Content
W32/Mydoom@MM
- Type
- Virus
- SubType
- Discovery Date
- 01/26/2004
- Length
- 22,528 bytes (UPX packed)
- Minimum DAT
- 4319 (01/26/2004)
- Updated DAT
- 5190 (12/20/2007)
- Minimum Engine
- 5.1.00
- Description Added
- 01/26/2004
- Description Modified
- 11/08/2005 12:34 AM (PT)
Risk Assessment
- Corporate User
- Low-Profiled
- Home User
- Low-Profiled
Tab Navigation
Characteristics
-- Update March 11, 2004 --
The risk assessment of this threat was lowered to Low-Profiled due to a decrease in prevalence.
--Update 17th Febuary, 2004
--
The risk assessment was lowered to Medium due to a decrease in prevalence.
--Update 12th Febuary, 2004
--
A new variant of this virus has been discovered. The file size is 24,048 bytes (petite packed). It is proactively detected as W32/Mydoom.a@MM using the above specified DATs. The functionality of this new variant is similar to the .a variant, except that the body of the email it sends out may contain the following:
- ROFL HELLO SAM HOWS UPZ. Partial message is available
This is a mass-mailing and peer-to-peer file-sharing worm that bears the following characteristics:
- contains its own SMTP engine to construct outgoing messages
- contains a backdoor component (see below)
- contains a Denial of Service payload
Mydoom only infects systems running Microsoft Windows. If you think that you may be infected with Mydoom, and are unsure how to check your system, you may
download the Stinger tool
to scan your system and remove the virus if present. This is not required for McAfee users as McAfee products are capable of detecting and removing the virus with the latest update. (see the removal instructions below for more information). |
The virus arrives in an email message as follows:
From:
(Spoofed email sender)
Do not assume that the sender address is an indication that the sender is infected.
Additionally you may receive alert messages from a mail server that you are infected, which may not be the case.
Subject:
(Varies, such as)
- Error
- Status
- Server Report
- Mail Transaction Failed
- Mail Delivery System
- hello
- hi
Body: (Varies, such as)
- The message cannot be represented in 7-bit ASCII encoding and has been sent as a binary attachment.
- The message contains Unicode characters and has been sent as a binary attachment.
- Mail transaction failed. Partial message is available.
Attachment: (varies [.bat, .exe, .pif, .cmd, .scr] - often arrives in a ZIP archive) (22,528 bytes)
- examples (common names, but can be random)
- doc.bat
- document.zip
- message.zip
- readme.zip
- text.pif
- hello.cmd
- body.scr
- test.htm.pif
- data.txt.exe
- file.scr
In the case of two file extensions, multiple spaces may be inserted as well, for example:
- document.htm (many spaces) .pif
The icon used by the file tries to make it appear as if the attachment is a text file:
When this file is run (manually), it copies itself to the WINDOWS SYSTEM directory as taskmon.exe
- %SysDir%\taskmon.exe
(Where %Sysdir% is the Windows System directory, for example C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM)
It creates the following registry entry to hook Windows startup:
- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\
CurrentVersion\Run "TaskMon" = %SysDir%\taskmon.exe
The virus uses a DLL that it creates in the Windows System directory:
- %SysDir%\shimgapi.dll (4,096 bytes)
This DLL is injected into the EXPLORER.EXE upon reboot via this registry key:
- HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{E6FB5E20-DE35-11CF-9C87-00AA005127ED}
\InProcServer32 "(Default)" = %SysDir%\shimgapi.dll
The virus will not replicate on the 12th February or later (although the DLL will still be installed).
Peer To Peer Propagation
The worm copies itself to the KaZaa Shared Directory with the following filenames:
- nuke2004
- office_crack
- rootkitXP
- strip-girl-2.0bdcom_patches
- activation_crack
- icq2004-final
- winamp
Remote Access Component
The worm (this functionality is in the dropped DLL) opens a connection on TCP port 3127 (if that fails it opens next available port up to port 3198). The worm can accept specially crafted TCP transmissions.
- On receipt of one kind of such a transmission it will save the embedded binary into a temporary file and execute it. Then the temporary file is deleted.
