WORM_PALEVO.APM

March 07, 2013
 Analysis by: Anthony Joe Melgarejo
 ALIASES:

VirTool:Win32/VBInject.LX (Microsoft), Trojan.Usuge!gen3 (Symantec), Mal/VBCheMan-C (Sophos), W32/VB.BPN!worm (Fortinet), P2P-Worm.Win32.Palevo (Ikarus), Win32/Bflient.K worm (ESET)

 PLATFORM:

Windows 2000, Windows Server 2003, Windows XP (32-bit, 64-bit), Windows Vista (32-bit, 64-bit), Windows 7 (32-bit, 64-bit)

 OVERALL RISK RATING:
 DAMAGE POTENTIAL:
 DISTRIBUTION POTENTIAL:
 REPORTED INFECTION:

  • Threat Type: Worm

  • Destructiveness: No

  • Encrypted:

  • In the wild: Yes

  OVERVIEW

This worm arrives on a system as a file dropped by other malware or as a file downloaded unknowingly by users when visiting malicious sites.

  TECHNICAL DETAILS

File Size:

315,392 bytes

File Type:

EXE

Memory Resident:

Yes

Initial Samples Received Date:

05 Mar 2013

Arrival Details

This worm arrives on a system as a file dropped by other malware or as a file downloaded unknowingly by users when visiting malicious sites.

Installation

This worm drops the following copies of itself into the affected system and executes them:

  • %Application Data%\iukdqw.exe

(Note: %Application Data% is the current user's Application Data folder, which is usually C:\Documents and Settings\{user name}\Application Data on Windows 2000, XP, and Server 2003, or C:\Users\{user name}\AppData\Roaming on Windows Vista and 7.)

Autostart Technique

This worm adds the following registry entries to enable its automatic execution at every system startup:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\
Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon - for Windows OS other than Vista and 7
Taskman = "%Application Data%\iukdqw.exe"

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\
Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon - for Windows Vista and 7
Shell = "explorer.exe,%Application Data%\iukdqw.exe"

Other Details

This worm connects to the following possibly malicious URL:

  • http://{BLOCKED}ate.com
  • http://{BLOCKED}m.{BLOCKED}ate.com
  • http://{BLOCKED}atz.com
  • http://{BLOCKED}z.com
  • http://{BLOCKED}.{BLOCKED}z.com
  • https://{BLOCKED}s.{BLOCKED}z.com