McAfee > Theat Center > Virus Detail Page

Overview

Aliases

• Packed.Win32.Krap.ah (Kaspersky)

• Trojan.FakeAV (Symantec)

• W32/FakeAlert.SYY!tr.dldr (Fortinet)

Characteristics

-- Update October 21, 2009 --
The risk assessment of this threat has been updated to Low-Profiled due to media attention at: http://www.darkreading.com/security/vulnerabilities/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=220700200

--

This detection is for a FakeAlert trojan, that was spammed as a free tool to scan for the "Conficker.B" worm.

Upon execution, this malware copies itself to the following locations and launches them.

• %userprofile%\Application Data\seres.exe
• %userprofile%\Application Data\svcst.exe

It then downloads a malicious file to the following location

• %userprofile%\Application Data\lizkavd.exe (detected as FakeAlert-XPSecCenter)

it then pops up a fake message, stating the the system is infected (as shown below)

Upon clicking the message baloon, the "lizkavd.exe" is run, which downloads and installs a fake antivirus program.

The following registry entries are created/modified

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Download "RunInvalidSignatures"
 Data: 01, 00, 00, 00

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Associations "LowRiskFileTypes"
 Data: zip;.rar;.cab;.txt;.exe;.reg;.msi;.htm;.html;.gif;.bmp;.jpg;.avi;.mov;.mp3;.wav

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run "mserv"
 Data: %userprofile%\Application Data\seres.exe

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run "svchost"
 Data: %userprofile%\Application Data\svcst.exe

Symptoms

• Presence of the files and registry entries mentioned.
• Increase in bandwidth usage due to additional files being downloaded.

Method of Infection

Trojans do not self-replicate. They are spread manually, often under the premise that the executable is something beneficial. Distribution channels include IRC, peer-to-peer networks, newsgroup postings, etc.

This malware was spammed as a free tool to scan for the "Conficker.B" worm.

Removal

All Users:

Please use the following instructions for all supported versions of Windows to remove threats and other potential risks:

1.Disable System Restore .

2.Update to current engine and DAT files for detection and removal.

3.Run a complete system scan.

Modifications made to the system Registry and/or INI files for the purposes of hooking system startup, will be successfully removed if cleaning with the recommended engine and DAT combination (or higher).

1. Please go to the Microsoft Recovery Console and restore a clean MBR.

On windows XP:

Insert the Windows XP CD into the CD-ROM drive and restart the computer.
When the "Welcome to Setup" screen appears, press R to start the Recovery Console.
Select the Windows installation that is compromised and provide the administrator password
Issue 'fixmbr' command to restore the Master Boot Record
Follow onscreen instructions
Reset and remove the CD from CD-ROM drive.

Variants

Variants

N/A

All Information

Overview -

This detection is for a FakeAlert trojan, that was spammed as a free tool to scan for the "Conficker.B" worm.

Aliases

• Packed.Win32.Krap.ah (Kaspersky)

• Trojan.FakeAV (Symantec)

• W32/FakeAlert.SYY!tr.dldr (Fortinet)

Characteristics

Characteristics -

-- Update October 21, 2009 --
The risk assessment of this threat has been updated to Low-Profiled due to media attention at: http://www.darkreading.com/security/vulnerabilities/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=220700200

--

This detection is for a FakeAlert trojan, that was spammed as a free tool to scan for the "Conficker.B" worm.

Upon execution, this malware copies itself to the following locations and launches them.

• %userprofile%\Application Data\seres.exe
• %userprofile%\Application Data\svcst.exe

It then downloads a malicious file to the following location

• %userprofile%\Application Data\lizkavd.exe (detected as FakeAlert-XPSecCenter)

it then pops up a fake message, stating the the system is infected (as shown below)

Upon clicking the message baloon, the "lizkavd.exe" is run, which downloads and installs a fake antivirus program.

The following registry entries are created/modified

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Download "RunInvalidSignatures"
 Data: 01, 00, 00, 00

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Associations "LowRiskFileTypes"
 Data: zip;.rar;.cab;.txt;.exe;.reg;.msi;.htm;.html;.gif;.bmp;.jpg;.avi;.mov;.mp3;.wav

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run "mserv"
 Data: %userprofile%\Application Data\seres.exe

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run "svchost"
 Data: %userprofile%\Application Data\svcst.exe

Symptoms

Symptoms -

• Presence of the files and registry entries mentioned.
• Increase in bandwidth usage due to additional files being downloaded.

Method of Infection

Method of Infection -

Trojans do not self-replicate. They are spread manually, often under the premise that the executable is something beneficial. Distribution channels include IRC, peer-to-peer networks, newsgroup postings, etc.

This malware was spammed as a free tool to scan for the "Conficker.B" worm.

Removal -

Removal -

All Users:

Please use the following instructions for all supported versions of Windows to remove threats and other potential risks:

1.Disable System Restore .

2.Update to current engine and DAT files for detection and removal.

3.Run a complete system scan.

Modifications made to the system Registry and/or INI files for the purposes of hooking system startup, will be successfully removed if cleaning with the recommended engine and DAT combination (or higher).

1. Please go to the Microsoft Recovery Console and restore a clean MBR.

On windows XP:

Insert the Windows XP CD into the CD-ROM drive and restart the computer.
When the "Welcome to Setup" screen appears, press R to start the Recovery Console.
Select the Windows installation that is compromised and provide the administrator password
Issue 'fixmbr' command to restore the Master Boot Record
Follow onscreen instructions
Reset and remove the CD from CD-ROM drive.

Variants

Variants -

N/A