- On receipt of another kind it can relay TCP packets thus providing IP spoofing capabilities (possibly to facilitate SPAM distribution)
Denial of Service Payload
If the worm is run after February 1st 16:09:18 (UTC), it changes its behavior from mass mailing to initiating a denial of service attack against www.sco.com. This denial of service attack will stop on the first system startup after February 12th 02:28:57 (UTC) , and thereafter the worm's only behavior is to continue listening on TCP port 3127 (or up to 3198). Due to a bug in the code, the DoS attack will fail to start 75% of the time.
The denial of service executes by creating 64 threads each of which makes a HTTP GET request from random ports on the infected machines to port 80 of www.sco.com.
Symptoms
- Upon executing the virus, Notepad is opened, filled with nonsense characters.
- Existence of the files and registry entry listed above
Method of Infection
This worm tries to spread via email and by copying itself to the shared directory for Kazaa clients if they are present.
The mailing component harvests address from the local system. Files with the following extensions are targeted:
- wab
- adb
- tbb
- dbx
- asp
- php
- sht
- htm
- txt
- pl
The worm avoids certain address, those using the following strings:
- .gov
- .mil
- abuse
- acketst
- arin.
- avp
- berkeley
- borlan
- bsd
- example
- fido
- foo.
- fsf.
- gnu
- gov.
- hotmail
- iana
- ibm.com
- icrosof
- ietf
- inpris
- isc.o
- isi.e
- kernel
- linux
- math
- mit.e
- mozilla
- msn.
- mydomai
- nodomai
- panda
- pgp
- rfc-ed
- ripe.
- ruslis
- secur
- sendmail
- sopho
- syma
- tanford.e
- unix
- usenet
- utgers.ed
Additionally, the worm contains strings, which it uses to randomly generate, or guess, email addresses. These are prepended as user names to harvested domain names:
- sandra
- linda
- julie
- jimmy
- jerry
- helen
- debby
- claudia
- brenda
- anna
- alice
- brent
- adam
- ted
- fred
- jack
- bill
- stan
- smith
- steve
- matt
- dave
- dan
- joe
- jane
- bob
- robert
- peter
- tom
- ray
- mary
- serg
- brian
- jim
- maria
- leo
- jose
- andrew
- sam
- george
- david
- kevin
- mike
- james
- michael
- john
- alex
Finally the virus sends itself via SMTP - constructing messages using its own SMTP engine. The worm guesses the recipient email server, prepending the target domain name with the following strings:
- mx.
- mail.
- smtp.
- mx1.
- mxs.
- mail1.
- relay.
- ns.
Removal
All Users
: The shimgapi.dll
file is injected into the EXPLORER.EXE process if the system has been rebooted after the infection has occured. In this situation, a reboot and rescan is required to remove this DLL from the system with the 4319 DAT files. The 4320 DAT files, and later, do not require a reboot. 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).
Additional Windows ME/XP removal considerations
Stinger Manual Removal Instructions
McAfee Security Desktop Firewall Sniffer Customers:
Filters have been developed that will look for MyDoom traffic [Sniffer Distributed 4.1/4.2/4.3, Sniffer Portable 4.7/4.7.5, and Netasyst]. ThreatScan users
ThreatScan users can also detect the backdoor portion of the virus by running a "Resource Discovery" task utilizing the port scanning options.
To update your ThreatScan installations with the latest signatures perform the following tasks:
To create and execute a new task containing the new update functionality, do the following:
To scan for the virus:
To create and execute a new task to perform a port scan, do the following:
To scan for the virus:
For additional information:
Use specified engine and DAT files
for detection and removal.
Stinger
has been updated to assist in detecting and repairing this threat.
To remove this virus "by hand", follow these steps (WinNT/2K/XP):
Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
00AA005127ED}\InProcServer32
CurrentVersion\Explorer\ComDlg32
CurrentVersion\Explorer\ComDlg32
To prevent possible remote access McAfee Desktop Firewall users can block incoming TCP port 3127.
The latest ThreatScan signature (2004-01-27) includes detection of the Mydoom virus. This signature is available for ThreatScan v2.0, v2.1, and v2.5.
