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Zero Day

Ryan Naraine, Emil Protalinski and Dancho Danchev

Apple blocks malware-as-PDF threat but new attack emerges

By | September 27, 2011, 11:26am PDT

Summary: Even as Apple adds detection to block a Mac OS X malware threat, researchers find new Mac malware posing as a legitimate Flash Player installation package.

Apple has quietly added detection for the recent malware attack that used PDF files as lures to trick Mac OS X users into downloading a malicious Trojan dropper.

The detection was added into the rudimentary XProtect.plist malware blocker built into Mac OS X.

The malware, flagged as a trojan dropper, installs downloader component that downloads a backdoor program onto the system, while camouflaging its activity by opening a PDF file to distract the user.

However, in what has become a classic cat-and-mouse game, researchers have spotted a new Mac malware threat posing as a legitimate Flash Player installation package.

Researchers find Mac OS X malware posing as PDF file ]

Intego explains the characteristics of the new threat:follow Ryan Naraine on twitter

Users visiting certain malicious websites may see a link or an icon to download and install Flash Player. Since Mac OS X Lion does not include Flash Player, some users may be fooled and think this is a real installation link. When they click the link, an installation package downloads, and, if the user is using Safari as their web browser, the Mac OS X Installer will launch. (Safari considers installer packages, with .pkg or .mpkg extensions, to be “safe” files and will launch them after download, if default settings are used.)

If the user proceeds with the installation procedure, the installer for this Trojan horse will deactivate some network security software, Intego said.

After installation, [it] will delete the installation package itself. The malware installs a dyld (dynamic loader) library and auto-launch code, allowing it to inject code into applications the user launches. This code, installed in a file at ~/Library/Preferences/Preferences.dylib, connects to a remote server, and sends information about the infected Mac to this server: this includes the computer’s MAC address, a unique identifier. This will allow the malware to detect if a Mac is infected.

The company said it has spotted this new malware in the wild but notes that it is not widely distributed.

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Topics

Ryan Naraine is a journalist and social media enthusiast specializing in Internet and computer security issues.

Disclosure

Ryan Naraine

The most important disclosure is of my employment with Kaspersky Lab as a member of the global research and analysis team. Kaspersky Lab is a global company specializing in anti-malware and secure content management technologies. I do not own stocks or other investments in any technology company.

Biography

Ryan Naraine

Ryan Naraine is a journalist and social media enthusiast specializing in Internet and computer security issues. He is currently security evangelist at Kaspersky Lab, an anti-malware company with operations around the globe. He is taking a leadership role in developing the company's online community initiative around secure content management technologies.

Prior to joining Kaspersky Lab, Ryan was Editor-at-Large/Security at eWEEK, leading the magazine's and Web site's coverage of Internet and computer security issues and managing the popular SecurityWatch blog, covering the daily threats, vulnerabilities and IT security technologies. He also covered IT security, hacker attacks and secure content management topics for Jupiter Media's internetnetnews.com.

Ryan can be reached at naraine SHIFT 2 gmail.com. For daily updates on Ryan's activities, follow him on Twitter.

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RE: Apple blocks malware-as-PDF threat but new attack emerges
mookiemu 30th Sep
I think it's funny that Apple's war against flash has come back to bite them in the ass!
Since Lion doesn't come with Flash installed, it's very easy for even the most savvy user to get caught by this!
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This is very dangerous
toddybottom 27th Sep
In this example, being asked for your username and password is totally expected. OS X always asks for a username and password when you try to install anything. Most users would have no reason to be suspicious.

Now I have a question for you. I use Windows 7 on my Mac through Bootcamp. Can I get infected by this or is Windows immune to all this OS X malware? I sure hope Windows is immune to this malware.
@toddybottom It will be immune in this case because the installer for this trojan is Mac-based. Most trojans etc are not cross-platform.
@toddybottom
Since the file extension is.pkg, which is not a Windows executable, your Windows instance shouldn't even be able to open that file.
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Absolutely you can
baggins_z Updated - 27th Sep
since you'll just trigger the windows version of the malware. Except the windows version is even better. You won't be bothered with downloading a program that then asks you to enter your credentials so you can install it. Nope, with Windows, you just visit the site, click a link, and the superior Windows version will download and install itself without any muss, fuss or intervention on your part.
  • Flagged
@baggins_z LMAO grin there's never been a way to make hard-headed mactards accept the truth that "Nothing made by man is indestructible by man"
  • Flagged
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Wow. Taken from Intego's blog:

"When they click the link, an installation package downloads, and, if the user is using Safari as their web browser, the Mac OS X Installer will launch. (Safari considers installer packages, with .pkg or .mpkg extensions, to be ???safe??? files and will launch them after download, if default settings are used.) "

That sounds real safe. Like it was built "with security in mind"
@chmod 777 Yes, I find that rather concerning myself! I've been trying to get my in-laws off Safari for years
automatically open "safe" files. But, where's the sensationalist hyperbole in that solution.
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...
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"If default settings are used"
HollywoodDog Updated - 27th Sep
@chmod 777 ... the most novice of users can fix this.

