Email-Worm:W32/Sober.P

Removal

Disinfection Utility

F-Secure provides a simple disinfection utility to eliminate Sober.P worm infection. You can download this utility from our ftp site:

ftp://ftp.europe.f-secure.com/anti-virus/tools/sober_p_disinfect.zip
ftp://ftp.europe.f-secure.com/anti-virus/tools/sober_p_disinfect.bat (unpacked version)

Disinfection instructions can be found here:

ftp://ftp.europe.f-secure.com/anti-virus/tools/sober_p_disinfect.txt

A False Positive is when a file is incorrectly detected as harmful, usually because its code or behavior resembles known harmful programs. A False Positive will usually be fixed in a subsequent database update without any action needed on your part. If you wish, you may also:

Check for the latest database updates

First check if your F-Secure security program is using the latest updates, then try scanning the file again.
Submit a sample

After checking, if you still believe the file is incorrectly detected, you can submit a sample of it for re-analysis.

Note: If the file was moved to quarantine, you need to collect the file from quarantine before you can submit it.
Exclude a file from further scanning

If you are certain that the file is safe and want to continue using it, you can exclude it from further scanning by the F-Secure security product.

Note: You need administrative rights to change the settings.

Technical Details

Email-Worm:W32/Sober.P was found on May 2nd, 2005. It sends itself as an attachment in email messages with English or German texts. The worm is written in Visual Basic, UPX-packed PE executable about 52 kilobytes long.

The worm sends different types of email messages with English and German texts and an attachment. The attachment is a ZIP archive containing the worm's executable.

Update on May 13th, 2005 -

Since Sober.P worm stopped its spreading, we are downgrading its Radar level.

Installation

Once run, it will display a decoy error message:

It will then drop three new files "services.exe", "csrss.exe" and "smss.exe" into the %WinDir%\Connection Wizard\Status\ folder, created by the worm. All dropped files are closely related to the original worm's binary.

Sober.P worm adds startup keys for "services.exe" in System Registry:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run " WinStart" %WinDir%\Connection Wizard\Status\services.exe

Upon reboot, this file will start the other two executable files.

The worm also creates several files in its installation directory:

packed1.sbr
packed2.sbr
packed3.sbr

These files contain BASE64-encoded representation of the Worm's body. These files are used later when sending email messages.

Payload

free.pages.at
home.arcor.de
people.freenet.de
scifi.pages.at
home.pages.at

The following list of NTP servers are checked:

Rolex.PeachNet.edu
cuckoo.nevada.edu
ntp-1.ece.cmu.edu
ntp-sop.inria.fr
ntp.lth.se
ntp.massayonet.com.br
ntp.metas.ch
ntp.pads.ufrj.br
ntp1.arnes.si
ntp3.fau.de
rolex.usg.edu
sundial.columbia.edu
time-a.timefreq.bldrdoc.gov
time-ext.missouri.edu
time-server.ndo.com
time.kfki.hu
time.nist.gov
time.xmission.com
timelord.uregina.ca
utcnist.colorado.edu

Sober.P checks for its network connection using 'RasEnumConnections' win32 API call. If not successful, it tries to connect to several domains using TCP port 80.

The worm also queries the following list of DNS servers:

165.230.99.71
8.10.3.56
128.135.5.5
202.89.131.4
219.127.89.34
129.115.102.150
38.9.211.2
134.94.80.2
130.149.2.12
150.203.22.28
131.215.254.100
128.194.254.2
4.2.2.3
195.185.185.195
209.68.2.46
129.186.1.200
198.6.1.2
131.243.64.3
24.93.40.33
195.182.96.29
192.90.162.8
158.43.128.1
128.35.253.3
61.95.134.168
200.74.214.246
204.117.214.10
194.25.2.129
203.162.0.11
210.66.241.1
217.237.150.225
217.237.151.161
128.9.128.127
151.201.0.39
209.253.113.2
213.239.234.108
62.156.146.242
207.69.188.186
207.217.120.43
129.187.10.25
200.52.83.103
129.187.16.1
141.40.10.35
213.218.170.6
212.242.88.2
193.158.124.143

One of the following domains are queried from the DNS servers:

microsoft.com
bigfoot.com
yahoo.com
t-online.de
google.com
hotmail.com

Propagation (email)

The worm sends different types of email messages with English or German texts and its file attached. The attachment is a ZIP archive containing the worm's executable.

