Dissecting a PHP web server rootkit


SophosLabs recently acquired a Linux implant associated with compromised BIG-IP Access Policy Management (APM) environments that use Apache and PHP components. The malware demonstrates advanced techniques including custom ELF loading, function hooking, and runtime code patching to evade detection while maintaining persistent access through hidden web shells.

The implant delivers a familiar outcome – on-demand server‑side code execution commonly associated with web shells – but implements it using deeper Linux- and Apache‑specific tradecraft.

Read more…
Source:  Sophos News


Sign up for the Cyber Security Review Newsletter
The latest cyber security news and insights delivered right to your inbox


Related:

  • New macOS vulnerability, “HM Surf”, could lead to unauthorized data access

    October 17, 2024

    Microsoft Threat Intelligence uncovered a macOS vulnerability that could potentially allow an attacker to bypass the operating system’s Transparency, Consent, and Control (TCC) technology and gain unauthorized access to a user’s protected data. The vulnerability, which we refer to as “HM Surf”, involves removing the TCC protection for the Safari browser directory and modifying a configuration ...

  • Europol: Charges unveiled in ongoing effort to de-anonymise DDoS group Anonymous Sudan

    October 17, 2024

    US authorities have unveiled this week charges against two Sudanese nationals involved in a significant Distributed-Denial-of-Service (DDoS) cybercrime network, following an international investigation that spanned multiple countries. The investigation exposed the activities of Anonymous Sudan, a prolific cybercrime group conducting destructive DDoS attacks to support their ideologically-motivated agenda. Europol coordinated the European dimension of the investigation, ...

  • Gatekeeper Bypass: Uncovering Weaknesses in a macOS Security Mechanism

    October 17, 2024

    Unit 42 researchers have found that certain third-party utilities and applications pertaining to archiving, virtualization and Apple’s native command-line tools do not enforce the quarantine attribute. This can pose a threat to the integrity of a security feature on macOS known as Gatekeeper, which is responsible for ensuring that only trusted software runs on the system. ...

  • Cyber Security Association of China calls for cybersecurity review of Intel products sold in China

    October 16, 2024

    The Cyber Security Association of China on Wednesday called for the launch of a systematic review of potential cybersecurity risks in Intel products due to frequent vulnerabilities and high failure rates, in order to effectively safeguard China’s national security and the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese consumers. The association cited four reasons for the review: ...

  • Fake LockBit, Real Damage: Ransomware Samples Abuse AWS S3 to Steal Data

    October 16, 2024

    From infostealer development to data exfiltration, cloud service providers are increasingly being abused by threat actors for malicious schemes. While in this case the ransomware samples we examined contained hard coded AWS credentials, this is specific to this single threat actor and in general, ransomware developers leverage other online services as part of their tactics. In ...

  • Tor Browser and Firefox users should update to fix actively exploited vulnerability

    October 16, 2024

    Mozilla has announced a security fix for its Firefox browser which also impacts the closely related Tor Browser. The new version fixes one critical security vulnerability which is reportedly under active exploitation. To address the flaw, both Mozilla and Tor recommend that users update their browsers to the most current versions available. Firefox users that have ...