Highly Suspected Compromised Solus ISO / Rootkits Post Fresh Install
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I did have proof that I had the hidden wasp or another variant of the Chinese malware but I did not document it because I did not have time. I stay pretty busy with my work as an IT Professional. The symptoms I experienced screams malware over my nearly decade of experience.
Please with all due respect you need not cop an attitude. Please simply address the issue like a responsible developer. I told people that I'm sure you guys would handle it and to be sure to verify there Iso's. Would you like to help me resolve my issues so that on a reinstall of Solus this does not happen again.
I left a symptoms list below. I apologize for the delay in responding as I've been dealing with this. I am actually now having similar quirkiness in Peppermint 10 OS. I am beginning to think it's an issue affecting a wide range of very popular distros based on my research.
Symptoms:
Opening Files with other File Contents and not changing to the current file being opened.
Dropping of browsers and downloads at random.
Core System Files modified containing ld.so
RKHunter revealing a warning showing 3 possible rootkits
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brent brent please leave the discussion if your not interested in contributing to a fix. I am a IT services professional. I've nothing but love and appreciation for the Solus OS Project. This was not written to malign anyone. It's a very real and significant issue.
I am working with someone to resolve my issues. I will have content on this so you might want to watch how you portray yourself especially if your a member of the team because that reflects on how people see the distro.
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DataDrake Your passive aggressive behavior is quite comical. What is your technical competency that's going to be necessary to help me resolve this issue.
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kyrios Thanks for the input I am brand new to the Solus Forum. I can repost there or you guys might move it for me. Now I know so I will do just that going forward with security issues. No distro is perfect but it's just how you respond that matters most.
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brent I had the rootkits showing on my earlier install. I'll soon be checking into Peppermint 10 OS as well. I'll be sure to cover my findings in a video soon enough.
Listen I'm not out to do anything but encourage, uplift and make Solus OS respected across the entire world. Look you guys have done a bang up Job. This just needs to addressed responsibly like anything else.
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JoshStrobl That is what it showed when performing an update of my packages list if I remember correctly. I do remember it saying SHA 1 for the 1 way hash in the terminal. If I can get another machine up and running with Solus OS soon I'll be sure to show you my findings. I'm working on pulling a replacement build together.
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DataDrake It's not an accusation. It's a support request for a suspected security flaw. If it's not taken seriously than how can I comfortably continue to use and recommend your distribution.
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JoshStrobl I didn't realize until after the fact how old the video was which is even more concerning.
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[deleted] What was done about this then. Was it reported? English Bob is active on Big Daddy Linux and I'm sure he must've mentioned it.
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I certainly don't speak for the distro, just a user, but I find it more likely your installation/files have been compromised than the ISOs, especially after DD verified the masters. Esp since you're finding the same thing in another distro.
It's certainly not impossible, but I expect the end user to have more issues than the ISOs. Though the ISOs would be the second best way to spread something evil. The first would be the update server and it's files.
Btw, I have a Masters in Computer SCI too, and I worked for twenty years in IT Security, the last ten for Hewlitt Packard. So I'm not just throwing stuff around with no basis even if it is just an opinion.
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dbarron Your cool and I appreciate that. Yeah I'm not so sure one of my tarballs might have let something through but I already ran the tarballs through virus total and they came up clean.
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Wow my entire comment was just zapped. I may very well be wrong and I hope that I am. As an IT Pro myself the symptoms I was having that I listed below screams malware. It's that type of behavior that I'd see on any Windows machine I work on.
For what it's worth I'll verify the ISO on a reinstall but do you guys think I should post my findings as a bug report. Just listing the systems alone without any unwarranted suspections or extraneous commentary so as to not yield another false alarm if that is the case.
Ultimately my findings were concerning enough that it brought me to posting it just as I did. I was very worried. I do believe my issue is very valid.
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DataDrake I will hopefully have that documented soon. I completly understand you wanting to see proof. Don't we all but you cannot just expect any average user to have such proof.
You have to be able to deal with things on a case by case basis and take every reasonable post with caution and concern.
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EbonJaeger To the best of my memory it shows that I've an SHA1 1 way hash
when issuing the following command(s):
-- sudo eopkg update
-- sudo eopkg upgrade
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JoshStrobl I am very happy to hear Solus is taking the security of it's ISO's so seriously. Thanks for letting me know this. I will hopefull be able to get proof of my finding again soon. I just didn't have time or patience to save the documentation last time. I was in a dead rush working with clients.
I appologize for any undue turmoil this may have caused. My findings were serious and concerning to me which led me to making this post. I sincerely wanted help and still do wish to resolve the issue.