BadBunny, a proof-of-concept virus introduced last month, is now affecting systems on a larger scale. The virus that spreads via malicious OpenOffice documents infects Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X systems.
Excerpt from an article at ZDNet:
“A new worm is being distributed within malicious OpenOffice documents. The worm can infect Windows, Linux and Mac OS X systems,” according to a Symantec Security Response advisory. “Be cautious when handling OpenOffice files from unknown sources.”
The virus executes different components for different operating systems that it detects:
- On Windows: It copies a file called drop.bad to the system.ini file in the user’s mIRC folder and executes the JavaScript virus badbunny.js, which replicates to other files in the folder
- On Linux: It drops badbunny.py as an XChat script and drops badbunny.pl, a Perl virus infecting other Perl files.
- On Mac: It installs one of two Ruby script viruses (in files called badbunny.rb or badbunnya.rb).
Sources:
Virus Exploits Web 2.0 Technology to Cross Platforms (CBC News)
OpenOffice virus Badbunny hops across Operating Systems (CNET News.com)
With cross-platform applications being touted as the next wave of applications syncing the Web with the desktop, the potential damage that an OS-hopping worm can cause is gargantuan. Like everything else on the Net, Web 2.0 and other disruptive technologies are also prone to getting “mal-utelized.” Are the developers of next-gen “Web-plication platforms” taking notice? Join the discussion.
