Development timeline key to linking stuxnet, flame malware. Duqu is a remote access trojan rat, said symantec, with no payload that would allow it to attack scada or other such systems. Aug 25, 2019 it resides in memory, making its detection difficult. Duqu has been characterized by symantec and others as a possible precursor to the next stuxnet.
But thanks to our technologies and top class researchers, we caught them. Currently one flaw is known, a truetypefont related problem in win32k. A little more than one year after the infrastructuredestroying stuxnet worm was discovered on computer systems in iran, a new piece of malware using some of the same techniques has been found. Operation duqu is the process of using duqu for unknown goals. In the case of kaspersky lab, the attack took advantage of a zeroday cve20152360. In midoctober, symantec said it had received samples of the malware from european researchers at the laboratory of cryptography and systems security crysys at budapest university, whod named it duqu because it wrote files prefaced with. Similar string decryption routines related to antivirus product strings similar methods, magic number, bug and file format related to files encrypted with aes by both threats same nonstandard cbc mode aes encryption used by both threats. But even than acrobat freezes, the top showing file, edit etc. Operation duqu is the process of only using duqu for unknown goals. Son of stuxnet found in the wild on systems in europe wired. Spotted in iran, trojan duqu may not be son of stuxnet. The precursor to the next stuxnet page 4 security response file history duqu has three files. Duqu got its name from the prefix dq it gives to the names of files it creates.
Symantec has released a whitepaper in pdf format that contains all known details up to this point. A targeted trojan bearing a lot of similarities to the stuxnet virus has been found in industrial systems in europe, apparently being used to gather information for a future stuxnetstyle attack, security company symantec. This was an important step, but a key element was still missing. One such module is the duqu infostealer, for which two versions are known and others are believed to have existed at various points in the time.
The most sophisticated malware ever seen updated 2019. More technical details from symantec and the unnamed lab that discovered duqu are in a symantec report released today. The researchers found, after searching their own malware archive for similar files, that one of the variants was first captured by symantec s threat detection system on sept. According to symantecs report on duqu, it is mainly a trojan horse, that may assume control over a system. The kernel drivers serve as an injection engine to load these dlls into a specific. Introduction on october 14, 2011, we were alerted to a sample by the laboratory of cryptography and system security crysys at budapest university of technology and economics. Analysis by symantec concurs with kasperskys assessment today that duqu 2. Although stuxnet was first discovered by researchers in mid2010, symantec traced its first attack to june 2009, with followup campaigns launched in march and april 2010. The group uses highend exploits and carefully crafted emails to lure unsuspecting victims. Symantec and the crysys lab had examined the duqu files thoroughly, but raiu and gostev suspected there was much more. The msi files used in the attacks contain a malicious stub inside which serves as a loader. Symantec security research centers around the world provide unparalleled analysis of and protection from it security threats that include malware, security risks, vulnerabilities, and spam. Every font file contains information that needs extensive parsing and interpretation and this makes them potentially dangerous.
A technical paper describing the similarities between stuxnet and duqu can be found here pdf. When disarm encounters a font embedded within a pdf document and the font configuration is enabled in the symantec. The threat was written by the same authors or those that have access to the stuxnet source. The first component is a windows kernel driver that searches for and loads encrypted dynamic link library dll files. Duqu exploits zeroday windows kernel vulnerability to. The new version of duqu no writes files on the victims disk. Duqu virus likely handiwork of sophisticated government. The malware was eventually given the name duqu as a result of the software creating files. Oct 27, 2011 spotted in iran, trojan duqu may not be son of stuxnet after all. The infostealer module is downloaded in memory and executed through the process injection technique used by stuxnet and duqu to avoid temporary files. Pdf meanwhile, mcafee released a blog post of its own today on duqu. Symantec warns about duqu, a new stuxnetstyle threat.
Duqu appears to have launched attacks at the venues for some of these high level talks. According to mcafee, one of duqus actions is to steal digital certificates and corresponding private keys, as used in publickey cryptography from attacked computers to help future viruses appear as secure software. Duqu does not contain any code related to icss and is primarily a remote access trojan rat. Iran infections different from those observed by symantec. However, among the organisations infected with the trojan were manufacturing of industrial control systems.
Duqu is a combination of malicious files that ultimately work together to exploit a specific target. Designed to steal information instead of sabotaging systems, duqu bears striking similarities to cyber attack on irans nuclear program. A stuxnetlike malware found in the wild request pdf. Symantecs research into this group shows that the mask has been in operation since 2007, using highlysophisticated tools and techniques to compromise, monitor, and exfiltrate data from infected targets. Symantec believes that duqu was created by the same authors as stuxnet, or that the. Even though their functionality differed, duqu shared many similarities with stuxnet, the worm that was used to sabotage the iranian nuclear development program. Symantec warns about duqu, a new stuxnetstyle threat infoworld. According to symantec s report on duqu, it is mainly a trojan horse, that may assume control over a system and gather information without being detected for long periods of time but also it includes other extensive features. This difference appears to be why symantec calls duqu a precursor to stuxnet.
Duqu variant presages a new stuxnet attack itproportal. The driver then registers a driverreinitializationroutine and calls itself up to 200 times until it is able to detect the presence of the hal. Duqu was used in a number of attack campaigns against various industrial targets. Currently one flaw is known, a ttf related problem in win32k. Symantec identifies duqu malware evolved from stuxnet in spy mode. Inside the main dll is a resource numbered 302, which is actually another dll.
