Asprox: h3x.info

Briefly popping up on the Asprox SQL Injection radar yesterday was h3x.info, specifically a call to h3x.info/index.php [dangerous site, do not visit].

h3x.info doesn't fit the normal pattern, perhaps it has been rotated in as a test. What's certain is that this is a malware distribution site.. and a pretty scary one at that.

Let's look at the domain details first of all. As you might expect, they're mostly bogus:

Domain ID
D23859712-LRMS
Domain Name
H3X.INFO
Created On
19-Feb-2008 22:04:56 UTC
Last Updated On
27-Aug-2008 12:38:06 UTC
Expiration Date
19-Feb-2009 22:04:56 UTC
Sponsoring Registrar
Registrar Company, INC (R315-LRMS)
Status
OK
Registrant ID
DI_7764637
Registrant Name
Alex
Registrant Organization
Vteam
Registrant Street1
vol. str. 221-122, 12
Registrant Street2

Registrant Street3

Registrant City
Novie
Registrant State/Province
Aveiro
Registrant Postal Code
19923
Registrant Country
PT
Registrant Phone
+12.56231321
Registrant Phone Ext.

Registrant FAX

Registrant FAX Ext.

Registrant Email
cy@bk.ru

[..snip..]

Name Server
ns1.mbhost.ru
Name Server
ns2.mbhost.ru

The domain itself is on 80.90.114.13 which appears to be a general purpose server belonging to Smartlogic Ltd in Moscow. There's no evidence to connect Smartlogic to this site, other than it belongs to a customer.. overall they seem to be a pretty clean outfit.

Visiting the top level of the h3x.info site (or the index.php page) reveals a very impressive bit of obfuscated scripting (a copy is here - h3x-info.zip - ZIP password is virus). There are some recognisable references to Outlook Express, Snapshot (probably MS08-041), Apple QuickTime (take your pick), plus an infected PDF (from hxxp:||h3x.info|cache|doc.pdf) variously identified as Exploit.HTML.Agent.AO [BitDefender] and Mal/JSShell-B [Sophos] (full VirusTotal report here) but otherwise detection rates are very poor.

Looking at the WHOIS history, it's quite possible that the h3x.info domain has been hijacked, so perhaps it will be cleaned up in the future. At the moment it does seem to be an interesting repository of malware if you're a researcher.

It was only active for a short while at about 1000 UTC (1100 BST, 1200 CET) on 23rd September before reverting to the same .ru domains that have been active for a few days.