Description
Win32.HLLM.Cyclone.3 is a mass-mailing worm which affects computers running under Windows 95/98/Me/NT/2000/XP operating systems. It is written in high-level programming language MS Visual Basic and is packed with PeTite compression utility.
The size of the program module of the worm, packed, is 18, 696 bytes.
The worm spreads via e-mail using its own SMTP engine. It can also spread through KaZaA.
The worm overwrites host files thus blocking the access of the infected computer user to web-sites of antivrius vendors.
Launching
To secure its automatic execution at every Windows startup the worm adds the value
\\\"Monitoring Service\\\"=\\\"%WinDir%\\\\Tasks\\\\svchost.exe\\\"
to the registry entries
Spreading
The worm spreads v-a e-mail, using its own SMTP engine. It harvests addresses for dissemination in files with .mbx, .wab, .html, .eml, .htm, .asp, .shtml, .txt and .dbx extensions it finds in the following folders:
%Internet Cache% %My Documents% %Application Data%\\\\microsoft\\\\address book\\\\ %Application Data%\\\\Mozilla\\\\Profiles\\\\default\\\\ %Application Data%\\\\Identities\\\\The mail message infected with the worm may look as follows.
Subject:
How cute is your credit card number!! :)) E-mail account disabling warning for %s RE: %s i have your password :) RE: Thank You! RE: details (%s) Password Reset For %s Undelivered Mail Returned to Sender (%s) about you Your account (%s) will be closed Your IP has been logged Mail Delivery System (%s) Mail Transaction Failed (%s) IMPORTANT %s! Confidential user information!Attachment:
document information.scr hello.exe hello.scr text.txt.exe untitled.exe secret!!.exe unknown1.exe CoolText.exe EULA-USA.exe secret!! password readmeUS hello***txtThe attachment extension can be.bat, .exe., .pif or .src.
KaZaA propagation
the worm queries the registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\\\Software\\\\Kazaa\\\\LocalContent \\\"DownloadDir\\\"
for KaZaA shared folder and copies itself there as follows:
Playboy Screensaver Dec 2003.scr Strip Girls-part%*.scr Sky lopez - Screensaver.scr Winamp5.01.exewhere * is a random digit.
Action
In order to avoid repeated infections, the worm creates a mutex \\\"%s!!!Bugs-Fixed!\\\" , where %s is a computer name. It copies itself as svchost.exe to the Windows\\\\Tasks folder.
One more copy WebCheck.pif the worm drops to the Startup folder in Documents and Settings.
Several more files are placed to the Windows\\\\System32folder:
01CHECK.DLL 01EML.DLL 01ENEL.DLL 01SEML.DLL 01URL.DLL 01VIS.DLLThe worm searches the files eula.txt, copies it to %temp%\\\\doc amd displays with Notepad.
The worm overwrites host file (in Windows NT/2000/XP it’s %SysDir%\\\\drivers\\\\etc\\\\hosts), thus blocking access to antivirus vendors’ web-sites:
www.symantec.com securityresponse.symantec.com symantec.com www.sophos.com sophos.com www.mcafee.com mcafee.com liveupdate.symantecliveupdate.com www.viruslist.com viruslist.com f-secure.com www.f-secure.com kaspersky.com www.avp.com www.kaspersky.com avp.com www.networkassociates.com networkassociates.com www.ca.com ca.com mast.mcafee.com my-etrust.com www.my-etrust.com download.mcafee.com dispatch.mcafee.com secure.nai.com nai.com www.nai.com microsoft.com www.microsoft.com support.microsoft.com update.symantec.com updates.symantec.com us.mcafee.com liveupdate.symantec.com customer.symantec.com rads.mcafee.com trendmicro.com www.trendmicro.comthe worm creates file Cyclone.v0.00002.htm in the Windows folder. The file contains the following text:
We need freedom in iran We don\\\'t want islamic republic