Malware Defense History

by Dr. Nikolai Bezroukov.

Copyright: Dr. Nikolai Bezroukov 1994-2013. Unpublished notes. Version 0.80.October, 2013

Contents : Foreword : Ch01 : Ch02 : Ch03  : Ch04 : Ch05 : Ch06 : Ch07 : Ch08 : Ch09 : Ch10 : Ch11 : Ch12 : Ch13

Chapter 7: Network worms

SQL Slammer

On January 25 2003 at 5:30 a.m. GMT, the SQL Slammer worm began began infecting computers running a very popular Microsoft database program, Microsoft SQL Server.

To infect a computer, the worm first sent itself to a specific communications port of the computer, one the SQL Server used to send and receive requests. When the computer attempted to process the "request," the worm caused a data buffer in the computer to overflow. The overflow in turn caused the computer to install Sapphire, which then sent copies of itself over the Internet. And so it went, computer after computer, with astonishing speed and efficiency.

The virus began infecting a widening circle of computers in a contagion that zoomed around the world, doubling every 8.5 seconds. By 5:40 a.m., just 10 minutes after it was unleashed, SQL slammer had spread to at least 70 000 computers or approximately 90% of all the vulnerable machines in the world. The worm's paltry few hundred bytes carried no malicious payload and so deleted no data or software. But the sheer torrent of data coursing over the Internet consumed nearly all available capacity, crashing networks, bank ATMs, and flight-scheduling systems.

Three tools for fighting SQL Slammer worm are now provided my Microsoft. Versions change dayly and thus all of them should be downloaded  directly from Microsoft.

SQL Scan: Can be used to find vulnerable instances of SQL Server using network scan

SQL Check: Can determine what vulnerable product are you running

SQL  Critical Update:  SQL Critical Update scans the computer on which it is running for instances of SQL Server 2000 and MSDE 2000 that are vulnerable to the Slammer worm, updating the affected files. SQL Critical Update runs on computers running Windows NT 4.0 or higher.

The information below is adapted from Microsoft site.

SQL Scan

SQL Scan (Sqlscan.exe) scans a range of IP addresses for instances of SQL Server 2000 and MSDE 2000, and identifies instances that may be vulnerable to the Slammer worm. SQL Scan runs on computers running Windows 2000 or higher and can identify instances running on Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000, or Windows XP.

Instances of SQL Server 2000 with Service Pack 2 (SP2) and security patch MS02-039, MS02-043, MS02-056, or MS02-061, or instances with SP3 or later, are not vulnerable. Computers running SQL Server 7.0 and earlier are not vulnerable.

SQL Scan does not locate instances of SQL Server that are running on Windows 98 or Windows ME. SQL Scan does not detect instances of SQL Server that were started from the command prompt.

NOTE: Shutdown of an infected SQL Server instance may not complete successfully. You may need to use system management tools to terminate an infected process.

SQL Scan requires one of the following items as input:

1. A domain
2. A range of IP addresses
3. A single machine name

SQL Scan must be run with domain administrator privileges when it is used to scan remote machines. Otherwise, it should be run with local administrator privileges.

SQL Scan will not return a conclusive result if either the ssnetlib.dll or sqlserver.exe file has been renamed. If these files have been renamed, you should change the names back to their original name.

SQL Scan is not supported on clustered servers. SQL instances must be manually stopped and disabled on clustered servers.

SQL Check

SQL Check scans the computer on which it is running for instances of SQL Server 2000 and MSDE 2000 that are vulnerable to the Slammer worm. SQL Check runs on computers running Windows 98, Windows ME, Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000 and Windows XP. On computers running Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000 and Windows XP it stops and disables the SQL Server and SQL Agent services. On computers running Windows 98 and Windows ME it identifies vulnerable instances but does not stop or disable any services.

Instances of SQL Server 2000 with Service Pack 2 (SP2) and security patch MS02-039, MS02-043, MS02-056, or MS02-061, or instances with SP3 or later, are not vulnerable.

SQL Critical Update

SQL Critical Update scans the computer on which it is running for instances of SQL Server 2000 and MSDE 2000 that are vulnerable to the Slammer worm, updating the affected files. SQL Critical Update runs on computers running Windows NT 4.0 or higher.

The SQL Critical Update tool which will patch localized versions of SQL Server and MSDE.
 

Instructions

SQL Scan:

1. Save the file "SQLScanPkg.exe" to a directory on your computer.
2. Run SQLScanPkg.exe.
3. Accept the license agreement.
4. Choose an installation folder and click Finish. The folder will be created if it does not exist.
5. Read the readme.txt file located in the installation folder for instructions on running sqlscan.exe.

SQL Check:

1. Save the file "SQLCheckPkg.exe" to a directory on your computer.
2. Run SQLCheckPkg.exe.
3. Accept the license agreement.
4. Choose an installation folder and click Finish. The folder will be created if it does not exist.
5. Read the readme.txt file located in the installation folder for instructions on running sqlcheck.exe.