Variants
Variants
N/A
All Information
Overview -
This is a virus detection. Viruses are programs that self-replicate recursively, meaning that infected systems spread the virus to other systems, which then propagate the virus further. While many viruses contain a destructive payload, it's quite common for viruses to do nothing more than spread from one system to another.
Aliases
- Novarg (F-Secure)
- W32.Novarg.A@mm (Symantec)
- W32/Mydoom.a@MM
- Win32.Mydoom.A (CA)
- Win32.Mydoom.D (CA)
- Win32/Shimg (CA)
- WORM_MIMAIL.R (Trend)
Characteristics
Characteristics -
-- Update March 11, 2004 --
The risk assessment of this threat was lowered to Low-Profiled due to a decrease in prevalence.
--Update 17th Febuary, 2004
--
The risk assessment was lowered to Medium due to a decrease in prevalence.
--Update 12th Febuary, 2004
--
A new variant of this virus has been discovered. The file size is 24,048 bytes (petite packed). It is proactively detected as W32/Mydoom.a@MM using the above specified DATs. The functionality of this new variant is similar to the .a variant, except that the body of the email it sends out may contain the following:
- ROFL HELLO SAM HOWS UPZ. Partial message is available
This is a mass-mailing and peer-to-peer file-sharing worm that bears the following characteristics:
- contains its own SMTP engine to construct outgoing messages
- contains a backdoor component (see below)
- contains a Denial of Service payload
Mydoom only infects systems running Microsoft Windows. If you think that you may be infected with Mydoom, and are unsure how to check your system, you may
download the Stinger tool
to scan your system and remove the virus if present. This is not required for McAfee users as McAfee products are capable of detecting and removing the virus with the latest update. (see the removal instructions below for more information). |
The virus arrives in an email message as follows:
From:
(Spoofed email sender)
Do not assume that the sender address is an indication that the sender is infected.
Additionally you may receive alert messages from a mail server that you are infected, which may not be the case.
Subject:
(Varies, such as)
- Error
- Status
- Server Report
- Mail Transaction Failed
- Mail Delivery System
- hello
- hi
Body: (Varies, such as)
- The message cannot be represented in 7-bit ASCII encoding and has been sent as a binary attachment.
- The message contains Unicode characters and has been sent as a binary attachment.
- Mail transaction failed. Partial message is available.
Attachment: (varies [.bat, .exe, .pif, .cmd, .scr] - often arrives in a ZIP archive) (22,528 bytes)
- examples (common names, but can be random)
- doc.bat
- document.zip
- message.zip
- readme.zip
- text.pif
- hello.cmd
- body.scr
- test.htm.pif
- data.txt.exe
- file.scr
In the case of two file extensions, multiple spaces may be inserted as well, for example:
- document.htm (many spaces) .pif
The icon used by the file tries to make it appear as if the attachment is a text file:
When this file is run (manually), it copies itself to the WINDOWS SYSTEM directory as taskmon.exe
- %SysDir%\taskmon.exe
(Where %Sysdir% is the Windows System directory, for example C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM)
It creates the following registry entry to hook Windows startup:
- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\
CurrentVersion\Run "TaskMon" = %SysDir%\taskmon.exe
The virus uses a DLL that it creates in the Windows System directory:
- %SysDir%\shimgapi.dll (4,096 bytes)
This DLL is injected into the EXPLORER.EXE upon reboot via this registry key:
- HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{E6FB5E20-DE35-11CF-9C87-00AA005127ED}
\InProcServer32 "(Default)" = %SysDir%\shimgapi.dll
The virus will not replicate on the 12th February or later (although the DLL will still be installed).
Peer To Peer Propagation
The worm copies itself to the KaZaa Shared Directory with the following filenames:
- nuke2004
- office_crack
- rootkitXP
- strip-girl-2.0bdcom_patches
- activation_crack
- icq2004-final
- winamp
Remote Access Component
The worm (this functionality is in the dropped DLL) opens a connection on TCP port 3127 (if that fails it opens next available port up to port 3198). The worm can accept specially crafted TCP transmissions.
- On receipt of one kind of such a transmission it will save the embedded binary into a temporary file and execute it. Then the temporary file is deleted.
