1.888.900.DRIZ (3749)
The Driz Group
  • Managed Services
    • SME CyberShield
    • Web Application Security >
      • Schedule WAF Demo
    • Virtual CISO
    • Compliance >
      • SOC1 & SOC2
      • GDPR
    • Third-Party Risk Management
    • Vulnerability Assessment >
      • Free Vulnerability Assessment
  • About us
    • Testimonials
    • Meet The Team
    • Resources
    • In the news
    • Careers
    • Subsidiaries
  • Contact
    • Newsletter
  • How WAF Works
  • Blog
  • Managed Services
    • SME CyberShield
    • Web Application Security >
      • Schedule WAF Demo
    • Virtual CISO
    • Compliance >
      • SOC1 & SOC2
      • GDPR
    • Third-Party Risk Management
    • Vulnerability Assessment >
      • Free Vulnerability Assessment
  • About us
    • Testimonials
    • Meet The Team
    • Resources
    • In the news
    • Careers
    • Subsidiaries
  • Contact
    • Newsletter
  • How WAF Works
  • Blog

Cybersecurity Blog

Thought leadership. Threat analysis. Cybersecurity news and alerts.

11/28/2018

0 Comments

New Mirai Variant Hijacks Enterprise Linux Servers for DDoS Attacks

 
mirai ddos attack on linux servers

New Mirai Variant Hijacks Enterprise Linux Servers for DDoS Attacks

Researchers at Netscout have discovered a new variant of Mirai – a malicious software (malware) once known for hijacking hundreds of thousands of Internet of Things (IoT) devices, including wireless cameras, routers and digital video recorders, to conduct powerful distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks.

Instead of infecting IoT devices, researchers at Netscoutsaid that the new Mirai variant infects non-IoT devices, in particular, enterprise Linux servers running Apache Hadoop YARN, to serve as DDoS bots.

The original Mirai malware, at its peak, infected hundreds of thousands of IoT devices, controlling these infected IoT devices as botnet to conduct high-impact DDoS attacks. Botnet refers to a group of computers controlled by attackers without the knowledge and consent of the owners to conduct malicious activities, including DDoS attacks. In a DDoS attack, the botnet or controlled computers act in unison, flooding the internet connection of a target, for instance, a particular website.

The original Mirai first came to public attention when it launched a DDoS attack against the website of journalist Brian Krebson September 20, 2016. A few days after, on September 30, the source code of Mirai was publicly released on the English-language hacking community Hackforums by a user using the screen name “Anna-senpai”.

Paras Jha, 22, the person behind Anna-senpai, pleaded guilty for co-creating Mirai. According to the U. S. Department of Justice, from December 2016 to February 2017, Jha along with his 2 college-age friends Josiah White and Dalton Norman, admitted that they successfully infected more than 100,000 IoT devices, such as home internet routers, with Mirai malware and used the hijacked IoT devices to form a powerful DDoS botnet.

Since the public release of the source code of Mirai, a number of Mirai variants have been created and released into the wild. According to Netscout researchers, this latest Mirai variant “is the first time we’ve seen non-IoT Mirai in the wild”.

How the Latest Mirai Variant Works?

To deliver the latest Mirai variant, attackers exploit the security vulnerability of Apache Hadoop YARN.

Apache Hadoop is an open source software framework that enables a cluster or group of computers to communicate and work together to store and process large amounts of data in a highly distributed manner. Meanwhile, YARN, which stands for Yet Another Resource Negotiator, is a key feature of Hadoop that helps in job scheduling of various applications and resource management in the cluster.

According to Netscout researchers, the latest Mirai malware will exploit unpatched Linux servers running on Apache Hadoop YARN, and will attempt to brute-force – attacks that systematically attempt to guess the correct username and password combination – the factory default username and password of the Hadoop YARN server.

DemonBot Vs. Latest Mirai Variant

Researchers at Radwaredetected last month another malware called “DemonBot” that infects Hadoop clusters by leveraging YARN’s unauthenticated remote command execution.

The main similarity between DemonBot and the latest Mirai variant is that both malware exploit the Hadoop YARN security vulnerability in order to infect computers. Both malware programs also turn infected computers as botnet for the purpose of launching DDoS attacks.

Enterprise Linux servers running Apache Hadoop YARN infected by DemonBot and the latest Mirai variant are dangerous as these servers account for large volumes of DDoS traffic.