SQL Critical Update:

See the readme_SQLHotfixPkg.txt file below for complete instructions.

Etc

Society

Groupthink : Two Party System as Polyarchy : Corruption of Regulators : Bureaucracies : Understanding Micromanagers and Control Freaks : Toxic Managers :   Harvard Mafia : Diplomatic Communication : Surviving a Bad Performance Review : Insufficient Retirement Funds as Immanent Problem of Neoliberal Regime : PseudoScience : Who Rules America : Neoliberalism  : The Iron Law of Oligarchy : Libertarian Philosophy

Quotes

War and Peace : Skeptical Finance : John Kenneth Galbraith :Talleyrand : Oscar Wilde : Otto Von Bismarck : Keynes : George Carlin : Skeptics : Propaganda  : SE quotes : Language Design and Programming Quotes : Random IT-related quotes :  Somerset Maugham : Marcus Aurelius : Kurt Vonnegut : Eric Hoffer : Winston Churchill : Napoleon Bonaparte : Ambrose Bierce :  Bernard Shaw : Mark Twain Quotes

Bulletin:

Vol 25, No.12 (December, 2013) Rational Fools vs. Efficient Crooks The efficient markets hypothesis : Political Skeptic Bulletin, 2013 : Unemployment Bulletin, 2010 :  Vol 23, No.10 (October, 2011) An observation about corporate security departments : Slightly Skeptical Euromaydan Chronicles, June 2014 : Greenspan legacy bulletin, 2008 : Vol 25, No.10 (October, 2013) Cryptolocker Trojan (Win32/Crilock.A) : Vol 25, No.08 (August, 2013) Cloud providers as intelligence collection hubs : Financial Humor Bulletin, 2010 : Inequality Bulletin, 2009 : Financial Humor Bulletin, 2008 : Copyleft Problems Bulletin, 2004 : Financial Humor Bulletin, 2011 : Energy Bulletin, 2010 : Malware Protection Bulletin, 2010 : Vol 26, No.1 (January, 2013) Object-Oriented Cult : Political Skeptic Bulletin, 2011 : Vol 23, No.11 (November, 2011) Softpanorama classification of sysadmin horror stories : Vol 25, No.05 (May, 2013) Corporate bullshit as a communication method  : Vol 25, No.06 (June, 2013) A Note on the Relationship of Brooks Law and Conway Law

History:

Fifty glorious years (1950-2000): the triumph of the US computer engineering : Donald Knuth : TAoCP and its Influence of Computer Science : Richard Stallman : Linus Torvalds  : Larry Wall  : John K. Ousterhout : CTSS : Multix OS Unix History : Unix shell history : VI editor : History of pipes concept : Solaris : MS DOS :  Programming Languages History : PL/1 : Simula 67 : C : History of GCC development :  Scripting Languages : Perl history   : OS History : Mail : DNS : SSH : CPU Instruction Sets : SPARC systems 1987-2006 : Norton Commander : Norton Utilities : Norton Ghost : Frontpage history : Malware Defense History : GNU Screen : OSS early history

Classic books:

The Peter Principle : Parkinson Law : 1984 : The Mythical Man-Month :  How to Solve It by George Polya : The Art of Computer Programming : The Elements of Programming Style : The Unix Hater’s Handbook : The Jargon file : The True Believer : Programming Pearls : The Good Soldier Svejk : The Power Elite

Most popular humor pages:

Manifest of the Softpanorama IT Slacker Society : Ten Commandments of the IT Slackers Society : Computer Humor Collection : BSD Logo Story : The Cuckoo's Egg : IT Slang : C++ Humor : ARE YOU A BBS ADDICT? : The Perl Purity Test : Object oriented programmers of all nations : Financial Humor : Financial Humor Bulletin, 2008 : Financial Humor Bulletin, 2010 : The Most Comprehensive Collection of Editor-related Humor : Programming Language Humor : Goldman Sachs related humor : Greenspan humor : C Humor : Scripting Humor : Real Programmers Humor : Web Humor : GPL-related Humor : OFM Humor : Politically Incorrect Humor : IDS Humor : "Linux Sucks" Humor : Russian Musical Humor : Best Russian Programmer Humor : Microsoft plans to buy Catholic Church : Richard Stallman Related Humor : Admin Humor : Perl-related Humor : Linus Torvalds Related humor : PseudoScience Related Humor : Networking Humor : Shell Humor : Financial Humor Bulletin, 2011 : Financial Humor Bulletin, 2012 : Financial Humor Bulletin, 2013 : Java Humor : Software Engineering Humor : Sun Solaris Related Humor : Education Humor : IBM Humor : Assembler-related Humor : VIM Humor : Computer Viruses Humor : Bright tomorrow is rescheduled to a day after tomorrow : Classic Computer Humor

The Last but not Least Technology is dominated by two types of people: those who understand what they do not manage and those who manage what they do not understand ~Archibald Putt. Ph.D

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Last modified: March 12, 2019