EternalRocks: Explorers security just found a new worm that spreads via SMB using seven NSA hacking tools instead of two that was used by WannaCry.
The discovery was carried out by security researcher Miroslav Stampar, a member of the Croatian CERT. He discovered the worm when he detected an infection in a SMB honeypot, as reported by the Bleeping Computer.
Stampar named the new worm EternalRocks and found that uses six NSA tools to infect a computer from SMB ports. The exploits EternalBlue, EternalChampion, EternalRomance, and EternalSynergy as well as SMBTouch and ArchiTouch are used along with DoublePulsar, the well-known NSA tool, which promotes the worm to newly vulnerable machines.
Comparatively the WannaCry only used EternalBlue and DoublePulsar to spread around 300.000 devices.
Stampar, comparing EternalRocks with WannaCry, admits it is much less dangerous, mainly because it does not provide malicious content. EternalRocks, however, is much more complicated than the global ransomware.
How does it work:
Once the worm infects its victim, it uses a two-step installation process, with the second stage delayed.
In the first phase, EternalRocks downloads the Tor program and sends a signal to a C&C server on the Dark Web. After 24 hours the C&C server sends a response back. This delayed response is a method often used by malware to prevent detection, and even security investigators could stop waiting for a response from the server.
EternalRocks doesn't seem to use it archives with the same names used by the WannaCry worm, nor does it include one kill switch domain.
Installing the second stage of EternalRocks involves downloading a file called shadowbrokers.zip. Shadow Brokers, as you may know, is the team that stole NSA's classified documents and records. The worm does an IP scan and tries to connect to a random address.
Right now, EternalRocks is not that dangerous. However, it could be a very serious threat if the attackers decide to arm the worm with ransomware, trojans or anything else.
"EternalRocks, unlike WannaCry, works in the shadows, both on the machine and on the Dark Web. Infected machines cannot be easily detected as there is no pop-up window asking for bitcoins. The use of leaked exploits gathers information such as credentials, passwords used to access websites, personal bank accounts and e-mail accounts, ”explains Paul Calatayud, CTO at FireMon.
"To avoid complete control of this malware, it is important to configure your network to prevent network communications with TOR. Most next-generation firewalls can be configured to block TOR."