Many reports on the last few days mention a new worm growing on the back of the Windows’ MS08-067 vulnerability. The worm named Downadup, also being dubbed Conficker.A by Microsoft, as now spread to alarming levels: “We think 500,000 is a ball park figure” said Ivan Macalintal, a senior research engineer with Trend Micro Inc[1].

The Exploit

The vulnerability is located in the Windows Server service, which is used to share networks files and printers across computers on a Windows network. This service is used by all Windows versions, even the Windows 7 Pre-Beta version, therefore making every Windows user vulnerable unless patched[2]:

Microsoft Windows 2000 Service Pack 4Windows Server 2003 with SP1 for Itanium-based Systems
Windows XP Service Pack 2Windows Server 2003 with SP2 for Itanium-based Systems
Windows XP Service Pack 3Windows Vista and Windows Vista Service Pack 1
Windows XP Professional x64 EditionWindows Vista x64 Edition and Windows Vista x64 Edition Service Pack 1
Windows XP Professional x64 Edition Service Pack 2Windows Server 2008 for 32-bit Systems*
Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1Windows Server 2008 for x64-based Systems*
Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2Windows Server 2008 for Itanium-based Systems
Windows Server 2003 x64 EditionWindows Server 2003 x64 Edition Service Pack 2

Vulnerable Operating System by the MS08-67 Exploit

The exploit is executed by sending a specially crafted packet to the RPC (Remote Procedure Call) interface. The interface could be reach by an attacker if there are no firewalls activated or if the File/Printer sharing options is enabled and connected to the Internet. The packet will cause a buffer overflow which allows arbitrary code to be executed.

The core of the exploit comes from a buffer overflow created when parsing a specific path. The exploit occurs when specially crafted packet is sent to port 139 or 445 on a Windows file/printer sharing session. The reception of that package will trigger a call to the RPC API NetPathCompare() and NetPathCanonicalize() functions.

The exploit is triggered when giving a specific path to canonicalize, such as “\c\..\..\AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA”[3] to the NetPathCanonicalize function, which uses the _tcscpy_s macro, which in turns calls the wcscpy_s function[4]. This function is used to copy a wide-character string from a location in memory to another. The buffer overflow is provoked by a miscalculation in the parameters given to the _tcscpy_s macro by the NetPathCanonicalize() function.

The _tcspy_s function is called like this by the NetPathCanonicalize:

_tcscpy_s(previousLastSlash, pBufferEnd – previousLastSlash, ptr + 2);

NetPathCanonicalize contains a complex loop to check the path for dots, dot-dots, slashes while making a lot of pointer calculations. Once the loop is passed over a couple of time, the previousLastSlash parameter gets an illegal value.

The RPC call

To exploit this vulnerability, all one have to do is to bind with the SRVSVC pipe of the Windows Server Service, which is the RPC interface and bind with it. If this is successful, a call to the NetPathCanonicalize()function with a specially crafted path as shown above, is done, then it’s only a matter of providing the payload. Exploits are already public on sites such as milw0rm[5].

The New Worm: Downadup

Downadup is the new worm to use the exploit on a large scale and has proved to be widely successful even if it’s already been one month since the vulnerability was found and patched.

Once installed on a system, the worm will copy itself with a random name into the system directory %systemroot%\system32 and register itself as a service[6]. It will, of course, also add itself into the registry with the following key:

It will then use those sites to get the newly infected machine’s IP address:

With the IP address, Downadup can download a small HTTP server (“http://trafficconverter.biz/4vir/antispyware/loadadv.exe“) and open a HTTP server on the current machine with the following address[7]:

http://[EXTERNAL IP ADDRESS OF INFECTED MACHINE]:[RANDOM PORT]

Once the HTTP server is set up, it will scan for other vulnerable machines and when a target is found, the infected machine URL will be sent to the target as the payload. The remote computer will then download the worm from the URL given and then start to infect other machines as well. Therefore, there is no centralized point of download. Upon successful infection, it will also patch the hole to prevent other worms to infect the machine[8].

According to Symantec, it has a domain name generating algorithm based on dates just like the Srizbi has (see Srizbi is back for more details on the algorithm). It also deletes any prior Restore Points saved by the user or the system[9].

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[1] “New Windows worm builds massive botnet”, Gregg Keizer, ComputerWorld, December 1, 2008, http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9121958 (accessed on December 1, 2008)

[2] “Microsoft Security Bulletin MS08-067 – Critical”, Microsoft, October 23, 2008, http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/Bulletin/MS08-067.mspx (accessed on December 2, 2008)

[3] “Gimmiv.A exploits critical vulnerability (MS08-067)”, Sergei Shevchenko, October 23, 2008, http://blog.threatexpert.com/2008/10/gimmiva-exploits-zero-day-vulnerability.html (accessed December 2, 2008)

[4] “MS08-067 and the SDL”, The Security Development Lifecycle, October 22, 2008, http://blogs.msdn.com/sdl/archive/2008/10/22/ms08-067.aspx (accessed on December 2, 2008)

[5] See MS08-067 Exploit by Debasis Mohanty and MS08-067 Remote Stack Overflow Vulnerability Exploit for examples.

[6] “F-Secure Malware Information Pages: Worm:W32/Downadup.A”, F-Secure Corporation, November 26, 2008, http://www.f-secure.com/v-descs/worm_w32_downadup_a.shtml (accessed on December 2, 2008)

[7] “W32.Downadup”, Symantec, Takayoshi Nakayama and Sean Kiernan, November 24, 2008, http://www.symantec.com/security_response/writeup.jsp?docid=2008-112203-2408-99&tabid=2 (accessed on December 2, 2008)

[8] “Microsoft warns of new Windows attacks”, Gregg Keizer, ComputerWorld, December 1, 2008, http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9121958 (accessed on December 2, 2008)

[9] “Worm:Win32/Conficker.A”, Joshua Phillips, Microsoft Malware Protection Center, 2008, http://www.microsoft.com/security/portal/Entry.aspx?Name=Worm%3aWin32%2fConficker.A (accessed on December 2, 2008)