Source Code For SLocker Android Ransomware That Mimics WannaCry Leaked Online

Bad news for Android users — Source code of for one of the oldest mobile and popular Android ransomware families has been leaked online, making it available for cyber criminals who can use it to develop more customised and advanced variants of Android ransomware.

Source code for the SLocker ransomware, which saw a six-fold increase in the number of new versions over the past six months, has just been leaked on GitHub and is now available to anyone who wants it.

The SLocker source code has been leaked by a user who uses 'fs0c1ety' as an online moniker and is urging all GitHub users to contribute to the code and submit bug reports.

SLocker or Simple Locker is mobile lock screen and file-encrypting ransomware that encrypts files on the phone and uses the Tor for command and control (C&C) communication. The malware also posed as law enforcement agencies to convince victims into paying the ransom.

Famous for infecting thousands of Android devices in 2016, security researchers discovered more than 400 new variants of SLocker ransomware in the wild in May, and just after a month, the nasty Android ransomware was spotted copying the GUI of WannaCry.

Once infected, SLocker runs silently in the background of a victim's device without their knowledge or consent and encrypts images, documents and videos on mobile devices.

Once it has encrypted files on the device, the Android ransomware hijacks the phone, blocking its user access completely, and attempts to threaten the victim into paying a ransom to unlock it.

Why Should You Worry?

Being in action from 2015, SLocker stands out as one of the first ransomware samples to encrypt Android files. The malware has modified beyond just locking screens and demanding payment to taking over administrative rights and controlling the device's microphone, speakers, and the camera.

And now since the source code of this nasty Android ransomware has been released online on GitHub, Android devices are most likely to receive an increasing number of ransomware attacks in upcoming days.

The leaked source code would be a golden opportunity for those who always look for such opportunities as these kinds of malware programs are only offered for sale in underground forums, but SLocker is now accessible to cybercriminals and fraudsters for FREE.

Earlier this year, researchers discovered a variant of BankBot banking trojan in the wild which was developed using the leaked source code for the malware on an underground hacking forum.

Last year, the source code for the MazarBot (improved version of GM Bot) was also leaked online by its author in order to gain reputation on an underground forum.

How to Protect Yourself?

As I previously mentioned, users are always advised to follow some basic precautions in order to protect themselves against such threats:

• Never open email attachments from unknown sources.
• Never click on links in SMS or MMS messages.
• Even if the email looks legit from some company, go directly to the source website and verify any possible updates.
• Go to Settings → Security, and Turn OFF "Allow installation of apps from sources other than the Play Store."
• Always keep your Android devices, apps and Antivirus app up-to-date.
• Avoid unknown and unsecured Wi-Fi hotspots and keep Wi-Fi switched off when not in use.

New Linux Malware Exploits SambaCry Flaw to Silently Backdoor NAS Devices

Remember SambaCry?

Almost two months ago, we reported about a 7-year-old critical remote code execution vulnerability in Samba networking software, allowing a hacker to remotely take full control of a vulnerable Linux and Unix machines.

We dubbed the vulnerability as SambaCry, because of its similarities to the Windows SMB vulnerability exploited by the WannaCry ransomware that wreaked havoc across the world over two months ago.


Despite being patched in late May, the vulnerability is currently being leveraged by a new piece of malware to target the Internet of Things (IoT) devices, particularly Network Attached Storage (NAS) appliances, researchers at Trend Micro warned.

For those unfamiliar: Samba is open-source software (re-implementation of SMB/CIFS networking protocol), which offers Linux/Unix servers with Windows-based file and print services and runs on the majority of operating systems, including Linux, UNIX, IBM System 390, and OpenVMS.

Shortly after the public revelation of its existence, the SambaCry vulnerability (CVE-2017-7494) was exploited mostly to install cryptocurrency mining software—"CPUminer" that mines "Monero" digital currency—on Linux systems.

However, the latest malware campaign involving SambaCry spotted by researchers at Trend Micro in July mostly targets NAS devices used by small and medium-size businesses.

SHELLBIND Malware Exploits SambaCry to Targets NAS Devices

Dubbed SHELLBIND, the malware works on various architectures, including MIPS, ARM and PowerPC, and is delivered as a shared object (.SO) file to Samba public folders and loaded via the SambaCry vulnerability.


Once deployed on the targeted machine, the malware establishes communication with the attackers' command and control (C&C) server located in East Africa, and modifies firewall rules to ensure that it can communicate with its server.

After successfully establishing a connection, the malware grants the attackers access to the infected device and provides them with an open command shell in the device, so that they can issue any number and type of system commands and eventually take control of the device.

In order to find the affected devices that use Samba, attackers can leverage the Shodan search engine and write the original malware files to their public folders.

"It is quite easy to find devices that use Samba in Shodan: searching for port 445 with a 'samba' string will turn up a viable IP list," researchers said while explaining the flaw. 

"An attacker would then simply need to create a tool that can automatically write malicious files to every IP address on the list. Once they write the files into the public folders, the devices with the SambaCry vulnerability could become ELF_SHELLBIND.A victims."

However, it is not clear what the attackers do with the compromised devices and what's their actual motive behind compromising the devices.

The SambaCry vulnerability is hell easy to exploit and could be used by remote attackers to upload a shared library to a writable share and then cause the server to load and execute the malicious code.

The maintainers of Samba already patched the issue in Samba versions 4.6.4/4.5.10/4.4.14, so you are advised to patch your systems against the vulnerability as soon as possible.

Just make sure that your system is running updated Samba version.

Also, attackers need to have writable access to a shared location on the target system to deliver the payload, which is another mitigating factor that might lower the rate of infection.

Best Practices for Dealing With Phishing and Ransomware

Best Practices for Dealing With Phishing and Ransomware

Phishing and Ransomware are serious problems that can steal data or disable access to your organization's network.

Both Ransomware and phishing are increasingly common and are having devastating impacts on businesses of all sizes. The FBI estimates that Ransomware alone cost organizations $209 million in just the first three months of 2016!


This new Osterman Research white paper gives you a variety of best practices that you should follow in order to minimize your potential for becoming a victim of phishing and Ransomware. Among these best practices are implementing security awareness training as your first line of defense.

Download Free eBook