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.

Aliases

• Pathetic

Characteristics

This virus propagates by infecting Word documents in Microsoft Word 97 and 2000. This virus consists of a module called Module11111111111111. It will infect the same Word document multiple times; each time it does that, Word will add another "1" to the module name. It is able to replicate under the SR-1 release of Word 97. It is able to do this by using a temporary file called C:\vb.txt to copy its code. It will turn off the macro warning feature of Word 97. This macro virus will always infect Word's normal.dot file.
The virus contains the comment:

'Pathetic I Know !

which is never displayed and from which it gets its name.

Symptoms

Each time it runs in will add two lines to the "C:\Autoexec.bat" file:

"@echo The beak of the salmon [UserName]"
"@copy c:\windows\*.ini super.ini /Y"

The first displays a message to the screen. The second will copy all the .INI files in the Windows folder together into one INI file. Since the other INI files have only been copied, the super.ini file can simply be deleted.

On May this virus' other payload will activate. It will close the active document each time it is opened.

Method of Infection

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.

Aliases

• Pathetic

Characteristics

Characteristics -

This virus propagates by infecting Word documents in Microsoft Word 97 and 2000. This virus consists of a module called Module11111111111111. It will infect the same Word document multiple times; each time it does that, Word will add another "1" to the module name. It is able to replicate under the SR-1 release of Word 97. It is able to do this by using a temporary file called C:\vb.txt to copy its code. It will turn off the macro warning feature of Word 97. This macro virus will always infect Word's normal.dot file.
The virus contains the comment:

'Pathetic I Know !

which is never displayed and from which it gets its name.

Symptoms

Symptoms -

Each time it runs in will add two lines to the "C:\Autoexec.bat" file:

"@echo The beak of the salmon [UserName]"
"@copy c:\windows\*.ini super.ini /Y"

The first displays a message to the screen. The second will copy all the .INI files in the Windows folder together into one INI file. Since the other INI files have only been copied, the super.ini file can simply be deleted.

On May this virus' other payload will activate. It will close the active document each time it is opened.

Method of Infection

Method of Infection -

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