Malware SNEAK dons cunning disguise, opens creaky back door to servers

A malicious backdoor designed to infect web servers poses a severe threat, Trend Micro warns.

The malware, dubbed BKDR_JAVAWAR.JG, poses as a Java Server page but actually creates a backdoor on compromised servers. "This malware may arrive as either a file downloaded from certain malicious sites or as a file dropped by other malware," Trend explains in an advisory.

The attack only works if the targeted system is either a Java Servlet container (such as Apache Tomcat) or a Java-based HTTP server. "Using a password cracking tool, cybercriminals are able to log in and gain manager/administrative rights allowing the deployment of web application archive (WAR) files packaged with the backdoor to the server. The backdoor will be automatically added in the accessible Java Server pages," Trend adds.

Once installed, the backdoor can be used to "browse, upload, edit, delete, download or copy files from the infected system", say the security researchers.

The threat proves the point that servers, as well as user desktops, are vulnerable to Java-based exploits, which have become a hacker favourite over recent years. More details on the threat can be found in a blog post by Trend Micro here. ®