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from the Linux-security-Microsoft-style dept.
Yes, of course there's now malware for Windows Subsystem for Linux
In 2017, more than a year after the introduction of WSL, Check Point researchers proposed a proof-of-concept attack called Bashware that used WSL to run malicious ELF and EXE payloads. Because WSL wasn't enabled by default and Windows 10 didn't ship with any preinstalled Linux distro, Bashware wasn't considered a particularly realistic threat at the time.
Four years later, WSL-based malware has arrived. The files function as loaders for a payload that's either embedded – possibly created using open-source tools like MSFVenom or Meterpreter – or fetched from a remote command-and-control server and is then inserted into a running process via Windows API calls.
"Threat actors always look for new attack surfaces," said Mike Benjamin, Lumen vice president of product security and head of Black Lotus Labs, in a statement. "While the use of WSL is generally limited to power users, those users often have escalated privileges in an organization. This creates blind spots as the industry continues to remove barriers between operating systems."
If there's a bright side to this anticipated development, it's that this initial WSL attack isn't particularly sophisticated, according to Black Lotus Labs. Nonetheless, the samples had a detection rate of one or zero in VirusTotal, indicating that the malicious ELFs would have been missed by most antivirus systems.
(Score: 5, Informative) by tavares on Monday September 20 2021, @02:24AM (1 child)
it's targeted by the hackers. Really, who thought that WSL would be different? Windows is a lucrative target, and until it's market share shrinks, it will remain a target.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 20 2021, @03:08PM
If Windows had been built on a security model from the start it wouldn't be the lucrative target it is today. As it is, the OS was built on a deck of cards in a time when there was no internet or mutli-user capability. On the other hand, Linux servers run the infrastructure of most of the internet today. If the target were just about market share, they would have been toppled years ago.