Norman ASA, a provider of endpoint security and anti-malware tools, says that its researchers in Oslo have identified a new Trojan that infected the Nobel Peace Prize site early this morning. The new Trojan was transmitted through a vulnerability in Firefox version 3.5 and 3.6.

The attack appears to be enabled by a zero-day vulnerability in the Firefox Web browser. If a user visited the Nobel Prize site (and possibly other sites) while the attack was active using Firefox 3.5 or 3.6, there is a possibility that malware has been installed on the user's computer without warning.

The malware, named by Normal as “Belmoo,” is a Windows executable, 48640 bytes long. It’s written in C, without any compression or encryption, making it easier to research. The executable is apparently created Sun Oct 24 16:26:29 2010.

According to Norman, upon execution the malware will copy itself to the \temp folder and create registry keys so that it is started from bootup and:

* Creates file [WINDIR]\temp\symantec.exe.

* Creates value "Microsoft Windows Update"="[WINDIR]\temp\symantec.exe" in key "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run".

* Creates value "Microsoft Windows Update"="[WINDIR]\temp\syma

If infected, the malware attempts to connect to two Internet addresses (l-3com.dyndns-work.com and l-3com.dyndns.tv), both which point to a server in Taiwan. If the connection is successful, the attacker would have access to the infected computer. If the addresses do not resolve, the malware will program will exit.

Norman researcher Snorre Fagerland, notes that “If the first address resolves, the malware will attempt to connect to it on port 443/tcp. If this connect fails, the malware will instead attempt to connect to the second address on port 80/tcp, presumably to avoid firewalls. If either of the connects succeed, the malware attaches a command shell to the opened socket, giving an attacker access on the local computer with the same rights as the logged on user.”

More details are available here: http://www.norman.com/security_center/virus_description_archive/129146/

< Be Informed. Subscribe to the SecurityWeek Email Briefing Here >