First recognized a problem in late February.
The environment:
10.5.2 imac new in Feb 08. 1 gig ram.
Airport Extreme.
Epson PS820 printer.
Cabled mouse and keyboard.
DSL Action Tec 701C modem.
No exotic software installed, just the Apple standards. iLife, iWork.
I've set the following upon intial account setup for the most recent re-do:
No internet connection.
Disable Firewire, Airport, Ethernet and Bluetooth.
Disable IPv6 for all devices.
NO sharing of any sort, file or internet wise.
NO permission for "everybody" or "users" groups to Terminal.
Software firewall - no incoming (essential only).
DSL Modem firewall - port 80 and imap only. Everything else no in or out.
Complex password on DSL modem.
Complex password on admin account on mac.
Complex password on root account on mac.
The problem:
Over time the Mac allows unknown user(s) to log into the computer, change permissions and eventually obtain root authority. Data is sent from the machine to the internet. Using a combination of ssh or telnet logins with AppleScript automation my machine is consistently compromised. Mouse movements are tracked, passwords are detected by a script that dupes me into thinking the system needs my password (though I recognize that one now). To what end I have no idea.
From the logs:
Anonymous logins, "race conditions" errors, random .plist files that seem to belong but upon inspection are made up of chinese or russian language, cups entries that my printer can accept up to one hundred hosts and all sorts of stuff probably unrelated. The machine's time changes randomly by a few seconds. The system performs a "window replay" everynow and again. That's all taken from the Console ALL MESSAGES logs. .plist files in config that reference WoW and other online games.
Action taken:
Several fresh installs of Leopard at the direction of Apple Care and local Apple Genius. From different install discs. It doesn't matter what customize option or exclusion I instruct the installer to make, the actual install is always ALL language options and X11.
Complete head to toe hardware checkout by my local Apple certified geeks. No problems with RAM or other hardware.
My theory:
Initial infection writes itself to discs that are inserted into the optical drive, including installation discs. Three files survive hard drive erasure and update the infection all over again upon a fresh install of Leopard.
The evidence:
Reset NPRAM and NVRAM.
From install DVD, a new one I purchased at retail 2 days ago in shrinkwrap -
1. Disc utility, repartition HD to a new single partition.
2. Erase, Security option Zero out.
Disc utility reports the drive has been erased. 3 folders and 3 files remain on the new \volume\HD using 107mg of space.
Apple tells me I can't see the EFI partition, so these folders can't be part of the EFI, right?
Install runs and reports errors that include not accepting custom options for the installation. Several folders and files related to ILife Media Browser are not overwritten by the install disc because a "newer version exists on the disc". That's from the install log. But we just wiped the drive clean.
How do I defeat this self repeating loop?!
How do I know if my install disc is compromised? Can you compare the following listing to yours?
This is the list of files on a DVD I purchased new at retail two days ago.
Displayed as a result of Terminal, BASH ls -a -l /.
1 root admin (time) ._DS_store
1 root wheel 2007 ._instructions
1 root wheel 2007 ._optional installs
12 _unknown _unknown (time) .fseventsd
2 root wheel 2007 .vol
3 root admin 2007 applications
3 root wheel 2007 install mac OSX.app
10 root wheel (time) Instructions
11 admin admin (time) Library
8 root wheel (time) optional installs
4 root wheel (time) System
40 root wheel (time) bin
2 root wheel (time) dev
1 root admin (time) etc -> private/etc
1 root wheel 2007 mach_kernel
5 root wheel (time) private
65 root wheel (time) sbin
1 root admin (time) tmp -> private/temp
8 root wheel (time) usr
1 root admin (time) var -> private/var
I'm exhausted chasing my tail on this. Any suggestions? My next plan is to say to hell with the hard drive and replace it but I don't know how I picked up the problem in the first place.
The local Apple Genious (s) have looked at my log files once I made them really focus. Even though there were exclamations that "some of that looks fishy", there was no resolution. Level 2 AppleCare techs have simply sent me install discs for a macBOOK to reinstall.
Thanks for taking the time to take a look. I really want to love being a new Mac convert. Really I do.
