JOKE_GHOST

May 27, 2013
 Analysis by: Nikko Tamana
 ALIASES:

Troj/VB-DYK (Sophos), W32/VB.DYK!tr (Fortinet), W32/Trojan.AAKR (FProt), Trojan.Win32.VB (Ikarus), Win32/VB.NGL trojan (NOD32), Adware/AccesMembre (Panda)

 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: Joke Program

  • Destructiveness: No

  • Encrypted:

  • In the wild: Yes

  OVERVIEW

Infection Channel:

Downloaded from the Internet

This joke program 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:

586,213 bytes

Initial Samples Received Date:

04 May 2013

Arrival Details

This joke program 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 joke program drops the following file(s)/component(s):

  • %System Root%\1234.exe
  • %System Root%\Fart.wav
  • %System Root%\Ghost.wav

(Note: %System Root% is the root folder, which is usually C:\. It is also where the operating system is located.)

It drops the following copies of itself into the affected system:

  • %Windows%\Joke.exe

(Note: %Windows% is the Windows folder, which is usually C:\Windows.)

Autostart Technique

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

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\
Windows\CurrentVersion\RunServices
DLLReg = "%Windows%\Joke.exe -np"