Flash improvements

Adobe is trying desperately to keep Flash viable. In July, they announced structural changes that are expected to strengthen Flash’s overall security. The changes are so far only available in the most recent versions of Chrome, but they are expected to find their way into the other major browsers in August.

Asprox botnet status

There’s an interesting (though technical) overview of recent changes in the behaviour of the Asprox botnet over on the SANS Handler’s Diary. Apparently the botnet is no longer sending malware attachments, and is instead sending pornography and diet-related spam. Comparing my inbox contents with the samples in the linked article, it looks like most of the spam I currently receive is thanks to Asprox. Hopefully Asprox will be targeted by the anti-botnet heavy hitters in the near future.

Flaw in BIND could cause widespread issues

BIND is one of the most common pieces of software on Internet-facing servers. It translates human-readable addresses like ‘boot13.com’ into IP addresses. A bug in version 9 of BIND causes it to crash when a specially-crafted packet is sent to it. Attackers could exploit this bug to execute an effective Denial of Service (DoS) attack against a server running BIND9. Patches have been created and distributed, but any remaining unpatched servers are likely to be identified and attacked in the coming months. Update 2015Aug05: As expected, this bug is now being actively exploited.

Mobile versions of IE are vulnerable

Current, patched versions of Internet Explorer running on mobile devices were recently reported to have four flaws that could allow attackers to run code remotely. Exploits were published, although none have yet been seen in the wild. The vulnerabilities were disclosed by the HP/TippingPoint researchers who discovered them, six months after they privately reported them to Microsoft. Microsoft has yet to patch these vulnerabilities; they apparently feel that vulnerabilities are too difficult to exploit for them to be dangerous.

Stagefright vulnerability on Android devices

A flaw in Stagefright, a core Android software library that processes certain types of media, makes almost all Android phones and tablets vulnerable. The flaw can be exploited as easily as sending a specially-crafted text (MMS) message to a phone, but also by tricking the user into visiting a specific web site. Successful attackers can then access user data and execute code remotely. Unfortunately for users, it’s up to individual manufacturers to develop and provide patches, and this process may take months in some cases. There’s not much users can do to mitigate this problem until patches arrive. Update 2015Aug05: Google is working with its partners to push updates to affected mobile devices.

Mediaserver vulnerability on Android devices

More bad news for Android users: the mediaserver service apparently has difficulty processing MKV media files, and can render a device unusable when it encounters one on a malicious web site. In most cases, the device can be brought back to life by powering it down and back up again.

Android spyware toolkit widely available

And the hits just keep on coming for Android devices. Among the information revealed in the recent Hacking Team breach was the source code for an advanced Android spyware toolkit called RCSAndroid. Like everything else taken from Hacking Team’s systems, this has now been published, and no doubt malicious persons are working on ways to use the toolkit. There’s no easy way to protect yourself from this toolkit, aside from keeping your device up to date with patches. From Trend Micro: “Mobile users are called on to be on top of this news and be on guard for signs of monitoring. Some indicators may come in the form of peculiar behavior such as unexpected rebooting, finding unfamiliar apps installed, or instant messaging apps suddenly freezing.”