From: dcopley at eeye.com (Drew Copley)
Subject: Re: Administrivia: Testing Emergency Virus Filter..


> -----Original Message-----
> From: full-disclosure-admin@...ts.netsys.com 
> [mailto:full-disclosure-admin@...ts.netsys.com] On Behalf Of 
> Schmehl, Paul L
> Sent: Wednesday, August 20, 2003 3:03 PM
> To: full-disclosure@...ts.netsys.com
> Subject: RE: [Full-Disclosure] Re: Administrivia: Testing 
> Emergency Virus Filter..
> 
> 
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: martin f krafft [mailto:madduck@...duck.net]
> > Sent: Wednesday, August 20, 2003 1:35 PM
> > To: full-disclosure@...ts.netsys.com
> > Subject: [Full-Disclosure] Re: Administrivia: Testing 
> > Emergency Virus Filter..
> > 
> > Only partially right, the other part is bugs in software and
> > automation techniques that make viruses much easier and 
> > effective. Moreover, it's operating system design. If I 
> > caught a virus on my UNIX system, I might be sending it on if 
> > the virus is smart enough to figure out a way to get into 
> > control and to execute sendmail. However, it won't be able to 
> > infest the system and other local users.
> > 
> Why would it have to execute sendmail?  All it has to do is run
> /bin/mail(x) or use its own routines to telnet to port 25 and 
> "talk smtp" directly. 

This bug has its' own SMTP server (to term it that way, as AV companies
do). You connect out to remote mail server and send directly. Writing
such code is extremely trivial.

It could very easily have been written for Linux. It is just that Linux
is not used by the vast hordes of non-IT people. We can sit around and
scorn them for their lack of knowledge, but that is an oddity to this
profession. I don't know, maybe mechanics do this. 

I doubt dentists do this, or doctors, or lawyers... Or whatever else.

I don't scorn people because they don't know anything about the SMTP
protocol or how to write a basic SMTP client.

I don't know how that guy thought that the smtp client portion of this
code was an OS issue... How that is OS design. I don't know why such
people would be offering their opinion on this.

Maybe they stayed at the Holiday Inn or something.

Anyway, not trying to be rude to that guy here, just... This really
stood out.

> About the only OS I know of that 
> doesn't have a telnet client and mail or mailx by default is 
> Gentoo.  No need to launch any daemons on your box.  Most 
> "modern" worms don't bother with processes on the box anyway. 
>  They create their own, download them or bring them with them.

Actually, quite a few don't, some still rely on piggy backing Outlook.
But, yes, this trend should be dissapearing as people upgrade so their
Outlook client will no longer be able to be remote controlled by another
application. (Current versions not only block attachments but also the
ability for applications to access the api framework, itself).

Probably, grabbing email addresses from people's "inbox" or "address
book" will still be popular, but this is really not OS specific, nor
application specific. While Outlook will prevent this, an app can read
the binary pst files and grep this info. Unless mail clients start
encrypting their data, this will likely remain the best source for new
email addresses. 

Even if email clients do start encrypting this information, it will
still be easy to bypass because it is local. There is always a crack for
local work. But, such a thing may deter some virus writers. 



> 
> Paul Schmehl (pauls@...allas.edu)
> Adjunct Information Security Officer
> The University of Texas at Dallas
> AVIEN Founding Member
> http://www.utdallas.edu/~pauls/ 
> 
> _______________________________________________
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