New worm directly infects Linux-based home routers

This is an alarming development because it's both difficult to detect (software running on your PC can't detect it) and significantly more useful to the botnet operator than infected PCs because home routers generally run 24 hours a day, unmonitored.

The botnet malware contains the shellcode for over 30 different Linksys models, 10 Netgear models, and a variety of other cable and DSL modems (15 different shellcodes). Any router that uses a MIPS processor and runs the Linux Mipsel operating system (a port of Debian for MIPS Processors) is vulnerable if they have the router administration interface, or sshd/telnetd in a DMZ, with weak username/passwords. DroneBL noted this includes devices flashed with the open-source firmwares openwrt and dd-wrt.

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