McAfee > Theat Center > Virus Detail Page

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.

Characteristics

This is a class module virus for Word97 documents and templates. This virus will infect Word environments which have updated to SR1 update and above. This virus writes a hidden temp file to the root of the C: drive as "antiethan.___" as a transfer file to copy between it and host documents.

In some cases, documents infected will have their properties modified to the following:

Title = "Ethan Frome"
Author = "ISTA & K "
Keywords = "Anti Ethan"

When exiting Word97, a simple message box is displayed with the word "GoodByee".

There are comments in the code which are never displayed (typo included):
' ANTI Ethan Viurs
' Created 8 - May - 1999
' Updated 9 - May - 1999

Symptoms

Document property modifications as mentioned above, existence of the file "c:\antiethan.___", message box on exit of Word97 as mentioned above.

Method of Infection

Opening infected document will directly infect the global template NORMAL.DOT which will infect any document used in the Word environment.

Removal

All Users :
Script,Batch,Macro and non memory-resident:
Use current engine and DAT files for detection and removal.

PE,Trojan,Internet Worm and memory resident :
Use specified engine and DAT files for detection. To remove, boot to MS-DOS mode or use a boot diskette and use the command line scanner:

Additional Windows ME/XP removal considerations

Users should not trust file icons, particularly when receiving files from others via P2P clients, IRC, email or other mediums where users can share files.

AVERT Recommended Updates :

* Office2000 Updates

* Malformed Word Document Could Enable Macro to Run Automatically (Information/Patch )

* scriptlet.typelib/Eyedog vulnerability patch

* Outlook as an email attachment security update

* Exchange 5.5 post SP3 Information Store Patch 5.5.2652.42 - this patch corrects detection issues with GroupShield

For a list of attachments blocked by the Outlook patch and a general FAQ, visit this link .
Additionally, Network Administrators can configure this update using an available tool - visit this link for more information .

It is very common for macro viruses to disable options within Office applications for example in Word, the macro protection warning commonly is disabled. After cleaning macro viruses, ensure that your previously set options are again enabled.

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.

Characteristics

Characteristics -

This is a class module virus for Word97 documents and templates. This virus will infect Word environments which have updated to SR1 update and above. This virus writes a hidden temp file to the root of the C: drive as "antiethan.___" as a transfer file to copy between it and host documents.

In some cases, documents infected will have their properties modified to the following:

Title = "Ethan Frome"
Author = "ISTA & K "
Keywords = "Anti Ethan"

When exiting Word97, a simple message box is displayed with the word "GoodByee".

There are comments in the code which are never displayed (typo included):
' ANTI Ethan Viurs
' Created 8 - May - 1999
' Updated 9 - May - 1999

Symptoms

Symptoms -

Document property modifications as mentioned above, existence of the file "c:\antiethan.___", message box on exit of Word97 as mentioned above.

Method of Infection

Method of Infection -

Opening infected document will directly infect the global template NORMAL.DOT which will infect any document used in the Word environment.

Removal -

Removal -

All Users :
Script,Batch,Macro and non memory-resident:
Use current engine and DAT files for detection and removal.

PE,Trojan,Internet Worm and memory resident :
Use specified engine and DAT files for detection. To remove, boot to MS-DOS mode or use a boot diskette and use the command line scanner:

Additional Windows ME/XP removal considerations

Users should not trust file icons, particularly when receiving files from others via P2P clients, IRC, email or other mediums where users can share files.

AVERT Recommended Updates :

* Office2000 Updates

* Malformed Word Document Could Enable Macro to Run Automatically (Information/Patch )

* scriptlet.typelib/Eyedog vulnerability patch

* Outlook as an email attachment security update

* Exchange 5.5 post SP3 Information Store Patch 5.5.2652.42 - this patch corrects detection issues with GroupShield

For a list of attachments blocked by the Outlook patch and a general FAQ, visit this link .
Additionally, Network Administrators can configure this update using an available tool - visit this link for more information .

It is very common for macro viruses to disable options within Office applications for example in Word, the macro protection warning commonly is disabled. After cleaning macro viruses, ensure that your previously set options are again enabled.

Variants

Variants -

N/A