Description

Cybersecurity researchers have identified a new botnet malware family called Gorilla (also known as GorillaBot), which is based on the leaked source code of the Mirai botnet. According to NSFOCUS, the cybersecurity firm that discovered this activity last month, the Gorilla botnet executed over 300,000 attack commands between September 4 and September 27, 2024, averaging around 20,000 commands per day for distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks. The botnet has targeted more than 100 countries, focusing on universities, government websites, telecommunications, banks, and the gaming and gambling industries. The most affected nations include China, the U.S., Canada, and Germany. Gorilla employs various DDoS attack techniques, such as UDP flood, ACK BYPASS flood, Valve Source Engine (VSE) flood, SYN flood, and ACK flood. Its use of the connectionless UDP protocol allows for IP spoofing, leading to the generation of significant traffic. This botnet is compatible with multiple CPU architectures, including ARM, MIPS, x86_64, and x86. It connects to one of five predefined command-and-control (C2) servers to receive DDoS commands. Notably, Gorilla also exploits a vulnerability in Apache Hadoop YARN RPC, enabling remote code execution a flaw that has been exploited since at least 2021. To maintain persistence on infected devices, Gorilla creates a service file in the "/etc/systemd/system/" directory, set to run at system startup and execute a remote shell script. NSFOCUS highlights that Gorilla utilizes advanced DDoS methods and encryption techniques to sustain long-term control over IoT devices, showcasing a high level of sophistication in evading detection.