Dave
The environment:
10.5.2 imac new in Feb 08. 1 gig ram.
Airport Extreme.
Epson PS820 printer.
Cabled mouse and keyboard.
DSL Action Tec 701C modem.
No exotic software installed, just the Apple standards. iLife, iWork.
I've set the following upon intial account setup for the most recent re-do:
No internet connection.
Disable Firewire, Airport, Ethernet and Bluetooth.
Disable IPv6 for all devices.
NO sharing of any sort, file or internet wise.
NO permission for "everybody" or "users" groups to Terminal.
Software firewall - no incoming (essential only).
DSL Modem firewall - port 80 and imap only. Everything else no in or out.
Complex password on DSL modem.
Complex password on admin account on mac.
Complex password on root account on mac.
The problem:
Over time the Mac allows unknown user(s) to log into the computer, change permissions and eventually obtain root authority. Data is sent from the machine to the internet. Using a combination of ssh or telnet logins with AppleScript automation my machine is consistently compromised. Mouse movements are tracked, passwords are detected by a script that dupes me into thinking the system needs my password (though I recognize that one now). To what end I have no idea.
From the logs:
Anonymous logins, "race conditions" errors, random .plist files that seem to belong but upon inspection are made up of chinese or russian language, cups entries that my printer can accept up to one hundred hosts and all sorts of stuff probably unrelated. The machine's time changes randomly by a few seconds. The system performs a "window replay" everynow and again. That's all taken from the Console ALL MESSAGES logs. .plist files in config that reference WoW and other online games.
Action taken:
Several fresh installs of Leopard at the direction of Apple Care and local Apple Genius. From different install discs. It doesn't matter what customize option or exclusion I instruct the installer to make, the actual install is always ALL language options and X11.
Complete head to toe hardware checkout by my local Apple certified geeks. No problems with RAM or other hardware.
My theory:
Initial infection writes itself to discs that are inserted into the optical drive, including installation discs. Three files survive hard drive erasure and update the infection all over again upon a fresh install of Leopard.
The evidence:
Reset NPRAM and NVRAM.
From install DVD, a new one I purchased at retail 2 days ago in shrinkwrap -
1. Disc utility, repartition HD to a new single partition.
2. Erase, Security option Zero out.
Disc utility reports the drive has been erased. 3 folders and 3 files remain on the new \volume\HD using 107mg of space.
Apple tells me I can't see the EFI partition, so these folders can't be part of the EFI, right?
Install runs and reports errors that include not accepting custom options for the installation. Several folders and files related to ILife Media Browser are not overwritten by the install disc because a "newer version exists on the disc". That's from the install log. But we just wiped the drive clean.
How do I defeat this self repeating loop?!
How do I know if my install disc is compromised? Can you compare the following listing to yours?
This is the list of files on a DVD I purchased new at retail two days ago.
Displayed as a result of Terminal, BASH ls -a -l /.
1 root admin (time) ._DS_store
1 root wheel 2007 ._instructions
1 root wheel 2007 ._optional installs
12 _unknown _unknown (time) .fseventsd
2 root wheel 2007 .vol
3 root admin 2007 applications
3 root wheel 2007 install mac OSX.app
10 root wheel (time) Instructions
11 admin admin (time) Library
8 root wheel (time) optional installs
4 root wheel (time) System
40 root wheel (time) bin
2 root wheel (time) dev
1 root admin (time) etc -> private/etc
1 root wheel 2007 mach_kernel
5 root wheel (time) private
65 root wheel (time) sbin
1 root admin (time) tmp -> private/temp
8 root wheel (time) usr
1 root admin (time) var -> private/var
I'm exhausted chasing my tail on this. Any suggestions? My next plan is to say to hell with the hard drive and replace it but I don't know how I picked up the problem in the first place.
The local Apple Genious (s) have looked at my log files once I made them really focus. Even though there were exclamations that "some of that looks fishy", there was no resolution. Level 2 AppleCare techs have simply sent me install discs for a macBOOK to reinstall.
Thanks for taking the time to take a look. I really want to love being a new Mac convert. Really I do.
Dave