Malware Defense History

by Dr. Nikolai Bezroukov.

Copyright: Dr. Nikolai Bezroukov 1994-2013. Unpublished notes. Version 0.80.October, 2013

Contents : Foreword : Ch01 : Ch02 : Ch03  : Ch04 : Ch05 : Ch06 : Ch07 : Ch08 : Ch09 : Ch10 : Ch11 : Ch12 : Ch13

Chapter 8: Spyware

Trojan:Win32/Tracur.AV

MS Encyclopedia entry
Updated: Sep 04, 2012  |  Published: Jul 26, 2012

Aliases
 

• Win32/Kryptik.AIZP (ESET)
• TR/Tracur.AV.6 (Avira)
• Trojan.AVKill.20834 (Dr.Web)

Summary

Trojan:Win32/Tracur.AV is a trojan that redirects Internet search queries to a malicious URL and allows backdoor access and control. It may also install other malware.

Disables several AV programs.

It is a member of the Trojan:Win32/Tracur family.

Symptoms

System changes

The following system changes may indicate the presence of this malware:

• The presence of the following files:
  
  dwnxzmqxa.dll
  egavp.dll
  goqkcl.dll
  hbpfdb.dll
  mvljo.dll
  onduhznwf.dll
  qseinzzqz.dll
  skorlmnjq.dll
  sshnkky.dll
  <system folder>\<existing DLL name>32.exe
  <Firefox profile>\<Profile1>\extensions\<random>@<random>.org.xpi, for example "[email protected]"
  
   
• The presence of the following registry modifications:
  
   

  In subkey: HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
  Sets value: "<malware value>", for example "Ares"
  With data: "rundll32.exe %LOCALAPPDATA%\<random folder>\<random folder>\<random>.dll, CreateInstance"

  In subkey: HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
  Sets value: "<malware value>", for example "Ares"
  With data: "rundll32.exe %APPDATA%\<random folder>\<random folder>\<random>.dll, CreateInstance"
   

  In subkey: HKCU\Software\<mutex name>\CLSID, for example "HKCU\Software\bwukqmmsyf\CLSID"
  Sets value: "<default>"
  With data: "<random globally unique identifier>", for example "{7d5b4281-35a1-4e0f-9c1d-cca2b6f45d50}"

Technical Information (Analysis)

Trojan:Win32/Tracur.AV is a trojan that redirects Internet search queries to a malicious URL, allows backdoor access and control and may also install other malware.

It is a member of the Trojan:Win32/Tracur family.

Installation

Trojan:Win32/Tracur.AV combines the names of two folders in the %LOCALAPPDATA% or %APPDATA% folder to create a new folder path, in the following format:

• %LOCALAPPDATA%\<folder 1>\<folder 2>\<random>.dll
• %APPDATA%\<folder 2>\<folder 1>\<random>.dll

Note: %LOCALAPPDATA% and %APPDATA% refer to variable locations that are determined by the malware by querying the operating system. The default installation location for the Local AppData folder for Windows Vista and 7 is "C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Local"; it does not exist in Windows Vista and 7.
The default installation location for the AppData folder for Windows 2000, XP, and 2003 is "C:\Documents and Settings\<user>\Application Data", and for Windows Vista and 7 it is "C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Roaming".

For example, if %LOCALAPPDATA% contains a folder called "Microsoft" and a folder called "Netscape", the DLL would be dropped in either one of the following folders:

• C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Netscape\dwnxzmqxa.dll
• C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Local\Netscape\Microsoft\dwnxzmqxa.dll

The trojan drops a malicious DLL component into the newly created folder path. In the wild, we have observed the DLL with the following file names:

• dwnxzmqxa.dll
• egavp.dll
• goqkcl.dll
• hbpfdb.dll
• mvljo.dll
• onduhznwf.dll
• qseinzzqz.dll
• skorlmnjq.dll
• sshnkky.dll

We detect the malicious DLL as Trojan:Win32/Tracur.AV and Trojan:Win32/Tracur.AN.

When run, Trojan:Win32/Tracur.AV drops a copy of itself to "<system folder>\<existing DLL name>32.exe", where <existing DLLname> refers to any existing Windows DLL file located in the system folder, for example "C:\Windows\System32\olecli3232.exe".

Note: <system folder> refers to a variable location that is determined by the malware by querying the operating system. The default installation location for the System folder for Windows 2000 and NT is "C:\Winnt\System32" and for XP, Vista, 7 and W8is "C:\Windows\System32".

Trojan:Win32/Tracur.AV modifies the following registry entries to ensure that its copy runs at each Windows start:

In subkey: HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
Sets value: "<malware value>"
With data: "rundll32.exe "%LOCALAPPDATA%\<first folder>\<second folder>\<random>.dll",CreateInstance"

In subkey: HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
Sets value: "<malware value>"
With data: "rundll32.exe "%APPDATA%\<first folder>\<second folder>\<random>.dll",CreateInstance"

Note: <malware value> uses the same name as <second folder>, for example:

In subkey: HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
Sets value: "Ares"
With data: "rundll32.exe "C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Ares\dwnxzmqxa.dll",CreateInstance"

In subkey: HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
Sets value: "Ares"
With data: "rundll32.exe"C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Ares\dwnxzmqxa.dll",CreateInstance"

Trojan:Win32/Tracur.AV also creates a mutex with a random name of ten characters, for example "bwukqmmsyf".

It creates the following registry entry, possibly as an infection marker in order to prevent multiple instances of the malware from running and possibly arousing suspicion:

In subkey: HKCU\Software\<mutex name>\CLSID, for example "HKCU\Software\bwukqmmsyf\CLSID"
Sets value: "<default>"
With data: "<random globally unique identifier>", for example "{7d5b4281-35a1-4e0f-9c1d-cca2b6f45d50}"

Payload

Redirects Internet search queries

Trojan:Win32/Tracur.AV redirects searches to a malicious URL when one of the following search engines are used:

• AlltheWeb
• AltaVista
• AOL
• Ask
• Bing
• Gigablast
• Google
• HotBot
• Lycos
• Netscape
• Snap
• Yahoo
• YouTube

To aid in its search-redirection payload, Trojan:Win32/Tracur.AV installs a Firefox browser extension by dropping a JAR archive file, with an .xpi extension, as follows:

<Firefox profile>\<Profile1>\extensions\<random>@<random>.org.xpi

Note: <random> contains ten randomly generated characters, for example "[email protected]".

Note: <Firefox profile> is taken from the profile paths of different user accounts that the trojan retrieves from the following registry entry:

HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList\<user ID>\ProfileImagePath

where <user ID> refers to your account identifier, for example "S-15-18".

The Firefox browser extension contains another JAR archive file, for example "printing.jar" or "performance.jar", that contains a malicious JavaScript file "overlay.xul", detected as Trojan:JS/Tracur.E.

Allows backdoor access and control

Trojan:Win32/Tracur.AV attempts to connect to a server via a random TCP port and waits for commands. Using this backdoor, an attacker can perform a number of actions on your computer, including the following:

• Control the Internet search redirection parameters of the malware
• Download and execute arbitrary files

Related encyclopedia entries

Trojan:Win32/Tracur

Trojan:Win32/Tracur.AN

Trojan:JS/Tracur.E

Analysis by Rodel Finones

Etc

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