- On receipt of another kind it can relay TCP packets thus providing IP spoofing capabilities (possibly to facilitate SPAM distribution)
Denial of Service Payload
If the worm is run after February 1st 16:09:18 (UTC), it changes its behavior from mass mailing to initiating a denial of service attack against www.sco.com. This denial of service attack will stop on the first system startup after February 12th 02:28:57 (UTC) , and thereafter the worm's only behavior is to continue listening on TCP port 3127 (or up to 3198). Due to a bug in the code, the DoS attack will fail to start 75% of the time.
The denial of service executes by creating 64 threads each of which makes a HTTP GET request from random ports on the infected machines to port 80 of www.sco.com.
Symptoms
Symptoms -
- Upon executing the virus, Notepad is opened, filled with nonsense characters.
- Existence of the files and registry entry listed above
Method of Infection
Method of Infection -
This worm tries to spread via email and by copying itself to the shared directory for Kazaa clients if they are present.
The mailing component harvests address from the local system. Files with the following extensions are targeted:
- wab
- adb
- tbb
- dbx
- asp
- php
- sht
- htm
- txt
- pl
The worm avoids certain address, those using the following strings:
- .gov
- .mil
- abuse
- acketst
- arin.
- avp
- berkeley
- borlan
- bsd
- example
- fido
- foo.
- fsf.
- gnu
- gov.
- hotmail
- iana
- ibm.com
- icrosof
- ietf
- inpris
- isc.o
- isi.e
- kernel
- linux
- math
- mit.e
- mozilla
- msn.
- mydomai
- nodomai
- panda
- pgp
- rfc-ed
- ripe.
- ruslis
- secur
- sendmail
- sopho
- syma
- tanford.e
- unix
- usenet
- utgers.ed
Additionally, the worm contains strings, which it uses to randomly generate, or guess, email addresses. These are prepended as user names to harvested domain names:
- sandra
- linda
- julie
- jimmy
- jerry
- helen
- debby
- claudia
- brenda
- anna
- alice
- brent
- adam
- ted
- fred
- jack
- bill
- stan
- smith
- steve
- matt
- dave
- dan
- joe
- jane
- bob
- robert
- peter
- tom
- ray
- mary
- serg
- brian
- jim
- maria
- leo
- jose
- andrew
- sam
- george
- david
- kevin
- mike
- james
- michael
- john
- alex
Finally the virus sends itself via SMTP - constructing messages using its own SMTP engine. The worm guesses the recipient email server, prepending the target domain name with the following strings:
- mx.
- mail.
- smtp.
- mx1.
- mxs.
- mail1.
- relay.
- ns.
Removal -
Removal -
All Users
: The shimgapi.dll
file is injected into the EXPLORER.EXE process if the system has been rebooted after the infection has occured. In this situation, a reboot and rescan is required to remove this DLL from the system with the 4319 DAT files. The 4320 DAT files, and later, do not require a reboot. 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).
Additional Windows ME/XP removal considerations
Stinger Manual Removal Instructions
McAfee Security Desktop Firewall Sniffer Customers:
Filters have been developed that will look for MyDoom traffic [Sniffer Distributed 4.1/4.2/4.3, Sniffer Portable 4.7/4.7.5, and Netasyst]. ThreatScan users
ThreatScan users can also detect the backdoor portion of the virus by running a "Resource Discovery" task utilizing the port scanning options.
To update your ThreatScan installations with the latest signatures perform the following tasks:
To create and execute a new task containing the new update functionality, do the following:
To scan for the virus:
To create and execute a new task to perform a port scan, do the following:
To scan for the virus:
For additional information:
Use specified engine and DAT files
for detection and removal.
Stinger
has been updated to assist in detecting and repairing this threat.
To remove this virus "by hand", follow these steps (WinNT/2K/XP):
Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
00AA005127ED}\InProcServer32
CurrentVersion\Explorer\ComDlg32
CurrentVersion\Explorer\ComDlg32
To prevent possible remote access McAfee Desktop Firewall users can block incoming TCP port 3127.
The latest ThreatScan signature (2004-01-27) includes detection of the Mydoom virus. This signature is available for ThreatScan v2.0, v2.1, and v2.5.
Variants
Variants -
N/A
