Whistler Bootkit

Discussion in 'Malware Help - MG (A Specialist Will Reply)' started by toastayy, Jul 25, 2010.

  1. toastayy

    toastayy Private E-2

    This was the only conclusive name to the trojan I believe that has infected my computer after running Combofix.
    It first seemed to start out as one of those rogue fake virus protection software that give you pop ups about how much your computer is not protected and it can runs scans and so forth. I did some research on the internet which told me to use mbam to remove it. I thought I did but after windows kept crashing and giving me blue screens everytime I tried to start it. Okay, I don't want to give you a long drawn out story but after that I used Avast to rescan my computer and it told me that there were about 5 files affected, but it could not remove them because it doesn't have access to the Systems Volume Information folder on my computer. More research was done, and I decide to join this forum and perform the initial scans that were stickied and here are my results:

    After SAS scan - Windows would not start correctly, which isn't unusual since I got infected, it went it to windows recovery mode and asked if I wanted it to repair
    It also went into a rather quick BSOD stage, and it was quick enough that I couldn't see the drive that was causing it.
    I had connection problem so I followed the steps to repair
    Stop: 0x000000A <- Not sure if that's the right number of 0s but that was the only thing i saw before it attempted to restart again.

    Moved on to Mbam: Already had it installed so I just ran it. Couldn't get it to update, gave me an error code and told me to contact support.
    Ran it with the 4/29/10 Database
    - Nothing Detected

    Ran ComboFix: It didn't perform exactly like the instructions said it would initially. It told me a rootkit was detected and i should restart my computer which I did, it then froze, I restarted it again and it finally did its thing. The log seemed to say that Whistler Bootkit was detected but i'll let you read that for yourselves. I received another BSOD which gave me the same numbers as above and added IRQ Less or Equal error, it restarted again, and then entered Windows Error Recovery mode again.

    Ran RootRepeal and MGTools, and the logs are attached.

    Any help would be greatly appreciated.

    Thanks
     

    Attached Files:

  2. toastayy

    toastayy Private E-2

    Here is the log file for MGtools.
     

    Attached Files:

  3. TimW

    TimW MajorGeeks Administrator - Jedi Malware Expert Staff Member

    Please also download MBRCheck to your desktop

    • Double click MBRCheck.exe to run (vista and Win 7 right click and select Run as Administrator)
    • It will show a Black screen with some information that will contain either the below line if no problem is found:
      • Done! Press ENTER to exit...

    • Or you will see more information like below if a problem is found:
      • Found non-standard or infected MBR.
      • Enter 'Y' and hit ENTER for more options, or 'N' to exit:

    • Either way, just choose to exit the program at this point since we want to see only the scan results to begin with.
    • MBRCheck will create a log named similar to MBRCheck_07.16.10_00.32.33.txt which is random based on date and time.
    • Attach this log to your next message.
     
  4. toastayy

    toastayy Private E-2

    Thanks for the quick response. Turns out everything is not okay, MBR detected the infamous whistler in my system. The log is attached.
     

    Attached Files:

  5. TimW

    TimW MajorGeeks Administrator - Jedi Malware Expert Staff Member

    Do you have all important data backed up? You really should do this before continuing since we will need to rewrite your MBR to fix this and while most times this can be done without any problem, these infections can react badly and that could result in a PC not being bootable. You really don't have much choice though since these infections are too dangerous to your security to leave on a PC.

    Also note if you have a Dell PC which uses a non-standard MBR ( or another manufacturer's who does similar to Dell) , fixing the mbr may prevent access the the Dell Restore Utility, which allows you to press a key on startup and revert your computer to a factory delivered state. There are a couple of known fixes for said condition, though the methods are somewhat advanced. If you are unwilling to take such a risk, you should not continue but you risk serious problems leaving this infection in place and thus your only other option would be to try using the Dell Restore Utility to return a factory ship state which will remove everything you additional you have put onto the PC.


