Sophos

W32/Forbot-DN

Category
Type
What to do
Prevalence low high

Summary

 
How it spreads
  • Network shares
Affected operating systems Windows
Characteristics
  • Installs itself in the registry
Protection available since 14 January 2005 22:01:25 (GMT)
Detected by All Sophos products
  • Free virus, spyware, and adware scan
  • Test your existing anti-virus protection
  • Find threats your anti-virus missed

Action

More Information

W32/Forbot-DN is a network worm with backdoor functionality for the Windows
platform.

In order to run automatically when Windows starts up the worm moves itself to the Windows system folder as wreg.exe and creates the following registry entries:

HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run\
Microsoft Windows Registry Updater
wreg.exe

HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce\
Microsoft Windows Registry Updater
wreg.exe

HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunServices\
Microsoft Windows Registry Updater
wreg.exe

HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run\
Microsoft Windows Registry Updater
wreg.exe

HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce\
Microsoft Windows Registry Updater
wreg.exe

W32/Forbot-DN also creates its own service named "wreg", with the display name "Microsoft Windows Registry Updater".

Once installed, W32/Forbot-DN connects to a preconfigured IRC server and joins a channel from which an attacker can issue further commands. These commands can cause the infected machine to perform any of the following actions:

flood a remote host (by either ping or HTTP)
start a SOCKS4 proxy server
start an HTTP server
start an FTP server
portscan randomly-chosen IP addresses
execute arbitrary commands
steal information such as passwords and product keys
upload/download files

The worm can spread to unpatched machines affected by the LSASS vulnerability (see MS04-011) and through backdoors left open by the Troj/Optix Trojans.

RSS|Atom
Get reports about the latest virus and spyware threats delivered to your computer