ANDROMEDA

September 09, 2014
 ALIASES:

Gamarue, Wauchos

 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:
 INFORMATION EXPOSURE:

  • Threat Type: Trojan

  • Destructiveness: No

  • Encrypted:

  • In the wild: Yes

  OVERVIEW

This malware family refers to variants consisting of backdoors that are tied to the ANDROMEDA botnet. The botnet was first spotted in late 2011. It is a modular bot, the functions can be easily modified through plugins.

One common behavior of this malware is its capability of checking whether it is being executed or debugged in a virtual environment by using anti-virtual machine techniques. It can perform different commands such as downloading and executing files, performing remote shell, and uninstalling itself from the system.

  TECHNICAL DETAILS

Memory Resident:

Yes

Installation

This Trojan drops the following copies of itself into the affected system:

  • %All Users Profile%\Local Settings\Temp\{random}.{random extension}
  • %All Users Profile%\svchost.exe
  • %All Users Profile%\{random}.exe
  • %Program Data%\svchost.exe
  • %User Temp%\{random}.exe

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

Other System Modifications

This Trojan also creates the following registry entry(ies) as part of its installation routine:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\
Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
SunJavaUpdateSched = "%All Users Profile%\svchost.exe"

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\
Windows\CurrentVersion\policies\
Explorer\Run
540 = "%All Users Profile%\Local Settings\Temp\{random}.{random extension}"

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\
Services\SharedAccess\Parameters\
FirewallPolicy\StandardProfile\AuthorizedApplications\
List
{malware path and file name} = "{malware path and file name}:*:Enabled:Marko"

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\
Windows\CurrentVersion\policies\
Explorer\Run
540 = "%All Users Profile%\{random}.exe"

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\
Services\SharedAccess\Parameters\
FirewallPolicy\StandardProfile\AuthorizedApplications\
List
{malware path and file name} = "{malware path and file name}:*:Enabled:{malware file name}"

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\
Services\SharedAccess\Parameters\
FirewallPolicy\StandardProfile\AuthorizedApplications\
List
%System%\msiexec.exe = "%System%\msiexec.exe:*:Generic Host Process"

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\
Services\SharedAccess\Parameters\
FirewallPolicy\StandardProfile\AuthorizedApplications\
List
%System%\svchost.exe = "%System%\svchost.exe:*:Generic Host Process"

Other Details

This Trojan connects to the following possibly malicious URL:

  • http://{BLOCKED}rph.su/in.php
  • http://{BLOCKED}gonzmwuehky.nl/in.php
  • http://{BLOCKED}jtvmein.in/in.php
  • http://{BLOCKED}ryConvention.ru/new/gate.php
  • http://{BLOCKED}amcam.ru/new/gate.php
  • http://{BLOCKED}Pod.ru/new/gate.php
  • http://{BLOCKED}it.ru/new/gate.php
  • http://{BLOCKED}Images.com/new/gate.php
  • http://{BLOCKED}rososoft.ru/in.php
  • http://{BLOCKED}h.ru/new/gate.php
  • http://{BLOCKED}bcgrvkj.ru/in.php
  • http://{BLOCKED}ewsqhct.in/in.php