WORM_VOBFUS.TJ

 Analysis by: Jaime Benigno Reyes

 ALIASES:

Worm:Win32/Vobfus.MX (Microsoft), VBObfus.fb (McAfee), W32.Changeup!gen28 (Symantec)

 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 by connecting affected removable drives to a system. It arrives on a system as a file dropped by other malware or as a file downloaded unknowingly by users when visiting malicious sites.

It drops copies of itself in removable drives. These dropped copies use the names of the folders located on the said drives for their file names. It drops an AUTORUN.INF file to automatically execute the copies it drops when a user accesses the drives of an affected system.

  TECHNICAL DETAILS

File Size:

294,912 bytes

Memory Resident:

Yes

Initial Samples Received Date:

09 Dec 2012

Arrival Details

This worm arrives by connecting affected removable drives to a system.

It 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:

  • %User Profile%\{random}.exe

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

Autostart Technique

This worm creates the following registry entries to enable automatic execution of dropped component at every system startup:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\
Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
{random} = "%User Profile%\{random}.exe /{random character}"

Other System Modifications

This worm adds the following registry entries as part of its installation routine:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\
Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate\
AU
NoAutoUpdate = "1"

It adds the following registry keys as part of its installation routine:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\
Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate

It modifies the following registry entries to hide files with Hidden attributes:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\
Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\
Advanced
ShowSuperHidden = "0"

(Note: The default value data of the said registry entry is "1".)

Propagation

This worm drops the following copy(ies) of itself in all removable drives:

  • {random}.exe
  • Passwords.exe
  • Porn.exe
  • Secret.exe
  • Sexy.exe

It drops copies of itself in removable drives. These dropped copies use the names of the folders located on the said drives for their file names.

It drops an AUTORUN.INF file to automatically execute the copies it drops when a user accesses the drives of an affected system.

The said .INF file contains the following strings:

;garbage characters
[autorun]
;garbage characters
open={random}.eXe
;garbage characters
USEAUtOPlAy=1
;garbage characters

Other Details

This worm connects to the following possibly malicious URL:

  • {BLOCKED}1.{BLOCKED}cks.com

NOTES:

It also drops the following file in all removable drives:

  • x.mpeg