arrow_back
search
close

TSPY_POSNEWT.A

April 17, 2015
 Analysis by: Pearl Charlaine Espejo
 ALIASES:

Infostealer.Rawpos (Symantec); TrojanSpy:Win32/Bagopos.A (Microsoft)

 PLATFORM:

Windows

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

  • Threat Type: Spyware

  • Destructiveness: No

  • Encrypted: No

  • In the wild: Yes

  OVERVIEW

Infection Channel:

Downloaded from the Internet


This Point-of-Sale(PoS) malware was discovered on April 2015 attempting to target certain US-based airports. PoS devices infected by this malware should be considered compromised due to its info-stealing routines.

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

It modifies the Internet Explorer Zone Settings.

It logs a user's keystrokes to steal information.

It deletes itself after execution.

  TECHNICAL DETAILS

File Size:

231,424 bytes

File Type:

EXE

Memory Resident:

Yes

Initial Samples Received Date:

26 Feb 2015

Payload:

Connects to URLs/IPs

Arrival Details

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

  • %Application Data%\Java\JavaUpdate.exe

(Note: %Application Data% is the Application Data folder, where it usually is C:\Documents and Settings\{user name}\Application Data on Windows 2000, Windows Server 2003, and Windows XP (32- and 64-bit); C:\Users\{user name}\AppData\Roaming on Windows Vista (32- and 64-bit), Windows 7 (32- and 64-bit), Windows 8 (32- and 64-bit), Windows 8.1 (32- and 64-bit), Windows Server 2008, and Windows Server 2012.)

It drops the following component file(s):

  • %Application Data%\Java\DLLx64.dll

(Note: %Application Data% is the Application Data folder, where it usually is C:\Documents and Settings\{user name}\Application Data on Windows 2000, Windows Server 2003, and Windows XP (32- and 64-bit); C:\Users\{user name}\AppData\Roaming on Windows Vista (32- and 64-bit), Windows 7 (32- and 64-bit), Windows 8 (32- and 64-bit), Windows 8.1 (32- and 64-bit), Windows Server 2008, and Windows Server 2012.)

Autostart Technique

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

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\
Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
Java Update Manager = "%Application Data%\Java\JavaUpdate.exe"

Other System Modifications

This spyware adds the following registry keys:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\
Tracing\JavaUpdate_RASAPI32

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\
Tracing\JavaUpdate_RASMANCS

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

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\
Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\
Associations
LowRiskFileTypes = ".exe;.bat;.reg;.vbs;"

Web Browser Home Page and Search Page Modification

This spyware modifies the Internet Explorer Zone Settings.

Information Theft

This spyware accepts the following parameters:

  • cs= status code
  • p= os version + platform + computername
  • m= sessionID
  • ls= stolen data
  • v= client version

It logs a user's keystrokes to steal information.

Stolen Information

This spyware sends the gathered information via HTTP POST to the following URL:

  • http://{BLOCKED}.{BLOCKED}.64.84/a0d19de489970cf7276ebf390ef0cf23/
  • http://{BLOCKED}.{BLOCKED}.10.1/connect/2
  • http://{BLOCKED}.{BLOCKED}.68.58/52ff5b94d95a03c5/eklemek.php
  • http://{BLOCKED}.{BLOCKED}.68.58/afdah/eklemek.php
  • http://{BLOCKED}.{BLOCKED}.68.58/ufke/eklemek.php
  • http://{BLOCKED}.{BLOCKED}.88.204/connect/2
  • http://{BLOCKED}.{BLOCKED}.65.112/connect/2
  • http://{BLOCKED}.{BLOCKED}.65.112/connect/5
  • http://{BLOCKED}.{BLOCKED}.65.112/connect/9
  • http://{BLOCKED}.{BLOCKED}.65.23/connect/3
  • http://{BLOCKED}.{BLOCKED}.30.19/mndn39oaom54lt3lk/
  • http://{BLOCKED}axis-1.name/a0d19de489970cf7276ebf390ef0cf23/
  • http://{BLOCKED}promos.com/ujakj/ek.php
  • http://{BLOCKED}catalogs.com/dkok/ek.php

Other Details

This spyware deletes itself after execution.

NOTES:

This spyware acquires VNC passwords of the following for remote control:

  • RealVNC
  • TightVNC
  • UltraVNC
  • WinVNC

It scans the memory of all running processes except for the following:

  • alg.exe
  • csrss.exe
  • lsass.exe
  • smss.exe
  • spoolsv.exe
  • svchost.exe
  • System
  • winlogon.exe
  • wuauclt.exe

It uses a constant User-Agent:

Mozilla/4.0(compatible; MSIE 7.0b; Windows NT 6.0

  SOLUTION

Minimum Scan Engine:

9.750

FIRST VSAPI PATTERN FILE:

11.502.03

FIRST VSAPI PATTERN DATE:

26 Feb 2015

VSAPI OPR PATTERN File:

11.503.00

VSAPI OPR PATTERN Date:

27 Feb 2015

Step 1

Before doing any scans, Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 7 users must disable System Restore to allow full scanning of their computers.

Step 2

Identify and terminate files detected as TSPY_POSNEWT.A

[ Learn More ]
  1. Windows Task Manager may not display all running processes. In this case, please use a third-party process viewer, preferably Process Explorer, to terminate the malware/grayware/spyware file. You may download the said tool here.
  2. If the detected file is displayed in either Windows Task Manager or Process Explorer but you cannot delete it, restart your computer in safe mode. To do this, refer to this link for the complete steps.
  3. If the detected file is not displayed in either Windows Task Manager or Process Explorer, continue doing the next steps.

Step 3

Delete this registry value

[ Learn More ]

Important: Editing the Windows Registry incorrectly can lead to irreversible system malfunction. Please do this step only if you know how or you can ask assistance from your system administrator. Else, check this Microsoft article first before modifying your computer's registry.

  • In HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
    • Java Update Manager = "%Application Data%\Java\JavaUpdate.exe"
  • In HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Associations
    • LowRiskFileTypes = ".exe;.bat;.reg;.vbs;"

Step 4

Delete this registry key

[ Learn More ]

Important: Editing the Windows Registry incorrectly can lead to irreversible system malfunction. Please do this step only if you know how or you can ask assistance from your system administrator. Else, check this Microsoft article first before modifying your computer's registry.

  • In HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Tracing
    • JavaUpdate_RASAPI32
  • In HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Tracing
    • JavaUpdate_RASMANCS

Step 5

Search and delete these files

[ Learn More ]
There may be some files that are hidden. Please make sure you check the Search Hidden Files and Folders checkbox in the "More advanced options" option to include all hidden files and folders in the search result.
  • %Application Data%\Java\DLLx64.dll

Step 6

Scan your computer with your Trend Micro product to delete files detected as TSPY_POSNEWT.A. If the detected files have already been cleaned, deleted, or quarantined by your Trend Micro product, no further step is required. You may opt to simply delete the quarantined files. Please check this Knowledge Base page for more information.


Did this description help? Tell us how we did.