Possible Rustock variant, cannot clean successfully

Discussion in 'Malware Help - MG (A Specialist Will Reply)' started by wired-solutions, Aug 30, 2010.

  1. wired-solutions

    wired-solutions Private E-2

    Hello, this is my first posting...
    I am an IT administrator for a company that has an infected PC which is possibly infected with a variation of the rustock spambot. It is causing the public IP address to appear on various RBLs. The CBL blacklist in particular mentions the rustock spambot when running a blacklist check on mxtoolbox.com. Running a "netstat -nap tcp" from the infected computer shows hundreds of connections to foreign IP addresses, using available ports from 3000-5000. The foreign connections were all on port 25. I have followed the instructions from the Readme and will post the appropriate log files. I believe the culprit MAY be a file called rhmot.sys, located in the ..\system32\drivers directory. But try as I might, I cannot delete or rename this file. It is in use by the system and the date/time constantly updates to current date/time. I have not been able to find any information on rhmot.sys
    I have used Icesword and Unlocker on it, neither has worked.
    Everything else on the PC seems clean, except for this one file, which seems very suspicious. I am hoping someone can help me out with this.
    Thank you
    Scott
     

    Attached Files:

  2. wired-solutions

    wired-solutions Private E-2

    Last file attachment...
     

    Attached Files:

  3. Kestrel13!

    Kestrel13! Super Malware Fighter - Major Dilemma Staff Member

    Hi there and welcome. I am currently reviewing your logs and will get back to you with a set of instructions in the next post I make to you.
     
  4. TimW

    TimW MajorGeeks Administrator - Jedi Malware Expert Staff Member

    While you are waiting on Kes, why have you not updated this system to sp3?

    In the meantime:

    Delete this directory if it is empty:

    C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Update

    Did you set the below policies yourself?


    * Make sure that combofix.exe that you downloaded while doing the READ & RUN ME is on your Desktop but Do not run it!
    If it is not on your Desktop, the below will not work.
    * Also make sure you have shut down all protection software (antivirus, antispyware...etc) or they may get in the way of allowing ComboFix to run properly.
    * If ComboFix tells you it needs to update to a new version, make sure you allow it to update.
    * Open Notepad and copy/paste the text in the below code box into it (make sure you scroll all the way down in the code box to get all lines selected ):
    Code:
    KILLALL::
    
    Driver::
    rhmot
    
    File::
    c:\windows\system32\drivers\rhmot.sys
    
    Registry::
    [-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\ControlSet001\Services\rhmot]
    
    
    * Save the above as CFscript.txt and make sure you save it to the same location (should be on your Desktop) as ComboFix.exe
    * At this point, you MUST EXIT ALL BROWSERS NOW before continuing!
    * You should have both the ComboFix.exe and CFScript.txt icons on your Desktop.
    If it asks you to overide the previous file with the same name, click YES.
    * Now use your mouse to drag CFscript.txt on top of ComboFix.exe
    [​IMG]
    * Follow the prompts.
    * When it finishes, a log will be produced named c:\combofix.txt
    * I will ask for this log below

    Note:

    Do not mouseclick combofix's window while it is running. That may cause it to stall.

    Now run the C:\MGtools\GetLogs.bat file by double clicking on it. Use NORMAL mode now not safe mode! (Note: if using Vista, don't double click, use right click and select Run As Administrator).

    Then attach the below logs:

    * C:\ComboFix.txt
    * C:\MGlogs.zip

    Make sure you tell Kestrel how things are working now!
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Aug 30, 2010
  5. wired-solutions

    wired-solutions Private E-2

    Kestrel and TimW:

    Attached are the logs requested after following instructions below.

    Good news is that the rhmot.sys file is now GONE!

    To answer the questions below:

    1) Yes I'm aware XP SP3 was not on the computer. That will be the next step after we verify it's clean.
    2) I did delete the C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Update directory - it was empty.
    3) The registry settings in question are applied from a group policy, put in place by a previous sys admin. This computer is on a Windows sbs 2003 domain. Are there any that are standing out that look "bad"?

    There are a few more registry keys for "rhmot", including the following:
    HKLM\SYSTEM\ControlSet003\Enum\Root\LEGACY_BEEP\xx_rhmot_xx
    HKLM\SYSTEM\ControlSet003\Services\rhmot

    Can I just delete these by hand, or run CCleaner? Whatever advice you give me I'll follow.

    I think the main problem is solved, rhmot.sys is gone. There is probably just some final cleanup left.
    I'll be awaiting your reply! You guys are great!
     

    Attached Files:

  6. TimW

    TimW MajorGeeks Administrator - Jedi Malware Expert Staff Member

    Those policies are fine, we were just interested it know if they were set by you or not. And you can manually remove the leftover reg. keys followed by running CCLeaner just to be sure.

    Otherwise, your logs are clean.

    If you are not having any other malware problems, it is time to do our final steps:

    1. We recommend you keep SUPERAntiSpyware and Malwarebytes Anti-Malware for scanning/removal of malware. Unless you purchase them, they provide no real time protection. They do not use any significant amount of resources ( except a little disk space ) until you run a scan.We recommend them for doing backup scans when you suspect a malware infection.
    2. If we had you use ComboFix, uninstall ComboFix (This uninstall will only work as written if you installed ComboFix on your Desktop like we requested.)
      • Click START then RUN and enter the below into the run box and then click OK. Note the quotes are required
      • "%userprofile%\Desktop\combofix" /uninstall
        • Notes: The space between the combofix" and the /uninstall, it must be there.
        • This will uninstall ComboFix and also reset hidden files and folders settings back to Windows defaults.


    3. Go back to step 6 of the READ ME and renable your Disk Emulation software with Defogger if you had disabled it.
    4. Any other miscellaneous tools we may have had you install or download can be uninstalled and deleted.
    5. If we had you download any registry patches like fixme.reg or fixWLK.reg (or any others), you can delete these files now.
    6. If running Vista, it is time to make sure you have reenabled UAC by double clicking on the C:\MGtools\enableUAC.reg file and allowing it to be added to the registry.
    7. Go to add/remove programs and uninstall HijackThis.
    8. Goto the C:\MGtools folder and find the MGclean.bat file. Double click on this file to run this cleanup program that will remove files and folders related to MGtools and some other items from our cleaning procedures.
    9. If you are running Win 7, Vista, Windows XP or Windows ME, do the below:
      • Refer to the cleaning procedures pointed to by step 7 of the READ ME
        for your Window version and see the instructions to Disable System Restore which will flush your Restore Points.
      • Then reboot and Enable System Restore to create a new clean Restore Point.

    10. After doing the above, you should work thru the below link:




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