The mask typically infects the victim with a highly targeted email. The digital hunt for duqu, a dangerous and cunning u. The word document is sent to system users, who unintentionally initiate the malware dispersal after opening an. Duqu is reportedly targeted to specific organizations, possibly with a view to collecting specific information that could be used for a later attack. Pdf stuxnet was the first targeted malware that received worldwide attention.
The operation might be related to operation stuxnet. The precursor to the next stuxnet eric chien symantec, liam omurchu symantec, nicolas falliere i. The cyberattack didnt create or modify any disk files or system settings, making detection almost impossible. I uninstalled any security programs with firewalls. W32duqu silently installs files on the infected system, then collects and forwards the confidential information from the system to a remote command and control cc server. The decrypted dll files implement the main payload of duqu, which is a remote access trojan rat. Duqu flaw is the flaw in microsoft windows that is used in malicious files to execute malware components of duqu. Oct 27, 2011 the duqu trojan is composed of several malicious files that work together for a malicious purpose. Through a maze of unpacking routines, encoded strings, and dynamically loaded api calls, we charted the following structure. Kim zetter at wired wrote an interesting summary of the.
According to the symantec report, duqu attacks may have been conducted as early as december 2010, based on the dates the binary files were compiled. Duqu, like stuxnet, exploits a zero day flaw in microsoft windows to inject a digitally signed kernel driver into. Opening a pdf either in acrobat reader x or acrobat 9 pro. Rearrange individual pages or entire files in the desired order. Our telemetry shows the threat was highly targeted toward a limited number of organizations for their specific assets.
Oct 09, 2011 duqu does not contain any code related to industrial control systems and is primarily a remote access trojan rat. According to symantec, whose experts analyzed the samples provided by crysys, duqu infects computers via a microsoft word document. This report makes the first steps towards this goal. Pdf joiner allows you to merge multiple pdf documents and images into a single pdf file, free of charge. Duqu and stuxnet both use a kernel driver to decrypt and load encrypted dll dynamic load library files. The vulnerability appears to be a hole associated with the windows shell code that is exploited by the duqu malware, which installs itself by using files stored in a microsoft word document, according to symantec. Symantec has a good reason to be investigating duqu as thoroughly as possible. A blog post from symantec explains, duqu is essentially the precursor to a future stuxnetlike attack. Duqu was gathered from a research organization based in europe and that additional variants have been recovered from a second organization in europe. Duqu is a collection of computer malware discovered on 1 september 2011, thought to be.
Duqu consists of a driver file, a dll that contains many embedded files, and a configuration. Symantec reports that, after duqu retrieves the additional malicious files, it is focuses on gathering information rather. Nov 12, 2014 the digital hunt for duqu, a dangerous and cunning u. Once the duqu samples have been shared among the antivirus vendors, they updated their products such that they could detect duqu. It resides in memory, making its detection difficult. Such types are responsible for working with files, file mappings, synchronization objects, memory buffers, memory streams and.
New datastealing trojan could be stuxnet version 2. The classification of the new variant is based on a file symantec received, however it is only one component of the whole duqu malware in this case the loader file that is used to load the rest of the malware when the computer restarts. Oct 21, 2011 duqu virus likely handiwork of sophisticated government, kaspersky lab says. Given the massive attention and allegations that the stuxnet worm was a state funded operation, symantec and other security experts began launching a full investigation into this new piece of malware. Duqu zeroday exploit discovered, removal tool released. The vulnerability appears to be a hole associated with the windows shell code that is exploited by the duqu malware, which installs itself by using files stored in a microsoft word document, according to symantecs description. Windows users who want to make sure that their system is clean and not infected by the duqu. Symantec s researchers believe that the creators of duqu had access to the source code of stuxnet. Oct 18, 2011 new datastealing trojan could be stuxnet version 2. Duqu shares many similarities but is used for espionage both required resources at the level of a nationstate raises attribution issues created by the same organization level of sophistication is singular attackers have not gone away new duqu binary compiled in feb 2012. Symantec has updated their security response report 4 and described the installer as a microsoft word document file extension. The msi files used in the attacks contain a malicious stub inside which serves. Aside from the lack of payload, however, there are significant differences between duqu. Duqu uses the same code as stuxnet except payload is different.
Symantec says threat could be precursor to attacks on industrial control systems much like stuxnet was. The threat appeared very similar to the stuxnet worm from june of 2010 1. While stuxnet spread through usb sticks and pdf files, the duqu infection method is still unknown, dell said. The trojan is being spread as a word document attached to emails. Duqu components and placed on the personal blog site of one of us for monitoring purposes2. Oct 18, 2011 a blog post from symantec explains, duqu is essentially the precursor to a future stuxnetlike attack. We would like to show you a description here but the site wont allow us. As researchers, we are generally concerned with understanding the impact of the malware and designing appropriate defense mechanisms. The stub loads the other malware resources right from the msi file. A read is counted each time someone views a publication summary such as the title, abstract, and list of authors, clicks on a figure, or views or downloads the fulltext. Heres a feature of duqu s driver that wasnt present in stuxnet as described by symantec on page 4 of the pdf linked above. Hackers may have spent years crafting duqu computerworld.
Symantec states that they are continuing to analyze additional. Duqu, like stuxnet, exploits a zero day flaw in microsoft windows to inject a digitally signed kernel driver into the operating system. Windows zeroday exploit linked to duqu worm microsoft. The following is a sample of some of the attachment names used. Pdf file format is the most commonly used file format for these attacks.
1245 1011 1352 799 1563 394 1144 192 527 530 993 177 1043 1281 410 1444 1041 1017 1371 203 849 997 1486 696 1274 925 378 70 1091 1491 225 1326 778 410 923 538