RE: New "concept" virus/worm?

[Peter Mueller <pmueller () sidestep com>]

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/download/critical/Q290108/default.asp

<exerp from securityfocus>

Experts are tracking a fast-spreading virus that propagates both by sending
itself as an email attachment, and by hacking into vulnerable web servers.

The W32.Nimda.A@mm worm infects IIS servers by exploiting the 'MS IIS/PWS
Escaped Characters Decoding Command Execution Vulnerability' -- the same
hole exploited by the recent Code Blue worm.

The worm also attacks Microsoft Outlook users, arriving as an apparently
blank message with an attachment called 'readme.exe.' As with other viruses,
opening the attachment will infect the machine.

But unlike most so-called mass mailers, Nimda can also infect Outlook and
Outlook Express users who know better than to open strange attachments. By
exploiting a bug in Internet Explorer discovered last March, the worm is
able to infect victim computers when the email is read, or even displayed in
Outlook's preview pane.

A patch for the 'Microsoft IE MIME Header Attachment Execution
Vulnerability' is available from Microsoft's web site. 

Once it has infected a machine, Nimda exposes local hard drives to the
network, and spreads further through already-open file shares.

Cyber security mailing lists began buzzing with word of the W32.Nimda.A@mm
worm Tuesday morning, after network administrators noticed a massive
increase in probes for unpatched Microsoft's IIS web server software. 

No destructive payload was immediately identified in the worm, but network
administrators report that the worm consumes massive amounts of bandwidth in
its feverish search for vulnerable servers.

The virus comes at a time of heightened sensitivity to Internet attack.

On Monday the U.S. National Infrastructure Protection Center (NIPC) issued
an advisory warning that a group of vigilante hackers called 'The
Dispatchers' have threatened to launch distributed denial of service attacks
against unnamed Internet hosts, in response to the September 11th terrorist
attacks on the United States. 

"The Dispatchers claim to have over 1,000 machines under their control for
the attacks," the advisory reads. "It is likely that the attackers will mask
their operations by using the IP addresses and pirated systems of uninvolved
third parties."

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Tom Brenner [mailto:tom () mics net]
> Sent: Tuesday, September 18, 2001 11:36 AM
> To: Incidents List
> Cc: Vuln Dev
> Subject: RE: New "concept" virus/worm?
>
>
> Right.  We have it on a 98 machine here.  Our Win2K server 
> was protected but
> it appears our NT server is afflicted.  I thought I had the 
> NT machine all
> up to date, but.....
>
> Tom Brenner
> Director of Operations
> Midwest Internet Connections & Services, Inc.
> Phone: (937) 297-6212  Fax: (937) 297-6214
> Toll Free Outside Dayton Area: 1-877-get-4fam
> Visit our home page at: http://www.4fam.net
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Dave Salovesh [mailto:salovesh () ramassociates com]
> Sent: Tuesday, September 18, 2001 1:21 PM
> To: 'Brett Glass'; Jay D. Dyson; Incidents List
> Cc: Vuln Dev
> Subject: RE: New "concept" virus/worm?
>
>
> It infects 98 (I've got it on the one 98 workstation we run) 
> and may have
> been involved in infecting two of NT4 servers.
>
> I also have two UNinfected NT4 servers that are patched to 
> about the same
> level as the infected ones - not quite completely patched, 
> but I think I've
> selected all the appropriate ones for the role each server plays.
>
> My W2K server is patched up to the minute and didn't get infected.  So
> far...
>
> --
> Dave Salovesh
> RAM Associates, Inc.
> (800) 543-3635
>
>
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Brett Glass [mailto:brett () lariat org]
> > Sent: Tuesday, September 18, 2001 12:58 PM
> > To: Jay D. Dyson; Incidents List
> > Cc: Vuln Dev
> > Subject: Re: New "concept" virus/worm?
> >
> >
> > At 10:21 AM 9/18/2001, Jay D. Dyson wrote:
> >
> > >        It's a two-prong worm.  It appears to be primarily
> > disseminated
> > > via e-mail, and then launches its attacks on web hosts upon
> > successful
> > > infection.
> >
> > Newsbytes is calling this worm "Code Rainbow," while some of
> > the antivirus
> > firms seem to be calling it "W32.Nimda.A@mm".
> >
> > Can the e-mail infect anything other than Windows NT/2000?
> > Will it infect
> > a system that's running Windows NT/2000 but not IIS? If a
> > Windows 95/98/ME
> > user opens it, will his or her system begin to spread the
> > worm as well?
> >
> > --Brett Glass
> >
> >
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