used to grab this script: http://starfall.cu.cc/chips.txt
Starfall is another one of their members.
They're the people who breached Linode, MIT, nmap, and a few other places recently. See: http://www.exploit-db.com/papers/25306/
I'm surprised no one's thought of mass exploiting all those RoR servers months ago, unless those have all been there for months.
Looking at SpamHaus, that IP range is owned by a company that provides professional botnet hosting. Approach with caution.
Professional botnet hosting? Didn't even know there was such a thing.
How come these guys are even operational?
It's a huge thing. KrebsOnSecurity covers a lot of the news in that industry, and discusses how they're used. http://krebsonsecurity.com/
They're never located in the US, so they're a lot harder to crack down on.
This botnet has been attacking servers at my work for the last few days. I'm glad we upgraded within a month of the security patches.