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Active: 1099 users

Question about keyloggers / Viruses

Blogs > kdog3683
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kdog3683
Profile Blog Joined January 2007
United States916 Posts
August 01 2008 23:33 GMT
#1
Say for example, I dl a song.

Is there anyway for me to put a virus/trojan into that .mp3, and then send it to somebody else?

If something has a known tag like .mp3, or .txt, its safe correct?

As long as it's not .dll or .exe?

*
Multiply your efforts.
paper
Profile Blog Joined September 2004
13196 Posts
August 01 2008 23:35 GMT
#2
YOU ARE NEVER SAFE!!! >:D
Hates Fun🤔
DeadVessel
Profile Blog Joined April 2006
United States6269 Posts
August 01 2008 23:45 GMT
#3
Yeah you can't get a virus/trojan from a mp3 or txt.
IntoTheWow
Profile Blog Joined May 2004
is awesome32277 Posts
August 02 2008 00:09 GMT
#4
Who do you want to infect lol
Moderator<:3-/-<
kdog3683
Profile Blog Joined January 2007
United States916 Posts
August 02 2008 01:12 GMT
#5
On August 02 2008 09:09 IntoTheWow wrote:
Who do you want to infect lol


Don't want to infect anyone lol

Just incase sombody sends me a .mp3 or video, I want to make sure no keylogger comes with -~
Multiply your efforts.
XCetron
Profile Joined November 2006
5226 Posts
August 02 2008 01:25 GMT
#6
beware of large file mp3, when your music is playing the processor has to read the files and translate the instruction to the sound processor and while its doing that there could be some instruction in the file and it could do things other than play music, it could get real bad. Just dont get any mp3 file over 50kbps, thats the safest way.
0xDEADBEEF
Profile Joined September 2007
Germany1235 Posts
Last Edited: 2008-08-02 02:23:37
August 02 2008 02:12 GMT
#7
Roughly speaking, there are two types of files: executables and everything else. The most common executables are .exe, .scr, .com, .lnk (shortcut), and several scripts like .bat, .vbs, .wsh and so on. There are more.

Other files are usually just for storing data in a certain format. MP3 is a simple audio format, there's nothing in there that your computer will execute by default.
However, there might be a tiny chance that the music player you use won't handle a malformed/manipulated MP3 file correctly, and if that's the case, there MIGHT be a way to smuggle executable code into it. In the past there was one version of Winamp which allowed for "virus MP3s": play a MP3 and code gets executed, just like with a .exe. This requires the player to have a bug which allows that, though... and that's really almost never the case, I think it happened only that one time, and that's years back.

More interesting are file formats like .doc/.xls and the like which contain normal data but also scripts/macros. Macro viruses exist, so a .doc/.xls etc. could be used to execute code, but the programs which open these files (e.g. MS Office) of course won't allow every action a macro script wants to do (would you like opening a .doc and "format c: /quicktest" is executed in the background?). So basically a macro virus can ONLY do something nasty if Office allows it respectively has a bug which allows the virus to bypass the protection.
Years ago this was often the case because MS programs were quite insecure, but they are much more secure these days.
So there's an additional layer of security which makes it hard for macro viruses to affect the system.

Generally, only real executable files are a threat. For the rest, it's either impossible or very hard to find a way to execute code from it.
XCetron
Profile Joined November 2006
5226 Posts
August 02 2008 02:22 GMT
#8
I recommend just start using midi or realaudio from now on, those are the safest.
HeadBangaa
Profile Blog Joined July 2004
United States6512 Posts
August 02 2008 02:23 GMT
#9
If you want to be evil, compile your trojan and bind it with an executable that simply displays an error message "Wrong Windows version. Windows 95 required", name the extension of the resulting executable to ".scr" and tell people it's a screen saver.
The funnest part about microhacking is the social engineering~
People who fail to distinguish Socratic Method from malicious trolling are sadly stupid and not worth a response.
fusionsdf
Profile Blog Joined June 2006
Canada15390 Posts
August 02 2008 03:33 GMT
#10
ehh if you could somehow cause a buffer overflow

remember jpgs being used for this kind of stuff?
SKT_Best: "I actually chose Protoss because it was so hard for me to defeat Protoss as a Terran. When I first started Brood War, my main race was Terran."
DamageControL
Profile Blog Joined July 2007
United States4222 Posts
August 02 2008 03:35 GMT
#11
On August 02 2008 11:23 HeadBangaa wrote:
If you want to be evil, compile your trojan and bind it with an executable that simply displays an error message "Wrong Windows version. Windows 95 required", name the extension of the resulting executable to ".scr" and tell people it's a screen saver.
The funnest part about microhacking is the social engineering~

