After getting into Task Manager I saw a number of suspicious processes. There were a lot of things running as my user that I didn’t recognize. kernels64.exe, vxgame6.exe, vxgame4.exe, mm4.exe, vxh8jkdq2.exe, netsh.exe, cmd.exe, winstall.exe, vxgamet4.exe, vxgame2.exe covers most of the list of suspect entries. netsh and cmd are both legit programs, but were likely being used as remote shells. In other words they were legit, but not something that I expected to be running. (I didn’t have a cmd shell open..)
Tag: WMF
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Cleaning up after the WMF exploit
OK, I mentioned that I infested a virtual machine with the current WMF 0-day exploit. First I should probably clarify. An exploit is a means of getting in to a system. The payload is the software that is installed. In the case of my experience there was a long list of pests installed. Given that the exploit enables any software to be installed, your experience may be different. That’s the first thing I want to make clear, depending on where and when you were affected you may see vastly different malware.
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Microsoft Security advisory on WMF exploit
I’ve read the security advisory and unfortunately Microsoft doesn’t give any real workarounds. (There have been several announced from other sources.) Unfortunately, Microsoft: 1)urges caution in opening email and links from untrusted sources, and 2) wants you to call them if you’ve been affected by this. (1-866-PCSAFETY) and 3) make sure you have all updates (which currently don’t protect against this vulnerability) and a list of other things that don’t mitigate against this threat. Disappointing.
Correction — I just noticed, they do mention the “unregister” workaround, I missed it when I looked at the document I missed that you have to click on “workarounds” after viewing the “suggested actions” section. After all that time working on the virtual machine I’m probably not as sharp as I could be.
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WMF 0-day update
Last night while I was in the midst of infecting a virtual machine, Microsoft issued a release that there’s a “possible vulnerability”… fortunately, their technical document is a bit more straightforward… technet advisory here. Spyware Confidential also has a good roundup on the coverage so far. There’s a bit more disturbing stuff coming too…
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WMF zero-day exploit first hand experience
Well, I’ve just spent the better part of 6 hours (maybe a bit more) “sacrificing” a virtual machine to the zero-day Windows Meta File (WMF) exploit and all the malware that comes in. I picked one site from the sunbeltblog list to infect the virtual machine with and can attest to it being quite nasty. I was able to get the virtual machine *mostly* clean. I still haven’t gone back over it to try and make sure, but I’ll be posting some details from the “fun” tomorrow.
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Workaround for zeroday WMF exploit
It’s worth repeating a few things here. There is a nasty exploit in the way that WMF images are parsed in Windows. This means that WITHOUT user intervention a system can be remotely exploited and through that exploit various software (spyware, viruses, other malware) can be installed. There is no patch at this moment, I don’t know of my AV vendors that detect it (f-prot seems to according to their blog posts.) There is a workaround TO PREVENT INFECTION. If the system is already infected, reinstallation may be the only solution.
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Workaround for the critical WMF zero-day exploit
The Windows Meta File (WMF) zero-day (0-day) exploit is apparently, VERY nasty, no user intervention required (unless running firefox or opera). Just VISITING a malicous site (viewing a malicious email with image…) would be enough to get the system owned. It sounds as though a FULL reinstall is the best solution. Sunbelt has had some coverage…