Re: Single Stage Attacks?

Most attacks at the moment are server -> client, rather than client ->  
server (the wide deployment of firewalls, packet filtering rules,  
network segmentation has rendered the latter unprofitable).  The  
typical sequence is the victim stumbles onto a malicious webpage  
(often an ad) and then is taken via a chain of iframes or similar to  
an exploit server which delivers the exploit (currently the vast bulk  
of attacks on the wire are via malicious PDF and secondarily SWF -  
Adobe is it apparently).  The exploit shellcode then goes and fetches  
a dropper executable, which may in turn fetch more.  Then there is  
generally some kind of callback protocol for command and control of  
the bot according to whatever the business model of the campaign is.

In targeted attacks, this scenario may be preceded by tempting emails  
etc, to get a particular victim to go to a designated attack point  
(rather than just culling random victims from the herd).

I have seen recent attacks as simple as a single bad PDF or SWF with  
no precursor at all other than the normal operation of the ad delivery  
ecosystem, and then the download of a single exe and no immediate  
callback.

I have not seen a recent example in the wild in which the payload was  
integrated into the exploit shellcode (there's obviously no real  
barrier to doing this other than administrative convenience for the  
attackers).

Stuart Staniford
Chief Scientist, FireEye

On May 16, 2009, at 11:39 PM, snort user wrote:

> Greetings All,
>
> Typically, network based attacks have multiple stages.
> (reconnaissance, infection, download rootkit, call home, further  
> infection etc)
>
> Some attacks may have a single stage (without reconnaissance) to
> compromise a host.
> However, even those attacks have a post-compromise stage, such as  
> call home
> or transfer/steal data or something else.
> Otherwise, what's the motivation for compromising in the first place?
>
> Can someone enlighten me if there are attacks that only have a  
> single stage?
> Examples or scenarios is much appreciated.
>
>
> Thanks
>
>
>
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