Your evil, pure evil!
Liquid | SKT
Night[Mare
Profile Blog Joined December 2004
Mexico4793 Posts
August 02 2008 03:50 GMT
#12
anybody with little common sense would suspect haha. But anyway, i think executables are the only threat here
Teamliquidian townie
GHOSTCLAW
Profile Blog Joined February 2008
United States17042 Posts
August 02 2008 05:07 GMT
#13
There have been just a few proof of concept examples of mp3's being used to corrupt computers. Nothing out in the wild though I'm pretty sure.

if you just watch out for executables (and most of the time a decent antivirus program will figure it out) then you should be fine.
PhotographerLiquipedia. Drop me a pm if you've got questions/need help.
Jibba
Profile Blog Joined October 2007
United States22883 Posts
August 02 2008 05:31 GMT
#14
On August 02 2008 11:12 0xDEADBEEF wrote:
Roughly speaking, there are two types of files: executables and everything else. The most common executables are .exe, .scr, .com, .lnk (shortcut), and several scripts like .bat, .vbs, .wsh and so on. There are more.

Other files are usually just for storing data in a certain format. MP3 is a simple audio format, there's nothing in there that your computer will execute by default.
However, there might be a tiny chance that the music player you use won't handle a malformed/manipulated MP3 file correctly, and if that's the case, there MIGHT be a way to smuggle executable code into it. In the past there was one version of Winamp which allowed for "virus MP3s": play a MP3 and code gets executed, just like with a .exe. This requires the player to have a bug which allows that, though... and that's really almost never the case, I think it happened only that one time, and that's years back.

http://www.infoworld.com/article/08/05/06/Trojan-adware-hiding-in-MP3s-McAfee-says_1.html

ModeratorNow I'm distant, dark in this anthrobeat
kdog3683
Profile Blog Joined January 2007
United States916 Posts
August 02 2008 06:17 GMT
#15
Anyway to distinguish between these fakes and legit mp3's before you run it?
Multiply your efforts.
Jibba
Profile Blog Joined October 2007
United States22883 Posts
August 02 2008 06:20 GMT
#16
I'm not sure if the fake ones display a bitrate or not. Or you could just not download music from Limewire.
ModeratorNow I'm distant, dark in this anthrobeat
anotak
Profile Blog Joined March 2008
United States1537 Posts
August 02 2008 09:17 GMT
#17
yeah there are plenty of exploits for mp3 files and other file formats
http://milw0rm.com/ - exploits found every day, and that's not the only site like that
ex. on the 29th was found "CoolPlayer m3u File Local Buffer Overflow Exploit"

On August 02 2008 15:17 kdog3683 wrote:
Anyway to distinguish between these fakes and legit mp3's before you run it?

not unless you want to learn asm
0xDEADBEEF
Profile Joined September 2007
Germany1235 Posts
Last Edited: 2008-08-02 13:34:36
August 02 2008 13:18 GMT
#18
On August 02 2008 14:31 Jibba wrote:
Show nested quote +
On August 02 2008 11:12 0xDEADBEEF wrote:
Roughly speaking, there are two types of files: executables and everything else. The most common executables are .exe, .scr, .com, .lnk (shortcut), and several scripts like .bat, .vbs, .wsh and so on. There are more.

Other files are usually just for storing data in a certain format. MP3 is a simple audio format, there's nothing in there that your computer will execute by default.
However, there might be a tiny chance that the music player you use won't handle a malformed/manipulated MP3 file correctly, and if that's the case, there MIGHT be a way to smuggle executable code into it. In the past there was one version of Winamp which allowed for "virus MP3s": play a MP3 and code gets executed, just like with a .exe. This requires the player to have a bug which allows that, though... and that's really almost never the case, I think it happened only that one time, and that's years back.

http://www.infoworld.com/article/08/05/06/Trojan-adware-hiding-in-MP3s-McAfee-says_1.html



Hm interesting, but I just searched for details and it's like this:
These “MP3″ files are in fact ASF files that instruct media players such as Windows Media Player to navigate to a specified URL (via the default HTTP protocol handler - ie. default browser). Not all media players support this functionality.

So basically it's just a deception thing... a bit like renaming .mp3 to .mp3.exe and hoping the user has hidden file extensions.
The thing is, MP3 files have no such functionality by default, so if you try to play a MP3 and your media player directs you to a URL you know that there's something wrong about this file (i.e. it's NOT actually a .mp3) and that they want you to download malware. Opening the file, though, does not by itself harm you unless you use this trick and direct the browser to a webpage which tries to exploit a security hole in the browser. If that's not the case (and it's hard to do so), then just playing the file and seeing this page pop up isn't doing anything yet; this trick mostly relies on user stupidity ("you need a codec please download this .exe").
And if you just use a music player which doesn't support playing .asf named as .mp3 and doesn't support such redirection URLs then nothing happens at all.