Before spreading the worm scans files with certain extensions on all hard disks to harvest email addresses. Files with the following extensions are scanned:

pmr
phtm
stm
slk
inbox
imb
csv
bak
imh
xhtml
imm
imh
cms
nws
vcf
ctl
dhtm
cgi
pp
ppt
msg
jsp
oft
vbs
uin
ldb
abc
pst
cfg
mdw
mbx
mdx
mda
adp
nab
fdb
vap
dsp
ade
sln
dsw
mde
frm
bas
adr
cls
ini
ldif
log
mdb
xml
wsh
tbb
abx
abd
adb
pl
rtf
mmf
doc
ods
nch
xls
nsf
txt
wab
eml
hlp
mht
nfo
php
asp
shtml
dbx

While harvesting for email addresses, if one of the following substrings is present:

ntp-
ntp@
ntp.
info@
test@
@www
@from.
support
smtp-
@smtp.
gold-certs
ftp.
.dial.
.ppp.
anyone
subscribe
announce
@gmetref
sql.
someone
nothing
you@
user@
reciver@
somebody
secure
whatever@
whoever@
anywhere
yourname
mustermann@
.kundenserver.
mailer-daemon
variabel
noreply
-dav
law2
.sul.t-
.qmail@
t-ipconnect
t-dialin
ipt.aol
time
freeav
@ca.
abuse
winrar
domain.
host.
viren
bitdefender
spybot
detection
ewido.
emsisoft
linux
google
@foo.
winzip
@example.
bellcore.
@arin
mozilla
iana@
iana-
@iana
@avp
icrosoft.
@sophos
@panda
@kaspers
free-av
antivir
virus
verizon.
@ikarus.
@nai.
@messagelab
nlpmail01.
clock

then the email address collected is discarded.

Based on the domain the e-message message is being designated to, either English or German language will be used. Usually domains such as:

.de, gmx.de, gmx.at, gmx.net, gmx.ch

will receive messages constructed in German language.

Example messages may have subjects:

Re: Your Password
Re: Registration Confirmation
Re: Your email was blocked
Re: mailing error
FwD: Ihr Passwort
FwD: Ihre email wurde verweigert
FwD: Ich bin's, was zum lachen ;)
FwD: Glueckwunsch: Ihr WM Ticket
FwD: WM Ticket Verlosung
FwD: WM-Ticket-Auslosung

and body texts:

Account and Password Information are attached!
Visit: http://www.[collected_url].com
This is an automatically generated email Delivery Status Notification. Mail-Header, Mail-Body and Error Description are attached Attachment-Scanner: Status OK,AntiVirus: No Virus found,Server-AntiVirus: No Virus (Clean)
 Passwort und Benutzer-Informationen befinden sich in der beigefuegten Anlage. *-* http://www.
*-* MailTo: PasswordHelp@

**** AntiVirus: Kein Virus gefunden **** "GMX" AntiVirus Service **** WebSite: http://www.gmx.de

Attachments:

mail_info.zip
our_secret.zip
Fifa_Info-Text.zip
okTicket-info.zip
free_PassWort-Info.zip
LOL.zip

One example of a mail Sober.P might send is a German message promising free tickets to the soccer world championships:

Herzlichen Glueckwunsch, beim Run auf die begehrten Tickets fr die 64 Spiele der Weltmeisterschaft 2006 in Deutschland sind Sie dabei.Weitere Details ihrer Daten entnehmen Sie bitte dem Anhang.St. Rainer Gellhaus --- Pressesprecher Jens Grittner und Gerd Graus --- FIFA Fussball-Weltmeisterschaft 2006 --- Organisationskomitee Deutschland --- Tel. 069 / 2006 - 2600 --- Jens.Grittner@ok2006.de --- Gerd.Graus@ok2006.de

Classification

Summary

Removal

Disinfection Utility

Technical Details

Update on May 13th, 2005 -

Installation

Propagation (email)

Email-Worm:W32/Sober.P

Classification

Summary

Removal

Automatic action

Disinfection Utility

Suspect a file is incorrectly detected (a False Positive)?

Technical Details

Update on May 13th, 2005 -

Installation

Propagation (email)