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* Alibaba ECS instances actively hijacked by cryptomining malware
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ALIBABA ECS INSTANCES ACTIVELY HIJACKED BY CRYPTOMINING MALWARE
By
BILL TOULAS
* November 15, 2021
* 02:15 PM
* 1
Threat actors are hijacking Alibaba Elastic Computing Service (ECS) instances to
install cryptominer malware and harness the available server resources for their
own profit.
Alibaba is a Chinese technology giant with a global market presence, with its
cloud services being used primarily in southeast Asia.
In particular, the ECS service is marketed as offering fast memory, Intel CPUs,
and promising low-latency operations. Even better, to protect against malware
such as cryptominers, ECS comes with a pre-installed security agent.
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HACKERS REMOVE ECS SECURITY AGENT TO INSTALL MINERS
According to a report by Trend Micro, one of the issues with Alibaba ECS is the
lack of different privilege levels configured on an instance, with all instances
offering root access by default.
This makes it possible for threats actors who gain access to login credentials
to access the target server via SSH as root without any preparatory (escalation
of privilege) work.
"The threat actor has the highest possible privilege upon compromise, including
vulnerability exploitation, any misconfiguration issue, weak credentials or data
leakage," explains Trend Micro's report.
Furthermore, these elevated privileges allow the threat actors to create
firewall rules that drop incoming packets from IP ranges belonging to internal
Alibaba servers to prevent the installed security agent from detecting
suspicious behavior.
The threat actors can then run scripts that stop the security agent on the
compromised device.
Disabling the security agent on ECS
Source: Trend Micro
Given how easy it is to plant kernel module rootkits and cryptojacking malware
due to the elevated privileges, it is no surprise that multiple threat actors
compete to take over Alibaba Cloud ECS instances.
Trend Micro has also observed scripts looking for processes running on specific
ports commonly used by malware and backdoors and terminating the associated
processes to remove competing malware.
Cryptojacking malware tuning an ECS instance and terminating processes
Source: Trend Micro
Another ECS feature exploited by the actors is an auto-scaling system that
enables the service to automatically adjust computing resources based on the
volume of user requests.
This is to help prevent service interruptions and hiccups from sudden traffic
burdens, but it's an opportunity for cryptojackers.
By abusing this when it's active on the targeted account, the actors can scale
up their Monero mining power and incur additional costs to the instance owner.
Considering that the billing cycles are monthly in the best-case scenario, it
would take the victim some time to realize the problem and take action.
When auto-scaling isn't available, mining will cause a more immediate and
noticeable slow-down effect as the miners utilize the available CPU power.
ALL CLOUD SERVICES SHOULD BE VETTED
Alibaba ECS is yet another case of a cloud service targeted by cryptominers,
with other notable recent campaigns targeting Docker and Huawei Cloud.
Trend Micro has notified Alibaba of its findings but hasn't received a response
yet.
If you are using Alibaba's cloud service, ensure that your security settings are
correct and follow best practices.
Moreover, avoid running apps under root privilege, use cryptographic keys for
access, and follow the principle of least privilege.
In the case of ECS, its built-in malware protection isn’t enough, so adding a
second layer of detection for malware and vulnerabilities on the cloud
environment should be part of your standard security practice.
RELATED ARTICLES:
Huawei Cloud targeted by updated cryptomining malware
TeamTNT hackers target your poorly configured Docker servers
Popular NPM library hijacked to install password-stealers, miners
MyKings botnet still active and making massive amounts of money
Victims of $2 billion BitConnect fraud to get back $57 million
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BILL TOULAS
Bill Toulas is a technology writer and infosec news reporter with over a decade
of experience working on various online publications. An open source advocate
and Linux enthusiast, is currently finding pleasure in following hacks, malware
campaigns, and data breach incidents, as well as by exploring the intricate ways
through which tech is swiftly transforming our lives.
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COMMENTS
* MYNAMEISGOD - 5 DAYS AGO
*
*
What makes you so sure they were hacked? This sounds like standard operations
for Alibaba.
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