Trojan-Downloader:OSX/Flashback.A
Summary
Trojan-Downloader:OSX/Flashback.A is a variant of the Trojan-Downloader:OSX/Flashback malware that poses as a Flash Player installer, and connects to a remote host to obtain installation configurations and files.
Removal
Caution: Manual disinfection is a risky process; it is recommended only for advanced users. Otherwise, please seek professional technical assistance.
F-Secure customers may also contact our Support.
A False Positive is when a file is incorrectly detected as harmful, usually because its code or behavior resembles known harmful programs. A False Positive will usually be fixed in a subsequent database update without any action needed on your part. If you wish, you may also:
-
Check for the latest database updates
First check if your F-Secure security program is using the latest updates, then try scanning the file again.
-
Submit a sample
After checking, if you still believe the file is incorrectly detected, you can submit a sample of it for re-analysis.
Note: If the file was moved to quarantine, you need to collect the file from quarantine before you can submit it.
-
Exclude a file from further scanning
If you are certain that the file is safe and want to continue using it, you can exclude it from further scanning by the F-Secure security product.
Note: You need administrative rights to change the settings.
Technical Details
Trojan-Downloader:OSX/Flashback.A poses as a Flash Player installer and connects to a remote host to obtain further installation files and configurations.
Before it attempts to connect to the remote host, the installer first checks if the following file is found in the system:
- /Library/Little Snitch/lsd
Little Snitch is a firewall program for Mac OS X. If the program is found in the system, the installer will skip the rest of its routine and proceed to delete itself.
If the program is not found, Flashback connects to a remote, identified ashttps://[...]adobesoftware[...]/counter/%encoded_strings%, with the decoded string following this format:
- 004|%Hardware_UUID|%machine_architecture%|%kerner_version%
Installation files and configuration returned by the host is encrypted using RC4, where the MD5 hash of the Hardware UUID of the infected system is used as the key.
Payload
The installer contains two payloads. In the first payload, the location, launch point and actual content of the payload depend on the configuration returned by the remote host.
The location and actual content of the second payload also depend on the configuration returned by the remote host.
But in the second payload, the following environment variable was added:
- DYLD_INSERT_LIBRARIES
This allows the second payload to be loaded when the user runs an application in the infected system.
Some samples also restart running instances of Safari and Firefox to take the payload into effect.
As of this writing, the remote host has already been taken down. But when it was still active, it delivered only the second payload, which is detected by F-Secure product as Backdoor:OSX/Flashback.A.