Muhstik Botnet

The Muhstik Botnet is a network of Trojans that use infected servers and IoT devices for Distributed-Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attacks and cryptocurrency-mining. Its threat actors prefer exploiting software vulnerabilities and brute-forcing passwords for infecting new systems and include modular support for the Muhstik Botnet in that vein. Besides employing appropriate password protection and patching their software, users can keep their devices and systems safe with traditional anti-malware tools for detecting and deleting Muhstik Botnet bots.

A Botnet with an Increasingly-Large Hand of Exploits

A botnet defines itself through its need for compromising and incorporating new devices into the network partially, which uses raw numbers for accomplishing basic tasks. The Muhstik Botnet shows many of the ways that threat actors can do this, with module-based additions that enhance its network and device-traversing capabilities. For each victim, however, its bot is another Trojan miner and DDoS launcher.

The Muhstik Botnet consists of multiple components, including a scanner that is an upgraded version of the open-source Pnscan project. This scanning module searches for at-risk targets, such as phpMyAdmin-using servers automatically, and then it brute-forces their passwords. After reporting any success and dropping the bot, the process repeats itself on the new system. This technique is semi-rare but becoming more common than it used to be; competitors like the GoBrut Botnet andStealthWorker conduct similar attacks against phpMyAdmin targets.

Malware experts confine most of the Muhstik Botnet's last-stage features to cryptocurrency-mining and DDoS attacks that use the infected system's hardware for profit-related crimes. By contrast, the Muhstik Botnet goes through a virtual rainbow of software exploits for installing itself. These vulnerabilities include CVE-2019-2725 and CVE-2017-10271 for Oracle WebLogic servers, Drupal's CVE-2018-7600, and others in WordPress. Many of them are merged into the campaigns as soon as they're publicly available.

The Dangers of Being in a Trojan Army

Besides its substantial propagation features, the Muhstik Botnet offers more-focused dangers to any device that it compromises, from a Linux server to a GPON Router. A botnet gives remote attackers accessibility options for dropping and running other threat at their preference. The Muhstik Botnet also shows a preference for mining activities that can damage performance and, eventually, the underlying hardware if the threat actor configures them sufficiently recklessly.

Firmware updates for routers and other Internet-of-Things devices can lower the Muhstik Botnet's array of targets. Malware experts also encourage using appropriate passwords that aren't weak to brute-forcing tools, which users can supplement with other security protocols, like multi-factor authentication or MFA. The usual security products for the associated devices and server architecture should identify and remove the Muhstik Botnet's bots adequately.

The Muhstik Botnet uses a great deal of borrowed code, but recycling is as helpful for Trojans as it is for the environment. Adding an occasional update to already-working programming makes for an efficient 'business' cycle when you're in the business of hijacking hardware for Bitcoins.