{"id":566,"date":"2007-06-09T01:33:05","date_gmt":"2007-06-09T06:33:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bytebot.net\/blog\/archives\/2007\/06\/09\/openofficeorg-worm-that-affects-windows-linux-and-mac-os-x"},"modified":"2007-06-09T01:35:17","modified_gmt":"2007-06-09T06:35:17","slug":"openofficeorg-worm-that-affects-windows-linux-and-mac-os-x","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.bytebot.net\/blog\/archives\/2007\/06\/09\/openofficeorg-worm-that-affects-windows-linux-and-mac-os-x","title":{"rendered":"OpenOffice.org worm that affects Windows, Linux and Mac OS X"},"content":{"rendered":"

When it came to an OpenOffice.org<\/a> related presentation, my slide deck always contained a mention about security. However, as it gains in popularity, and a more bloated (read: MS Office-compatible) feature set, security alone is not going to be a selling point. In fact, when it comes to OSS advocacy, the word “free” (or the idea of zero\/minimal cost) is also not a large selling point, neither is the “you can view the source code” (erm, yeah, so what do I do with it?). But I’ll save that rant for another day.<\/p>\n

It seems there’s an OpenOffice.org worm in the wild<\/a>, that affects Windows, Linux and Mac OS X systems. BadBunny as it has affectionately become known, comes to you as an OpenOffice.org Draw file, which displays a man in a bunny rabbit suit engaging in sexual intercourse. While you see this, its launching mIRC or XChat (on OS X and Linux) and forwarding it to other IRC users. Assuming you don’t have IRC installed, this shouldn’t do anything, right?<\/p>\n

Apparently, not only does BadBunny<\/a> come with some StarBasic, it also has got some other evil components that use JavaScript on Windows, Ruby on OS X and Perl for Linux. I wonder, why they just didn’t use JavaScript across the board? Why Ruby on OS X (Perl would’ve sufficed). Seems very odd, the choice of multiple languages.<\/p>\n

This is largely a proof of concept, but it just goes to show that no matter what you’re running, its a good idea to practice safe computing practices. What peeved me though was a quote from Sophos in heise Security:<\/p>\n

If the BadBunny developers had any financial intentions, they would have selected a more popular software structure and not included bizarre images, Sophos adds.<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Is OpenOffice.org a non-popular software structure? I highly doubt it. Writing virii is like a coming of age present for some, and while OpenOffice.org was ignored as a suitable platform, its being recognised now. Mohandas Gandhi said: “First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.”<\/i> I think OpenOffice.org is at stage 3 (not just because of the virus writers, but also because of the plight towards ODF<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Technorati Tags: openoffice<\/a>, openoffice.org<\/a>, badbunny<\/a>, worm<\/a>, macro<\/a>, starbasic<\/a>, cross-platform<\/a>, windows<\/a>, linux<\/a>, macosx<\/a><\/p>\n

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