VBS_OTORUN.BA

 Analysis by: Adrian Cofreros

 ALIASES:

Worm:VBS/Autorun.AG(Microsoft),VBS/AutoRun.ES worm(NOD32),Trojan.VBS.Autorun.a (v)(Sunbelt)

 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: 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 disables Task Manager, Registry Editor, and Folder Options.

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:

Varies

File Type:

VBS

Memory Resident:

Yes

Initial Samples Received Date:

29 Aug 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:

  • %Windows%\janka.vbs

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

Autostart Technique

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

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\
Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
autoMe1 = "wscript.exe "C:\WINDOWS\janka.vbs""

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\
Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
autoMe = "wscript.exe "C:\WINDOWS\janka.vbs""

Other System Modifications

This worm modifies the following registry entries:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\
Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\
Explorer
NoDriveTypeAutoRun = "{dword:00000080}"

(Note: The default value data of the said registry entry is {dword:00000091}.)

It creates the following registry entry(ies) to disable Task Manager, Registry Tools and Folder Options:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\
Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\
System
DisableTaskMgr = "0"

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\
Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\
System
DisableRegistryTools = "0"

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\
Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\
Explorer
NoFolderOptions = "0"

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

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\
Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\
Advanced
Hidden = "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:

  • {removable drive letter}:\janka.vbs

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:

[autorun]
open=wscript.exe janka.vbs
shell\Open\Command=wscript.exe janka.vbs
shell\Open\Default=1