simple-rootkit

Security and privacy

rootkit demo

SHOW HN2014

simple-rootkit

A simple, highly commented, rootkit which attacks GCC and Python

github.com

#rootkit#linux kernel module#trusting trust#syscall hooking

94points
13comments
#293of 2,272 in 2014
Top 13%of 2014 by points

How HN took it

RoastedHalf or more of the comments are critical

1 positive, 2 neutral or asking, 0 mixed, 3 critical, out of 6 comments about the project. Thread score -0.22.

Idea: 0 for, 2 againstDocs: 1 for, 0 againstExecution: 0 for, 1 against

The thread, comment by comment

Each row is a top-level comment and its replies, in HN's order. Select a cell to open that comment on HN.

positive neutral or mixed critical about another commenter or something else the maker

What HN said

What people liked

  • Nice hack and good for learners

    From 3 comments
    • Nice! The name is clearly a nod to the classic "Reflections on Trusting Trust" by Ken Thompson (http://cm.bell-labs.com/who/ken/trust.html). I feel the presentation in the video…
      unwind on HN
    • There is a high chance that it will crash your system. - Unlocked access to ->comm - What if buf is less than 6 bytes or not NULL terminated? - Only searching for sys_close() is…
      Lai0chee on HN
    • This is OK for learners. But, it's not even middle grade.
      m00dy on HN

Objections

  • Not a true Trusting Trust attack; only a trivial kernel module

    From 1 comment
    • This doesn't attack gcc or python, it's just a trivial kernel module that interposes SYS_read. There's no germline persistence a la trusting trust. e.g. if I compile gcc, compile…
      cplease on HN
  • Could crash the system due to unsafe code

    From 1 comment
    • There is a high chance that it will crash your system. - Unlocked access to ->comm - What if buf is less than 6 bytes or not NULL terminated? - Only searching for sys_close() is…
      Lai0chee on HN
  • Too basic to be useful beyond learners

    From 1 comment
    • This is OK for learners. But, it's not even middle grade.
      m00dy on HN

Requests

  • Cat source files on screen in the demo video

    From 1 comment
    • Nice! The name is clearly a nod to the classic "Reflections on Trusting Trust" by Ken Thompson (http://cm.bell-labs.com/who/ken/trust.html). I feel the presentation in the video…
      unwind on HN

Questions

  • How was the gif generated?

    From 1 comment
    • As a side note, how did you generate that gif?
      junto on HN

Alternatives named

  • Suterusu rootkit and an IDT-based syscall hooking write-up

    From 1 comment
    • This module appears to use a simple brute force method for uncovering the address of the system call table, as opposed to hardcoding from System.map. There's another more elegant…
      vezzy-fnord on HN
  • Designing BSD Rootkits book

    From 1 comment
    • This module appears to use a simple brute force method for uncovering the address of the system call table, as opposed to hardcoding from System.map. There's another more elegant…
      vezzy-fnord on HN

Category, keywords, summaries and labels on this page were made by AI (Thread Reader v2) and not checked by hand. Each point links to the comments it came from.

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