DDG Mining Botnet

DDG is a cryptocurrency mining botnet targeting two types of database server. Despite having a smaller number of enrolled devices compared to other botnets it has already mined over 5500 Monero tokens.

Threat ID:: CC-2028
Category:: Botnet
Threat Severity:: Low
Threat Vector:: Exploit
Published:: 8 February 2018 12:00 AM

Report a cyber attack: call 0300 303 5222 or email [email protected]

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Summary

Threat details

The attackers operating the botnet manually scan for exposed servers running Redis or OrientDB database services, before exploiting a remote code execution vulnerability and dropping the malware. Once this is done they modify the local Crontab scheduled tasks and download a file, i.sh, to synchronise with their command and control (C2) infrastructure. DDG then downloads the wnTKYg program and executes it to begin the mining operation. Proceeds from this are sent to three separate wallet addresses.

DDG differs from other mining malware in that it targets database servers. These typically have more computing resources than other devices, meaning the attackers are able to dedicate more CPU cycles to the mining operation without raising suspicions.

For further information

CVE-2017-11467

Threat updates

Date	Update
6 Aug 2018	DDG has now been updated to version 3013. This variant uses the same infection process as all other variants of DDG but uses a new C2 address.

Remediation advice

To avoid botnet infection:

Remediation steps

Type	Step
	A robust program of education and awareness training is delivered to users to ensure they don’t open attachments or follow links within unsolicited emails. All operating systems, antivirus and other security products are kept up to date. All day to day computer activities such as email and internet are performed using non-administrative accounts. Strong password policies are in place and password reuse is discouraged. Network, proxy and firewall logs should be monitored for suspicious activity. User accounts accessed from infected machines should be reset on a clean computer. Additionally, Orient Technologies have released workaround for this vulnerability in the OrientDB 2.2 release notes.

Type

Step

A robust program of education and awareness training is delivered to users to ensure they don’t open attachments or follow links within unsolicited emails.
All operating systems, antivirus and other security products are kept up to date.
All day to day computer activities such as email and internet are performed using non-administrative accounts.
Strong password policies are in place and password reuse is discouraged.
Network, proxy and firewall logs should be monitored for suspicious activity.
User accounts accessed from infected machines should be reset on a clean computer.

Additionally, Orient Technologies have released workaround for this vulnerability in the OrientDB 2.2 release notes.

CVE Vulnerabilities

Status

CVE-2017-11467

Last edited: 17 February 2020 12:41 pm