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Transparent Botnet Command and
Control for Smartphones over Text
             Messages
         Georgia Weidman
Why Smartphone Botnets
• Ubiquitous smartphones

• Common development platforms

• Strong technical specs
Why Text Messages?
• Battery managements

• Difficult to monitor

• Fault Tolerant
How an SMS is sent and received




                                  4
How an SMS is sent and received




            © Georgia Weidman 2011   5
How an SMS is sent and received




            © Georgia Weidman 2011   6
How an SMS is sent and received




           © Georgia Weidman 2011   7
How an SMS is sent and received




           © Georgia Weidman 2011   8
How an SMS is sent and received




           © Georgia Weidman 2011   9
How an SMS is sent and received




           © Georgia Weidman 2011   10
How an SMS is sent and received




           © Georgia Weidman 2011   11
How an SMS is sent and received




           © Georgia Weidman 2011   12
How an SMS is sent and received




           © Georgia Weidman 2011   13
Previous Work: SMS Fuzzing



    At Blackhat 2009, Charlie Miller & Collin
    Mulliner proxied the application layer and
    modem to crash smartphones with SMS.

http://www.blackhat.com/presentations/bh-usa-09/MILLER/BHUSA09-Miller-
FuzzingPhone-PAPER.pdf

                              © Georgia Weidman 2011                     14
Previous Work: SMS Fuzzing




         © Georgia Weidman 2011   15
Previous Work: SMS Fuzzing




         © Georgia Weidman 2011   16
Previous Work: SMS Fuzzing




         © Georgia Weidman 2011   17
My Work: SMS Botnet C&C




        © Georgia Weidman 2011   18
My Work: SMS Botnet C&C




        © Georgia Weidman 2011   19
SMS-Deliver PDU
07914140540510F1040B916117345476F100000121037140044A0A
E8329BFD4697D9EC37
                       Field                                   Value
                  Length of SMSC                 07
      Type of Address (SMSC)                     91
      Service Center Address (SMSC)              41 40 54 05 10 F1
      SMS Deliver Info                           04
      Length of Sender Number                    0B
      Type of Sender Number                      91
      Sender Number                              51 17 34 45 88 F1
      Protocol Identifier                        00
      Data Coding Scheme                         00
      Time Stamp                                 01 21 03 71 40 04 4A
      User Data Length                           0A
      User Data                                  E8 32 9B FD 46 97 D9 EC 37
                                   © Georgia Weidman 2011                     20
                            http://www.dreamfabric.com/s
SMS-Deliver PDU
07914140540510F1040B916117345476F100000121037140044A0A
E8329BFD4697D9EC37
                       Field                                 Value
      Length of SMSC                           07
      Type of Address (SMSC)                   91
      Service Center Address (SMSC)            41 40 54 05 10 F1
      SMS Deliver Info                         04
      Length of Sender Number                  0B
      Type of Sender Number                    91
      Sender Number                            61 17 34 54 76 F1
      Protocol Identifier                      00
      Data Coding Scheme                       00
      Time Stamp                               01 21 03 71 40 04 4A
      User Data Length                         0A
      User Data                                E8 32 9B FD 46 97 D9 EC 37
                                © Georgia Weidman 2011                      21
How the Botnet Works
1. Bot Receives Message

2. Bot Decodes User Data

3. Bot Checks for Bot Key

4. Bot Performs Payload Functionality
How the Botnet Works
1. Bot Receives Message

2. Bot Decodes User Data

3. Bot Checks for Bot Key

4. Bot Performs Payload Functionality
How the Botnet Works
1. Bot Receives Message

2. Bot Decodes User Data

3. Bot Checks for Bot Key

4. Bot Performs Payload Functionality
How the Botnet Works
1. Bot Receives Message

2. Bot Decodes User Data

3. Bot Checks for Bot Key

4. Bot Performs Payload Functionality
How the Botnet Works
1. Bot Receives Message

2. Bot Decodes User Data

3. Bot Checks for Bot Key

4. Bot Performs Payload Functionality
Botnet Structure




    © Georgia Weidman 2011   27
Master Bot




 © Georgia Weidman 2011   28
Sentinel Bots




  © Georgia Weidman 2011   29
Slave Bots




 © Georgia Weidman 2011   30
Security Concerns
• Impersonation

• Replay

• Cryptographic solutions
Limitations
• Possible detection methods

• User data length
Getting the Bot Installed
• Regular Users

• Rooted/Jailbroken Users

• Remote
Example Payloads
• Spam

• Denial of service

• Load new functionality

• Degrading cell service
What This Really Means


• If attackers can get the bot installed they can
  remotely control a user's phone without
  giving any sign of compromise to the user.
Mitigations
•Integrity checks

•Liability for smartphone applications

•User awareness
Demo



• Android Bot with Spam Payload
Contact
•Georgia Weidman
•Company: Neohapsis Inc.
•Email: Georgia@grmn00bs.com
       Georgia.weidman@neohapsis.com
•Website: http://www.grmn00bs.com
•Twitter: vincentkadmon
Selected Bibliography
•SMS fuzzing:
http://www.blackhat.com/presentations/bh-usa-
09/MILLER/BHUSA09-Miller-FuzzingPhone-PAPER.pdf
•Cell bots attack GSM core:
http://www.patrickmcdaniel.org/pubs/ccs09b.pdf
•Twilight botnet:
http://jon.oberheide.org/files/summercon10-androidhax-
jonoberheide.pdf
•SMS/P2P iPhone bots:
http://mulliner.org/collin/academic/publications/ibots_m
alware10_mulliner_seifert.pdf

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Transparent Botnet C&C for Smartphones over SMS

Editor's Notes

  1. Nearly 62 million smartphones sold in Q2 2010Development is similar to standard platformsAndroid = LinuxiPhone = OSXWindows Mobile = WindowsTechnical specs not as good as top of the linedesktops. They are capable and improving rapidly.
  2. Battery Management: IP runs down batteryquicklyFault Tolerant: If SMS fails it will queue and retryDifficult for security researchers to monitor
  3. Bot receives all communication from modemIf SMS (code CMT) continue analysisIf not SMS pass up to user space
  4. Moves through PDU to User DataDecode 7 bit GSM to plaintext
  5. Bot checks for secret key in messageIf bot message continue analysis and swallowsmessage (user never sees it)If not bot message passed to user space
  6. Bot reads functionality request in messageIf found perform functionalityIf not found fail silently
  7. Impersonation:Use cryptographic keys to authenticatemaster bot and sentinel botsReplay:SMS timestampsSequence numbers/ one time keysElliptic Curve Algorithm
  8. Possibility of detection from phone billsUser Data is limited to 160 characters(instructions and keys must fit in this space)On some platforms only the modem knows thephone number
  9. Regular Users:App + Local Root Exploit (Sendpage etc.)Example: John Oberheide's TwilightAndroid BotnetDefconSkytalks 2010Root-level/Jailbroken Users:Root level app using proxy function forAWESOME + BotExample: flashlight + tether for iPhoneRemote: Remote root exploit (rooted and nonrooted)Example: iKee-B “Duh” Worm for iPhone
  10. SpamCreating SMS-Send PDUs and passing them to themodemExample: SMS adsDDOSMillions of smartphones vs. a serverLoading New FunctionalitySend URL in payloadDownload the module into known payloadsDegrading GSM serviceOverloading the network with bogus requests