Threat Descriptions

Papa

Classification

Category :

Malware

Type :

Virus

Platform :

X97M

Aliases :

Papa, Poppa, Pappa, Bubba

Summary

X97M/Papa is an Excel 97 macro worm. It's quite similar to the widespread W97M/Melissa virus, but is probably not written by the same writer.

Removal

Based on the settings of your F-Secure security product, it will either move the file to the quarantine where it cannot spread or cause harm, or remove it.

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

The Papa.A variant has a serious bug in it's code and it does not work. This bug was fixed in the Papa.B variant which is able to spread via Internet.

Every time when a XLS file infected by Papa is opened, it emails a copy of itself via email, using Microsoft Outlook, to the first 60 people in the Address Book.

The email sent by the worm looks like this:

From: (name of infected user)
 To: (60 names from alias list of the infected user)
 Subject: Fwd: Workbook from all.net and Fred Cohen
 Urgent info inside.
Disregard macro warning.
 Attachment: XPASS.XLS

If the attached file is opened, it looks like this:

It is important to notice that Dr. Fred Cohen and the website at all.net have nothing to do with the worm. Authors of this worm simply want to harass him. In addition, the worm will try to overload the all.net web server by repeatedly pinging it.

The worm won't spread further to other XLS files, it just mails XPASS.XLS around.