processing / processing/processing-website

F-Secure finds 3 instances of Java/Blackhole malware exploit in Processing docs zip file

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Dominant language
MDX
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90
Forks
122
Avg merge
1h 43m
Merged PRs (30d)
3

Description

Issue description

Steps to reproduce: (28 November 2020)
OS Windows 10 Pro, latest version;
Microsoft Edge, latest version.
F-Secure anti-virus, fully up-to-date:

F-SecureVersion

Downloaded zip file of processing/docs (28 November 2020).
Scanned with up-to-date F-Secure anti-virus.
3 instances of the blackhole exploit found:

Virus scan report 1

[2] BApplet.class
Exploit.EXP/Blacole.S.9

Category: Malware
Type: Exploit
Platform: Java

3 specific harmful items found (from the F-Secure report):

Exploit.EXP/Blacole.S.9
processing-docs-master.zip[5754] processing-docs-master/exhibition/works/cdrawer/cdrawer.jar[2] BApplet.class
processing-docs-master.zip[5909] processing-docs-master/exhibition/works/inequality/inequality.jar[2] BApplet.class
processing-docs-master.zip[6063] processing-docs-master/exhibition/works/sodaprocessing/sodaprocessing.jar[2]

FSecureReport

Part of an exploit kit: see also:
https://www.f-secure.com/v-descs/exploit_java_blackhole.shtml

FSecureWebDescriptionBlackHole

F-Secure reported that it was unable to clean the files. I reverted to deleting the zip file.

NotCleaned

URL(s) of affected page(s)

See above note.

Proposed fix

Author to examine original code files, perhaps send individual files to F-Secure for analysis; remove exploit from affected files if the exploit is real, or modify the code to prevent false negative if that's the case, or post notice that such a false negative exists and can be safely ignored.

I would have sent the zip file to F-Secure for analysis myself, but their file-size limit is 30Mb. I'm not opening the zip file myself just in case this is a real issue.

Contributor guide

No contributing guide indexed for this repository

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start with the three reported paths in the docs archive: exhibition/works/cdrawer/cdrawer.jar, inequality/inequality.jar, and sodaprocessing/sodaprocessing.jar, focusing on each BApplet.class. Compare these files with their original code and submit individual files to F-Secure for analysis if possible. Done means confirming whether the detections are real or false positives, then removing the exploit or documenting a safe false-positive response.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
java
Domain
documentation, security
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
35/100

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