32 or 64 bits Malware?, (Mon, Aug 22nd)

Last week, I was teaching FOR610 in Amsterdam. When we review ASM, we have a module about the difference in 32-bits VS. 64-bits code (how parameters are passed to functions/API calls, calling convention, etc). It&#;x26;#;39;s important to have an understanding of this because most computers are build around a 64-bits CPU today. But attackers are still deploying a lot of 32-bits malware for compatibility reasons and also because this code can be run without (if you respect Microsoft guidelines and API&#;x26;#;39;s) problems. A student asked me if there was a lot of native 64-bits malware in the wild. Is there a real trend? I decided to have a look at a bunch of samples and see practically if this trend was real.

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Windows Security Blocks UPX Compressed (packed) Binaries, (Fri, Aug 19th)

Nothing surprising, but a nice story for the weekend: I was experimenting with compiling some Python scripts to run them as native Windows programs this week. I used “pyinstaller” to convert the Python script into an executable. But I was a bit shocked by the large size of the binaries (ok. I should have expected that). So I attempted to compress them with UPX, which creates nice self-extracting binaries.

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Apple Patches Two Exploited Vulnerabilities, (Wed, Aug 17th)

Apple fixed two vulnerabilities that are, according to Apple, already being exploited. The WebKit vulnerability could be used by a malicious website to execute arbitrary code, while the Kernel issue can then be used to escalate privileges. No additional details are known at this point.

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A Quick VoIP Experiment, (Wed, Aug 17th)

To better detect any exploit attempts taking advantage of the recent Realtek vulnerability, I experimented with the open source VoIP server Asterisk. I just set it up, listening for inbound connections. The server had no existing accounts configured or connected to an upstream VoIP service. Using it for actual phone calls was impossible, but it would respond.

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