It is advisable, for those who use Safari as their web browser, to uncheck Open safe files after downloading in the programs General preferences. This will prevent installer packages - whether real or malicious - from launching automatically.
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True but...
toddybottom 27th Sep
@HollywoodDog
"the most novice of users can fix this."

Only if they know about it.

And the most novice of users don't know about it.

Nor do most OS X users.

This default setting is part of the reason why you can't use OS X without AV.
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@HollywoodDog


The question is begged ... how many folks have or will alter the default settings? It has been my experience that layfolks think default is best ... after all who knows better than the OS maker?
@HollywoodDog

So, should I check the box that says "Open unsafe files after downloading", then?
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Applies in Windows, though, too.
spdragoo@... 28th Sep
@HollywoodDog

"Novice" Windows users can easily change the settings in whichever browser they use (including the default IE) so that it doesn't automatically run any downloaded programs, either.

Yet how much will you bet that Apple fanbois will claim that this behavior in Windows is indicative of a vulnerability...yet will claim that the same behavior in OS X is "superior"?
@chmod 777
Packages ARE safe files in OS X, they are just a type of folder, Safari just calls the installer application built into OS X which then sets about installing the software, the .pkg itself can't do anything as it's not executable, and the installer application in OS X can't install software without the users intervention, so how does it make a difference if Safari runs the installer or if the user invokes the installer by double clicking the .pkg file from their download folder, a trojan is a trojan, the user is being tricked into thinking they are installing Flash, and they clicked on a link to download and install Flash to start with.
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@SaxonXXX

First, learn proper punctuation. That is one of the longest run-on sentences I've ever seen.

Now, I would say any auto-run, auto-load, auto-anything running on any platform is a bad idea.

But to answer your question... it obviously does make a difference whether Safari runs the installer or if the user invokes... just by the replies to Intego's blog. Several users state: "I ran the 'Flash Update' without even thinking about it."

If they had to download and run it themselves, it would have caused each one of them to think about it.

And, as with the .PDF trojan, it was shown that depending on the user's own config, the user may not have necessarily been prompted for the admin credentials.
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This malware blocker, what is it?
toddybottom 27th Sep
I've always heard from OS X users that you can use OS X without using AV. However this malware blocker is AV and is built into the OS.

Does this mean that it is impossible to use OS X without AV?
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This is a troll post, right?
ScorpioBlue 28th Sep
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@ScorpioBlue. I suspect it's because you know he's right and cannot bring yourself to admit it (or worse accept it).
has to admit that OS X comes with anti-malware software, he has to call it "rudimentary." Yeah, no conflict of interest there.
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The bigger story here
toddybottom 27th Sep
@baggins_z
OS X cannot be used without an AV program that must constantly be updated.

This is in direct contradiction to everyone who claims to use OS X without AV.
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@toddybottom

Your reference is always commonly linked to third party AV programs rather than a reference to built-in malware defences of a particular OS.

I think your trying too hard to manufacture a justification for your opinion.
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Grasping at straws.
ye 28th Sep
@kenosha7777: Your reference is always commonly linked to third party AV programs rather than a reference to built-in malware defences of a particular OS.

Is this what your argument has been reduced to? Really? So people who use MSE don't count towards those using A/V software? Especially upon the release of Windows 8?
@kenosha7777

So, if someone wants to replace the built-in AV function with a superior 3rd-party option, will OS X let them remove it? Or will they be forced to use the Apple product exclusively?

Hmmm, sounds suspicially like some DoJ & EU lawsuits from a few years back...
All the more reason to avoid Adobe products, like the plague.

So many cross platform security holes all because of people's blind reliance on Adobe.
Oh isn't it just time to fess up that with user input some malware may get into OSX. Over 10 years of punching keys on OSX and many more on Windows, I'm finally seeing examples of inconvenience to unprepared or uninformed Apple users. Many thanks to the tech community of ZDnet for keeping people informed.
How about a way to check if we have the malware, and then a solution to deleting it (outside of Norton or any other antivirus - like, can't we just delete the ~/Library/Preferences/Preferences.dylib file? Wouldn't know since the article doesn't address either of these concerns...
I think it's funny that Apple's war against flash has come back to bite them in the ass!
Since Lion doesn't come with Flash installed, it's very easy for even the most savvy user to get caught by this!

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