Win32/Linux Cross-Platform Virus

An Anonymous Coward writes "Symantec reports on the first virus to infect both ELF and PE binaries on Linux and Win32. "The first Win32/Linux cross-infector, {Win32,Linux}/Peelf, uses two separate routines to carry out the infection on PE and ELF files. This variant of Simile shares a substantial amount of code between the two infection functions, such as the polymorphic/metamorphic engines, the only platform-specific parts being the directory traversal code and the API usage.""

why i love my mac

[Anonymous Coward]

No crossingover to this platform

Good thing this can't infect Linux!

[overturf]

Whew! For a second there I thought it was a virus that could infect Linux (which is, of course, not possible). What a relief that it's a virus that only infects Win32/Linux!

This is great news!

[Mordant]

While working to convince many of my friends and colleagues to give Linux a try, one of the most vexing hurdles I've come across is the following:

Me: "Dude, you should really try Linux! It's fast,
it's free, it's really secure - and, best of
all, you get all the source code, so you can
see how it -really- works, and even contribute
your own code, if you want."

Dude: "Is there antivirus software for Linux?"

Me: "Well, no - Linux doesn't have viruses,
per se, so there's no need for antivirus
software!"

Dude: "My bosses won't let us run any boxes
which don't have antivirus software
installed. Let me know when I can buy
antivirus software for Linux."

So, now that we have virii on Linux, we'll soon have antivirus software, and I can show my friends yet another way in which Linux has caught up with Windows!

Linux get's

[incom]

more and more windows fucntions everyday. Hopefully this new feature encourages some more switchover to linux.

Re:Good thing this can't infect Linux!

[davmct]

How could you ever think GNU/Linux would be prone? Being built on GNU tools and all with of RMS, no virus could defile that!

Two Sided Sword

[Myuu]

[root@bigassopendomain /]./virus
"virus" requires the following dependancies
libinfect.so
libcrash.so
please check the path and filenames and try again
[root@bigassopendomain /]

x86 Platforms Only?

[Anonymous Coward]

Well, looks like this does not affect those using Linux on PowerPC, Sun, or any of the other platforms supported.

On a lighter note, if this virus were open source it would compile to the other platforms. Someone should post a link to the Sourceforge page, with links to source tarballs as well as Debian and RPM packages.

This thing violates the GNU licence!

[Subcarrier]

So this virus thing links against my GNU code, does it?

Where can I download the source?!?

Re:why i love my mac

[Anonymous Coward]

No crossingover to this platform

You mean virues, or software in general?

So...

[InsaneCreator]

When will the virus be available under GPL? :)

Re:why i love my mac

[npietraniec]

My Linux/Windows Boxes have been virus free because I'm not retarded enought to "Click here for sexy virgins!"

Actually, on the linux side, Having an inherently more secure OS with almost no viruses out for it helps too... But nothing is totally secure.

Re:why i love my mac

[Subcarrier]

My Linux/Windows Boxes have been virus free because I'm not retarded enought to "Click here for sexy virgins!"

This one is not sexually transmitted.

Finally software writers get it right.

[athakur999]

Usually when a company releases a software package, it comes out on Windows first. Those running Linux usually have to wait a few months for a Linux port to be released, if it ever does at all.

I praise this virus writer for releasing Windows and Linux versions of the software simultaneously. If only other companies would follow their lead.

Re:Good thing this can't infect Linux!

[oever]

And even if GNU/Linux could be infected, it would be illegal to infect GNU/Linux binaries if the virus was not released under the GPL.

The virus would also need to have it's source code added, or the source would need to be made available elsewhere, e.g. the authors homepage.

I'm sure, somewhere...

[handsomepete]

...there's a group of people trying to get Windows-only virii to run via wine to see if they can get faster infection times under Linux.

Re:why i love my mac

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes, it appears that virus' only infect computers. Other household appliances, such as refrigerators and your Photoshop machines, are unaffected.

Re:here's a scary thought...

[Joe Tie.]

I read that as "inject a Linux partition", through a bit of a early waking haze. Now that'd be a fun virus. Millions of unsuspecting windows users go to sleep only to wake up to lilo asking whether they want to boot into SuSE, Mandrake, or the insecure system that allowed this to happen in the first place.

Re:Do antivirus companies write viruses? No.

[gilroy]

Blockquoth the poster:

It is, of course, a very insulting question, like asking firemen if they start fires, or dentists if they're the cause of tooth decay.

True story: My dentist, when I was a kid, would give out lollipops. Pure sugar, artificially-colored, decay-inducing lollipops. Swear to God.