TSPY_ZBOT.VHX

October 18, 2013
 Analysis by: Anthony Joe Melgarejo
 ALIASES:

PWSZbot-FIU!A07D03EAA3D8 (McAfee), Trojan.Zbot (Symantec), Win32/Spy.Zbot.AAU trojan (ESET), Troj/Zbot-GQG (Sophos)

 PLATFORM:

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

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

  • Threat Type: Spyware

  • Destructiveness: No

  • Encrypted:

  • In the wild: Yes

  OVERVIEW

Infection Channel:

Downloaded from the Internet, Dropped by other malware

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 registry entries to disable the Windows Firewall settings. This action allows this malware to perform its routines without being deteted by the Windows Firewall.

It deletes the initially executed copy of itself.

  TECHNICAL DETAILS

File Size:

414,208 bytes

File Type:

EXE

Initial Samples Received Date:

15 Oct 2013

Payload:

Connects to URLs/IPs, Downloads files

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:

  • %Application Data%\{random folder name}\{random file name}.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.)

It creates the following folders:

  • %Application Data%\{random folder name}

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

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\
Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
{random file name} = "%Application Data%\{random folder name}\{random file name}.exe"

Other System Modifications

This spyware adds the following registry keys:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\
{random}

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\
WAB

It modifies the following registry entries to disable the Windows Firewall settings:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\
Services\SharedAccess\Parameters\
FirewallPolicy\StandardProfile\GloballyOpenPorts\
List
{random port 1}:UDP = "{random port 1}:UDP:*:Enabled:UDP {random port 1}"

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\
Services\SharedAccess\Parameters\
FirewallPolicy\StandardProfile\GloballyOpenPorts\
List
{random port 2}:TCP = "{random port 2}:TCP:*:Enabled:TCP {random port 2}"

Other Details

This spyware connects to the following URL(s) to check for an Internet connection:

  • http://www.google.com

It connects to the following possibly malicious URL:

  • http://{pseudorandom domain name}.info
  • http://{pseudorandom domain name}.com
  • http://{pseudorandom domain name}.biz
  • http://{pseudorandom domain name}.net
  • http://{pseudorandom domain name}.org
  • http://{pseudorandom domain name}.ru
  • http://{pseudorandom domain name}.pl
  • http://{pseudorandom domain name}.so

It deletes the initially executed copy of itself