Content

Adware-ISearch

Type
Program
SubType
Adware
Discovery Date
04/28/2005
Length
Minimum DAT
4479 (04/28/2005)
Updated DAT
5211 (01/18/2008)
Minimum Engine
5.1.00
Description Added
04/28/2005
Description Modified
06/15/2005 3:36 AM (PT)
Risk Assessment
Corporate User
N/A
Home User
N/A

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Characteristics

McAfee(R) AVERT™ recognizes that this program may have legitimate uses in contexts where an authorized administrator has knowingly installed this application.  If you agreed to a license agreement for this, or another bundled application, you may have legal obligations with regard to removing this software, or using the host application without this software.
Please contact the software vendor for further information.

See http://vil.nai.com/vil/DATReadme.asp for a list of Program detections added to the DATs.

See http://vil.nai.com/vil/pups/configuration.htm for information about how to enable, disable, and exclude detection of legitimately installed programs.

Summary:

Upon execution, this application installs itself as a Browser Helper Object in Internet Explorer and pops advertisements. It redirects search keywords used in google to the site master.mx-targeting.com.

Privacy:

 No license agreement is displayed during installation, although one could be displayed by another installer if bundled with another application.

Installation:

Filenames and locations may vary from version to version.

Filename : build2.exe
MD5  : 9b06794eca8146f7fd7bf044f7b0e870

The following toolbar is installed near the system tray.



The following BHO is installed in Internet Explorer.

%WINDOWS%\ceres.dll
%WINDOWS%\isrvs\sysupd.dll

The following files are added to the system.

%WINDOWS%\Buddy.exe
%WINDOWS%\ceres.dll
%WINDOWS%\inst\3p_1n.exe
%WINDOWS%\isrvs\desktop.exe
%WINDOWS%\isrvs\edmond.exe
%WINDOWS%\isrvs\ffisearch.exe
%WINDOWS%\isrvs\mfiltis.dll
%WINDOWS%\isrvs\msdbhk.dll
%WINDOWS%\isrvs\sysupd.dll
%WINDOWS%\isrvs\isearch.xpi
%WINDOWS%\isrvs\icons\spywareavenger.ico
%WINDOWS%\isrvs\icons\virushunter.ico

The following registry entries are added to hook system startup.

  • HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\
    {950238FB-C706-4791-8674-4D429F85897E}
  • HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\
    {5B4AB8E2-6DC5-477A-B637-BF3C1A2E5993}
  • HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\
    {00000049-8F91-4D9C-9573-F016E7626484}
  • HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CeresDll.CeresDllObj
  • HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CeresDll.CeresDllObj.1
  • HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\CeresDll.CeresDllObj
  • HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\CeresDll.CeresDllObj.1
  • HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Interface\
    {BB0D5ADC-028D-4185-9288-722DDCE2C757}
  • HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\
    CurrentVersion\Explorer\Browser Helper Objects\
    {5B4AB8E2-6DC5-477A-B637-BF3C1A2E5993}
  • HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\
    Run|ffis
  • HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\
    Run|Desktop     Search

The following advertisements are displayed.



Symptoms

Installation of Browser Helper Object.
Displays advertisements.

Method of Infection

N/A. This is not a trojan or virus.

Variants

Variants

    N/A

All Information

Overview -

This is a Potentially Unwanted Program (PUP) detection. It is not a virus or trojan. PUPs are any piece of software which a reasonably security-or privacy-minded computer user may want to be informed of.

Aliases

  • Adware.ISearch.C (VirusBuster)
  • AdWare.ToolBar.ISearch.d (Kaspersky)
  • Adware/ISearch (Panda)
  • Spyware.ISearch (Symantec)

Characteristics

Characteristics -

McAfee(R) AVERT™ recognizes that this program may have legitimate uses in contexts where an authorized administrator has knowingly installed this application.  If you agreed to a license agreement for this, or another bundled application, you may have legal obligations with regard to removing this software, or using the host application without this software.
Please contact the software vendor for further information.

See http://vil.nai.com/vil/DATReadme.asp for a list of Program detections added to the DATs.

See http://vil.nai.com/vil/pups/configuration.htm for information about how to enable, disable, and exclude detection of legitimately installed programs.

Summary:

Upon execution, this application installs itself as a Browser Helper Object in Internet Explorer and pops advertisements. It redirects search keywords used in google to the site master.mx-targeting.com.

Privacy:

 No license agreement is displayed during installation, although one could be displayed by another installer if bundled with another application.

Installation:

Filenames and locations may vary from version to version.

Filename : build2.exe
MD5  : 9b06794eca8146f7fd7bf044f7b0e870

The following toolbar is installed near the system tray.



The following BHO is installed in Internet Explorer.

%WINDOWS%\ceres.dll
%WINDOWS%\isrvs\sysupd.dll

The following files are added to the system.

%WINDOWS%\Buddy.exe
%WINDOWS%\ceres.dll
%WINDOWS%\inst\3p_1n.exe
%WINDOWS%\isrvs\desktop.exe
%WINDOWS%\isrvs\edmond.exe
%WINDOWS%\isrvs\ffisearch.exe
%WINDOWS%\isrvs\mfiltis.dll
%WINDOWS%\isrvs\msdbhk.dll
%WINDOWS%\isrvs\sysupd.dll
%WINDOWS%\isrvs\isearch.xpi
%WINDOWS%\isrvs\icons\spywareavenger.ico
%WINDOWS%\isrvs\icons\virushunter.ico

The following registry entries are added to hook system startup.

  • HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\
    {950238FB-C706-4791-8674-4D429F85897E}
  • HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\
    {5B4AB8E2-6DC5-477A-B637-BF3C1A2E5993}
  • HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\
    {00000049-8F91-4D9C-9573-F016E7626484}
  • HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CeresDll.CeresDllObj
  • HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CeresDll.CeresDllObj.1
  • HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\CeresDll.CeresDllObj
  • HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\CeresDll.CeresDllObj.1
  • HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Interface\
    {BB0D5ADC-028D-4185-9288-722DDCE2C757}
  • HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\
    CurrentVersion\Explorer\Browser Helper Objects\
    {5B4AB8E2-6DC5-477A-B637-BF3C1A2E5993}
  • HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\
    Run|ffis
  • HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\
    Run|Desktop     Search

The following advertisements are displayed.



Symptoms

Symptoms -

Installation of Browser Helper Object.
Displays advertisements.

Method of Infection

Method of Infection -

N/A. This is not a trojan or virus.

Removal -

Removal -

Instructions on Enabling/Disabling Detection and Removal of Potentially Unwanted Programs

Variants

Variants -

    N/A