Re: what is this?

["Jamie Riden" <jamie.riden () gmail com>]

On 15/01/2008, Denis <sp23 () internode on net> wrote:
> This is a very serious new threat affecting Linux servers and thousands
> of boxes have been compromised since December 2007.
>
> Each box serving the nasty javascript has been rooted. One person has
> found a way to CLEAN the infection (ie. stop your server from serving
> the bad javascript), however not the root hole ie. the servers in
> question are still rooted as nobody so far has found what hole is being
> exploited to gain root access in the first place.

You don't need root to deface web servers in general. Even if the
attackers want to run bots, they often stay as the unprivileged user
they get in as. Sometimes a few privilege escalation exploits are
tried, but even then people seem willing to make use of normal users
if they can't get root.

(Unless you meant 'root' as in 'root cause', or the Aussie sense of
rooted, as in 'f**ed' :)

cheers,
 Jamie
-- 
Jamie Riden / jamesr () europe com / jamie () honeynet org uk
UK Honeynet Project: http://www.ukhoneynet.org/