VestaCP Debian Installer Malicious Backdoor Supply Chain Compromise

Summary

VestaCP commit a3f0fa1 (2018-05-31) up to commit ee03eff (2018-06-13) contain embedded malicious code that resulted in a supply-chain compromise. New installations created from the compromised installer since at least May 2018 were subject to installation of Linux/ChachaDDoS, a multi-stage DDoS bot that uses Lua for second- and third-stage components. The compromise leaked administrative credentials (base64-encoded admin password and server domain) to an external URL during installation and/or resulted in the installer dropping and executing a DDoS malware payload under local system privileges. Compromised servers were subsequently observed participating in large-scale DDoS activity. Vesta acknowledged exploitation in the wild in October 2018.