W32/Spar-A

Category: Viruses and Spyware
Type: Win32 worm
Prevalence: Small Number of Reports

Download Download our free Virus Removal Tool - Find and remove threats your antivirus missed

W32/Spar-A is a P2P worm for the Windows platform.

W32/Spar-A copies an RAR archive of itself using over 300 filenames to a number of P2P folders, including those for the following applications:

  eMule
  LimeWire
  eDonkey
  Ares
  BearShare
  Kazaa
  Kazaa Lite
  Shareaza
  Warez

W32/Spar-A will also start or restart these applications.

W32/Spar-A attempts to copy itself to <System>\WinSpooler.exe and <Temp>\runme.exe and sets the following registry to run itself on startup:

HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer\Run
Windows Printing Driver
WinSpooler.exe

W32/Spar-A may display the following fake message:

  Patch applied succesfully! If your software is still trial maybe you need to install it before patch it.

W32/Spar-A drops the following files:

<Temp>\temp_01.exe (also detected as W32/Spar-A)
<Temp>\temp_01.rar (also detected as W32/Spar-A)
<System>\rar.exe (clean archiving utility)

The file temp_01.exe attempts to copy itself to <System>\WinUpdating.exe if run, and sets the following registry entry to run itself on startup:

HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer\Run
WinUpdating
WinUpdating.exe

download Try Sophos products for free
Download now