WORM_PALEVO.CU

This worm arrives via removable drives. It may be downloaded by other malware/grayware/spyware from remote sites. It may be unknowingly downloaded by a user while visiting malicious websites.

It drops an AUTORUN.INF file to automatically execute the copies it drops when a user accesses the drives of an affected system.

Arrival Details

This worm arrives via removable drives.

It may be downloaded by other malware/grayware/spyware from remote sites.

It may be unknowingly downloaded by a user while visiting malicious websites.

Installation

This worm drops the following file(s)/component(s):

• {drive letter}:\garbage\Desktop.ini
• %System Root%\RECYCLER\{SID}\Desktop.ini

(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:

• %System Root%\RECYCLER\{SID}\winsystem.exe

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

It injects itself into the following processes running in the affected system's memory:

• Explorer.exe

It creates the following folders:

• %System Root%\RECYCLER\{SID}

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

Autostart Technique

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

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Mircosoft\
Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon
Taskman = %System Root%\RECYCLER\{SID}\winsystem.exe

Propagation

This worm creates the following folders in all removable drives:

• {drive letter}:\garbage

It drops the following copy(ies) of itself in all removable drives:

• {drive letter}:\garbage\pizdec.exe

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:

;{garbage characters}
[AutoRun]
;{garbage characters}
open=.\garbage/pizdec.exe
;{garbage characters}
icon = %System Root%\system32\SHELL32.dll,4
;{garbage characters}
action=Open folder to view files using Windows Explorer
;{garbage characters}
useauTOplay=1
;{garbage characters}
shell\\open\\command=garbage\\pizdec.exe
;{garbage characters}
shell\\explore\\command=garbage////pizdec.exe
;{garbage characters}

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

NOTES:

Other Details

Based on analysis of the codes, it has the following capabilities:

Spreads via MSN Messenger and through the following peer-to-peer (P2P) applications:

• Ares
• BearShare
• DC++
• eMule
• iMesh
• Kazaa
• LimeWire
• Shareaza

Performs a denial of service (DoS) attacks on infected systems using SYN flooding