PowerUpSQL

Problem

Proprietary ReversingLabs malware detection algorithms have determined that the software package contains one or more malicious files. The detection was made by a heuristic signature. This malware detection method is considered proactive, and can typically identify the malware family or at least the threat type.

Problem

Third-party malware detection algorithms have determined that the software package contains one or more malicious files. The detection was made by a hash-based file reputation lookup. This malware detection method is considered accurate, and can typically identify the malware family by name.

Problem

Software components contain executable code that performs actions implemented during its development. These actions are called behaviors. In the analysis report, behaviors are presented as human-readable descriptions that best match the underlying code intent. While most behaviors are benign, some are exclusively used by malicious software with the intent to cause harm. When a software package matches behavior traits of malicious software, it becomes flagged by security solutions. It is highly likely that the software package was tampered with by a malicious actor or a rogue insider.

Problem

Software components contain executable code that performs actions implemented during its development. These actions are called behaviors. In the analysis report, behaviors are presented as human-readable descriptions that best match the underlying code intent. While most behaviors are benign, some are exclusively used by malicious software with the intent to cause harm. When a software package matches behavior traits of malicious software, it becomes flagged by security solutions. It is highly likely that the software package was tampered with by a malicious actor or a rogue insider. Detected threat type matches the behaviors typically exhibited by the hacktool malware profile. Hacking tools are commonly used by malicious actors to bypass security solutions, exploit system weaknesses, collect personal information, and exfiltrate data. However, due to high-privilege access requirements, some security solutions may also trigger this detection when analyzed.

Problem

Attackers commonly hide their malicious payloads in layers of packing and code obfuscation. Base-encoding is a common data transformation technique used to convert Windows executable files into textual payloads. Detected software behaviors indicate that the code has the ability to decode and execute Base-encoded executables. While presence of dynamic code execution does not imply malicious intent, all of its uses in a software package should be documented and approved. When a software package has behavior traits similar to malicious software, it may become flagged by security solutions. One example of acceptable use for embedding Base-encoded Windows executables is the intent to transfer the software components over the network.

Problem

Operating systems execute application code in multiple privilege access levels. Separation of privileges is designed to protect the stability and integrity of the operating system by shielding it from issues that may affect the user-mode applications it runs. However, some user-mode applications may need to interact with higher privilege parts of the operating system to accomplish a specific task. For this purpose operating systems provide facilities that user-mode applications may use to temporarily elevate their running privileges. Malicious code often requires elevated privileges to bypass security solutions, or achieve persistence. While the presence of code that elevates its running privilege does not necessarily imply malicious intent, all of its uses in a software package should be documented and approved. Only select applications should consider using functions that can elevate application privilege. One example of acceptable use for such functions is allowing the application to collect its debugging and error handling information.

Problem

Uniform Resource Locators (URLs) are structured addresses that point to locations and assets on the internet. URLs allow software developers to build complex applications that exchange data with servers that can be hosted in multiple geographical regions. URLs can commonly be found embedded in documentation, configuration files, source code and compiled binaries. One or more embedded URLs were discovered to link to raw files hosted on GitHub. Attackers often abuse popular web services to host malicious payloads. Since code-sharing services URLs are typically allowed by security solutions, using them for payload delivery increases the odds that the malicious code will reach the user. While the presence of code-sharing service locations does not imply malicious intent, all of their uses in a software package should be documented and approved. An increasing number of software supply chain attacks in the open source space leverages the GitHub service to deliver malicious payloads.

Problem

Software components contain executable code that performs actions implemented during its development. These actions are called behaviors. In the analysis report, behaviors are presented as human-readable descriptions that best match the underlying code intent. While most behaviors are benign, some are commonly abused by malicious software with the intent to cause harm. When a software package shares behavior traits with malicious software, it may become flagged by security solutions. Any detection from security solutions can cause friction for the end-users during software deployment. While the behavior is likely intended by the developer, there is a small chance this detection is true positive, and an early indication of a software supply chain attack.

Problem

Attackers commonly hide their malicious payloads in layers of packing and code obfuscation. Base-encoding is a common data transformation technique used to convert binary payloads into text. Detected software behaviors indicate that the code has the ability to decode and execute Base-encoded data. While presence of dynamic code execution does not imply malicious intent, all of its uses in a software package should be documented and approved. When a software package has behavior traits similar to malicious software, it may become flagged by security solutions. One example of acceptable use for dynamic Base-encoded data execution is transfer of software components over the network.

Problem

Software developers use programming and design knowledge to build reusable software components. Software components are the basic building blocks for modern applications. Software consumed by an enterprise consists of hundreds, and sometimes even thousands of open source components. Software developers publish components they have authored to public repositories. While a new software project is a welcome addition to the open source community. it is not always prudent to indiscriminately use the latest components when building a commercial application. Irrespective of the software quality, the danger of using components that are rarely used to build applications lies in the fact that the software component may contain novel, currently undetected malicious code. Therefore, it is prudent to review software component behaviors and even try out software component in a sandbox, an environment meant for testing untrusted code.