The MP3 format is inherently safe, like I wrote. This is really more of a deception/social engineering trick because it's a file format disguised as another one. A good player should have no problem detecting this. What I wrote about was about REAL MP3s, and in that case it's practically impossible to sneak malware into them unless a certain player has a certain weakness in reading MP3s in general which allows code to be executed.
MasterOfChaos
Profile Blog Joined April 2007
Germany2896 Posts
Last Edited: 2008-08-02 16:33:16
August 02 2008 16:32 GMT
#19
The bugs in media players are more common than you think. Just look for messages about VLC on heise. And as most people don't update VLC regularily (it has no autoupdate or even update notification) most VLC users are vulnerable for these bugs.
With DEP+ASLR these bugs are harder to exploit.
LiquipediaOne eye to kill. Two eyes to live.
anotak
Profile Blog Joined March 2008
United States1537 Posts
August 02 2008 20:11 GMT
#20
On August 02 2008 22:18 0xDEADBEEF wrote:
So basically it's just a deception thing... a bit like renaming .mp3 to .mp3.exe and hoping the user has hidden file extensions.
The thing is, MP3 files have no such functionality by default, so if you try to play a MP3 and your media player directs you to a URL you know that there's something wrong about this file (i.e. it's NOT actually a .mp3) and that they want you to download malware. Opening the file, though, does not by itself harm you unless you use this trick and direct the browser to a webpage which tries to exploit a security hole in the browser. If that's not the case (and it's hard to do so), then just playing the file and seeing this page pop up isn't doing anything yet; this trick mostly relies on user stupidity ("you need a codec please download this .exe").
And if you just use a music player which doesn't support playing .asf named as .mp3 and doesn't support such redirection URLs then nothing happens at all.

The MP3 format is inherently safe, like I wrote. This is really more of a deception/social engineering trick because it's a file format disguised as another one. A good player should have no problem detecting this. What I wrote about was about REAL MP3s, and in that case it's practically impossible to sneak malware into them unless a certain player has a certain weakness in reading MP3s in general which allows code to be executed.

I'm familiar with this vulnerability. It's not a deception trick. The mp3 file is listed AS AN mp3 file. the file name is not .mp3.asx. Windows Media Player will open the "mp3" file and notice that it is NOT an mp3 file and then decide to try it as an asx file. gg.

also, mp3 is not that inherently secure. all file formats are POTENTIALLY vulnerable to a buffer overflow exploit of one variety or another.

looking at milworm, here's several media-file-format related exploits, and that's just with a quick search:
Windows Media Player 6.4 MP4 File Stack Overflow PoC
RealPlayer 10 ".smil" File Local Buffer Overflow Exploit
AtomixMP3 2.3 (pls File) Local Buffer OverFlow Exploit
Acoustica MP3 CD Burner 4.32 Local Buffer Overflow PoC
mpg123 0.59r Malformed mp3 (SIGSEGV) Proof of Concept
d(O.o)a
Profile Blog Joined June 2008
Canada5066 Posts
December 25 2008 20:48 GMT
#21

On August 02 2008 22:18 0xDEADBEEF wrote:
So basically it's just a deception thing... a bit like renaming .mp3 to .mp3.exe and hoping the user has hidden file extensions.
The thing is, MP3 files have no such functionality by default, so if you try to play a MP3 and your media player directs you to a URL you know that there's something wrong about this file (i.e. it's NOT actually a .mp3) and that they want you to download malware. Opening the file, though, does not by itself harm you unless you use this trick and direct the browser to a webpage which tries to exploit a security hole in the browser. If that's not the case (and it's hard to do so), then just playing the file and seeing this page pop up isn't doing anything yet; this trick mostly relies on user stupidity ("you need a codec please download this .exe").
And if you just use a music player which doesn't support playing .asf named as .mp3 and doesn't support such redirection URLs then nothing happens at all.

The MP3 format is inherently safe, like I wrote. This is really more of a deception/social engineering trick because it's a file format disguised as another one. A good player should have no problem detecting this. What I wrote about was about REAL MP3s, and in that case it's practically impossible to sneak malware into them unless a certain player has a certain weakness in reading MP3s in general which allows code to be executed.

You're wrong about MP3s being safe. It is actually quite simple to mask a .exe file or an autorun file as an MP3.
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