Sunbelt blog has the details on a spysherriff clone called pesttrap (distributed through pesttrap.com). I guess clone is not the best word as they’re calling it a “variant” which suggests to me that perhaps more has changed than just the name. SpySherriff, of course, is one of the “rogue antispyware” programs or “wolves in sheeps clothing” as I like to think of them.
Category: Spyware
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How-to Remove SpyAxe and SpywareStrike
There’s a good post at Spyware Confidential about the removal of the SpyAxe and SpywareStrike pests that are circulating widely these days. There is a good CastleCops Wiki page with Malware removal information on SpyAxe (With screenshots). Also, there is a good walkthrough of removal here, which includes instructions for smitremfix.
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AIM worm
Strange AIM worm going around. It apparently includes an interesting combination of rootkits, a rootkit detector, spyware/adware, and a specialized bittorrent client. The machines can then be controlled through IRC. Source seems to be the Middle East…
IM hackers then control a global botnet where their infections can be tested and payloads are pushed. Facetime traced these hackers to the Middle East.
The same IM hackers sent movies by way of IRC and their own version of BitTorrent, installing it without consent. Now the IM hackers are back with more, nastier malware, Rootkit Revealer and adware from 180solutions/Zango. -
Warning – old wolf in sheeps clothing cloned…
Our “good friend” spyaxe, which is one of the “wolves in sheeps clothing” that masquerade as security software, but in actuality are delivered WITH spyware, has a new clone. Apparently SpywareStrike is making the rounds, and has a website which is identical to the SpyAxe site and it looks to be the same program. The only thing that appears different is the new name. I guess with all the publicity over the spyaxe name, they figured they wanted a fresh start for the new year.
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More testing on the second WMF exploit
After my Windows 98 tests which failed to exploit the system with either the first or the second vulnerability, I started wondering how well the antivirus companies were doing in detecting this second exploit variation. I had setup and updated metasploit so I could test my Windows 98 SE install against the latest version of the exploit and with each connection to the locally hosted page I got a new random file. After I collected five of these I ran them through virustotal.com to see how well detection has come in just 24 hours.
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Version 2 of the WMF exploit vs Windows 98 SE
Ok, I wasn’t quite satisfied with the results of the tests against the first version of the WMF (Windows Metafile) zero day exploit that’s now up to 4 or 5 days or so… Windows 98 is listed as being vulnerable, but there are no patches or workarounds currently available for Windows 98 users. I was mostly curious to see if current exploits could wreck a Windows 98 system. The answer at this point is not that I can see.
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More WMF exploit testing on Windows 98
I’ve spent some more effort on trying to infect Windows 98 SE in a virtual machine with some of the exploit samples I can find. The first attempt was at a website with the .wmf download. No luck infecting the system there. Then, I’ve loaded up the image and visited kyeu dot info/WMF/ and tried each of the files there. I don’t have a zip handler in my Windows 98 SE image so that didn’t get tested, but I’m getting nowhere here. Gif opens with Explorer and gives a red x to indicate a broken image, the text file opens as a binary file viewed in a text editor, the htm file does the same only in explorer (I see what I’d usually see if I tried to open a binary file in a web browser…) The avi opens with Media Player and complains about it being an incompatible format.
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WMF exploit situation summary…
Since there’s been quite a bit of flux the last couple of days I thought I’d try to “reset” the situation and give a general overview of where we stand now with regards to the recent WMF zero-day exploit.
1st there is a vulnerability in the way Windows renders WMF (Windows MetaFile) image files that makes possible an exploitable buffer overflow allowing remote execution. There are at least two exploits for this vulnerability and it is not necessary for the wmf to have a name ending in .wmf (it could masquerade as jpg for instance.) The specially crafted WMF could be in a web page, email (html email), or other document. There are many possible vectors of entry for this.
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WMF Exploit — it’s worse…
This is going to be a rough start to the new year for IT staff and computer users….
There’s coverage at Incidents.org, the sunbeltblog and f-secure of the latest twist in what will likely be a BIG mess to clean up. It looks like there’s a someone spamming emails to tons of addresses with a specially crafted image (uses the WMF exploit.) It’s also a slightly different variant of the exploit.
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NEW exploit for the WMF vulnerability
Just when you thought we had a good understanding of the recent zero-day WMF (Windows metafile exploit) it’s worse. Sans is reporting on a new variation on the exploit released today. They have gone to yellow (again) to warn people. Here are some details. This exploit was “made by the folks at metasploit and xfocus, together with a anonymous source.”