[ISN] Sony to offer patch for 'rootkit' DRM

[InfoSec News]

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/11/03/sony_rootkit_drm/

By Andrew Orlowski in San Francisco
3rd November 2005 

Updated: Sony BMG said today it will offer a patch for one of its own 
exploits - one that comes bundled with its music CDs.

The code cloaks itself and by intercepting and redirecting low level 
windows system calls, forces the audio through a custom player, and 
restricts the number of CD burns that can be made.

As Sys Internals' Mark Russinovich discovered this week [1], removing
the Sony code using standard anti-malware tools leaves the user with
an inoperable CD drive.

Russinovich also pointed out that because the cloaking technique it 
used to hide itself was so crude, malware authors could hide their own 
nefarious programs on users hard disks using Sony's DRM software.

However, the patch that Sony will offer doesn't remove the 'rootkit' 
DRM: it only makes the hidden files visible.

Macintosh and Linux users are unaffected by the DRM kit, which only 
works on Windows PCs.

It isn't quite the "bombs" [2] the RIAA once suggested it was
developing to deter music downloads, but it's in the same spirit.

And here's the patch [3] from First 4 Internet Ltd, the British
company that developed the DRM software .

"This Service Pack removes the cloaking technology component that has 
been recently discussed in a number of articles published regarding 
the XCP Technology used on SONY BMG content protected CDs." [our 
emphasis]

The note continues: "This component is not malicious and does not 
compromise security. However to alleviate any concerns that users may 
have about the program posing potential security vulnerabilities, this 
update has been released to enable users to remove this component from 
their computers."

But wait! Don't do that just yet...

Anti-malware company F-Secure discusses the Sony DRM [4] software
here.  F-Secure says its rootkit detection software will spot the
hidden files, but strongly advises users not to remove it using its
Blacklight software, and instead advises users to contact Sony.

"If you find this rootkit from your system, we recommend you don't 
remove it with our products. As this DRM system is implemented as a 
filter driver for the CD drive, just blindly removing it might result 
in an inaccessible CD drive letter," advises F-Secure.

It is alarming how little outrage there is from ordinary PC users. 
While Register readers are well versed in the restrictions of DRM and 
the dangers of malware, there's little sign the public shares this 
knowledge.

Incredibly, the Sony DRM malware has been out on the market for eight 
months and is bundled on 20 CD titles. Sony said it hadn't received a 
single complaint until this week. So, disturbingly, most people either 
haven't run into serious problems yet, or even more disturbingly, 
don't find the Sony DRM particularly onerous. We pray it's not the 
latter.

However, Sony's decision to offer a 'patch' that fails to remove the 
DRM code suggests it isn't too concerned by the howls of outrage heard 
this week from sophisticated PC users.

And with this level of apathy, the music giants will be emboldened to 
try these techniques again. And again. And again. ®

[1] http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/11/01/sony_rootkit_drm/
[2] http://www.theregister.co.uk/2003/05/04/riaa_attacking_our_culture/
[3] http://updates.xcp-aurora.com/
[4] http://www.europe.f-secure.com/weblog/#00000691