[comp.virus] DECnet Worm on the loose

JOHNSON_RJ@CUBLDR.COLORADO.EDU (Richard Johnson) (10/17/89)

PLEASE NOTIFY ALL YOUR SITES...THERE IS A WORM ON THE LOOSE WITHIN THE

                               DECNET INTERNET

What we know:

It is called W.COM and moves by generating psuedo random node numbers.
It contains a set of default names like SYSTEM, FIELD, etc, it gets more
user names from rightslist.dat and apparently (we don't know for sure)
tries username = password to gain access.

It attempts to access your node via both the default DECnet account/TASK 0 and
a list of 81 canned userid's

If successful on your node, it will change the passwords of accounts it
has broken into and attempt to start up a batch job to continue its quest.

It runs AUTHORIZE and generates a listing of your usernames.  To this
list, it appends 81 other userid's it will try.  It then tries to
penetrate each account in it's list using both a null password and the
userid as the password. If an account is penetrated then the worm runs
under the penetrated account and do the following:

        o submit a batch job to attack other nodes
        o changes the user's password
        o sends a confirmation banner to a central node

What you can do quickly to protect yourself:


- -- disable TASK 0 if you have it running

- -- make sure that the DECnet account's UAF record does not have access to
 BATCH

- -- make sure that the DECnet account UAF record has /PRCLM=1 set

- -- protect SYS$SYSTEM:AUTHORIZE.EXE so that WORLD has NO access

- -- Create an empty W.COM;32767 in the DECnet Default account and protect

- -- WATCH FOR PROCESSES BEGINNING WITH "NETW_"

- -- Use "NCP> SHOW KNOWN LINKS" command to show your connections, then
   verify your "local users" to ensure that they are not running in BATCH
   mode - if so, it's a possible penetration.

*NOTE THESE MEASURES DO NOT PROTECT AGAINST USERS WHO HAVE THEIR PASSWORDS THE
 SAME AS THEIR USERID'S.

More details to follow.

Ron Tencati
SPAN Security Manager
(301)286-7251