The main difference between DemonBot and the latest Mirai variant is that DemonBot spreads only via central servers and doesn’t expose worm-like behavior exhibited by Mirai variants. Mirai’s worm-like behavior – its ability to spread itself within networks without user interaction – makes it a more dangerous malware than DemonBot.

According to Radware researchers, as of late October, this year, attackers attempted to exploit the Hadoop YARN vulnerability to deliver the DemonBot at an aggregated rate of over 1 million per day. 

Original Mirai Vs. Latest Mirai Variant

According to Netscout researchers, the latest Mira variant behaves much like the original Mirai. This means that both have worm-like behavior and enslaves infected computers for the purpose of launching DDoS attacks.

The main difference between the original Mirai and the latest Mirai variant is that while the original Mirai runs on IoT devices, the latest Mirai variant runs on Linux servers, in particular, those running Apache Hadoop YARN.

“Linux servers in datacenters have access to more bandwidth than IoT devices on residential networks, making them much more efficient DDoS bots,” researchers at Netscout said. ”A handful of well-resourced Linux servers can generate attacks that compete with a much larger IoT botnet.”

According to Netscout researchers, there are tens of thousands of attempts per day to exploit the Hadoop YARN vulnerability to deliver the latest Mirai variant.

Prevention

The risk of further cyberattacks is high for machines infected by malware like Mirai. To prevent attackers from hijacking your organization’s Linux servers running Apache Hadoop YARN for DDoS attacks, make sure to configure your YARN’s access control by using strong username and password combination.

Also, keep all your organization’s software up-to-date and prevent brute-force attacks by implementing an account lockout policy. For instance, after a certain number of failed login attempts, the account is locked out until an administrator unlocks it.

By leveraging the security vulnerability in enterprise Linux servers running Apache Hadoop YARN, attackers can generate much powerful DDoS attacks. Protect your organization’s online resources like websites from DDoS attacks by using an easy to use, cost-effective and comprehensive DDoS protection.

Contact us today if you need assistance in protecting your organization’s network from malware like Mirai and protecting your organization’s online resources from DDoS attacks.

0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Steve E. Driz, I.S.P., ITCP

    Picture
    View my profile on LinkedIn

    Archives

    March 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    November 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    June 2022
    February 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    October 2016
    August 2016
    May 2016
    March 2016
    January 2016
    November 2015
    October 2015
    August 2015
    June 2015

    Categories

    All
    0-Day
    2FA
    Access Control
    Advanced Persistent Threat
    AI
    AI Security
    Artificial Intelligence
    ATP
    Awareness Training
    Blockchain
    Botnet
    Bots
    Brute Force Attack
    CASL
    Cloud Security
    Compliance
    COVID 19
    COVID-19
    Cryptocurrency
    Cyber Attack
    Cyberattack Surface
    Cyber Awareness
    Cybercrime
    Cyber Espionage
    Cyber Insurance
    Cyber Security
    Cybersecurity
    Cybersecurity Audit
    Cyber Security Consulting
    Cyber Security Insurance
    Cyber Security Risk
    Cyber Security Threats
    Cybersecurity Tips
    Data Breach
    Data Governance
    Data Leak
    Data Leak Prevention
    Data Privacy
    DDoS
    Email Security
    Endpoint Protection
    Fraud
    GDPR
    Hacking
    Impersonation Scams
    Incident Management
    Insider Threat
    IoT
    Machine Learning
    Malware
    MFA
    Microsoft Office
    Mobile Security
    Network Security Threats
    Phishing Attack
    Privacy
    Ransomware
    Remote Access
    SaaS Security
    Social Engineering
    Supply Chain Attack
    Supply-Chain Attack
    Third Party Risk
    Third-Party Risk
    VCISO
    Virtual CISO
    Vulnerability
    Vulnerability Assessment
    Web Applcation Security
    Web-applcation-security
    Web Application Firewall
    Web Application Protection
    Web Application Security
    Web Protection
    Windows Security
    Zero Trust

    RSS Feed

Picture

1.888.900.DRIZ (3749)

Managed Services

Picture
SME CyberShield
​Web Application Security
​Virtual CISO
Compliance
​Vulnerability Assessment
Free Vulnerability Assessment
Privacy Policy | CASL

About us

Picture
Testimonials
​Meet the Team
​Subsidiaries
​Contact us
​Blog
​
Jobs

Resources & Tools

Picture
​Incident Management Playbook
Sophos authorized partner logo
Picture
© 2025 Driz Group Inc. All rights reserved.
Photo from GotCredit