    Now if you wish to continue and fix the malware - please do the following:

    * Run MBRCheck.exe
    * Wait until you see the following lines:
    o Enter 'Y' and hit ENTER for more options, or 'N' to exit:
    o Options:
    [1] Dump the MBR of a physical disk to file.
    [2] Restore the MBR of a physical disk with a standard boot code.
    [3] Exit.
    Enter your choice:

    * Please push the 'Y' key and then press Enter
    * When the program asks you to Enter your choice: enter 2 to Restore the MBR and press the Enter key
    * Now the program will ask you to "Enter the physical disk number to fix (0-99, -1 to cancel):"
    o Enter 0 and press the Enter key.
    * The program will show Available MBR codes as below

    * You need to select your version of Windows from the list. For example, enter 0 or 1 for XP or enter 3 for Vista.....etc. and then press Enter.
    * The program will prompt for confirmation. Type 'YES' and hit Enter.
    * Left click on the title bar (where program name and path is written). From menu chose Edit -> Select All
    * You will see all the text in the window get highlighted.
    * Hit the Enter key on your keyboard to copy all of the text into the clipboard.
    * Paste that text into Notepad, save it to your desktop as MBRfix.txt
    * Restart your PC.
    * Attach the MBRfix.txt file to your next message..

    Now please re-run MBRCheck.exe and attach that log also.

    Then run the C:\MGtools\GetLogs.bat file by double clicking on it (Note: if using Vista, don't double click, use right click and select Run As Administrator).

    Then attach the below logs:

    * C:\MGlogs.zip

    Make sure you tell me how things are working now!
     
  6. toastayy

    toastayy Private E-2

    Okay, so I did everything like you said, and now currently on the infected PC, it boots as far as the Dell logo screen, then shuts down, reboots to the logo screen and that's it. It just cycles through to the logo screen.
     
  7. TimW

    TimW MajorGeeks Administrator - Jedi Malware Expert Staff Member

    Do you have your OS cd? If you do, you will need to boot to it ( change the boot up order in the bios to the cd drive as first option). Then do a repair install. Let's me know.
     
  8. toastayy

    toastayy Private E-2

    And if I don't have the OS cd am I toast? because I have no clue where that is...
     
  9. TimW

    TimW MajorGeeks Administrator - Jedi Malware Expert Staff Member

    I have no idea why your system has done this. You could see if you can get into your restore partition still. I don't know what the key is, but on boot up it should tell you .....f12 maybe? '
    Otherwise, you will need to borrow a cd of the same version as what you had installed.
     
  10. toastayy

    toastayy Private E-2

    Yes, it is F12, on the boot menu it asks for Internal HDD, CD/DVD or On Board NIC, Bio Setup, Diagnostics. What should I be looking for?
     
  11. TimW

    TimW MajorGeeks Administrator - Jedi Malware Expert Staff Member

    I am not sure, but you can try diagnostics. Are you into the bios? There should be a different key to get you into the restore partition. Is f12 the only key that you get a prompt for when you boot up? What happens if you hit F8 to try to go into safe mode?
     
  12. toastayy

    toastayy Private E-2

    Yea, I tried the F8 key but it wouldn't boot into the recoveey partition mode. There is the F12 key and also the F2 key but all it does is give me information about the laptop hardware/software.. I spoke to dell and I was told that the cds that come with my laptop will be sent to me within 3 to 5 days, so maybe I can boot from the cd after it has arrived.
     
  13. TimW

    TimW MajorGeeks Administrator - Jedi Malware Expert Staff Member

    Good to know. Once they arrive, you can use them to either do a complete reformat and clean install ( which you may not want to do) or a repair install that may get your MBR back.
     
  14. toastayy

    toastayy Private E-2

    Okay, nevermind about the eject thing I found out you can use Fn+ F12. But alas, there is another problem :cry

    When I press F12 and try to boot the Windows Vista CD from the Cd/Dvd choice, all that happens is a black screen with a blinking dash...for a few seconds then it goes back into the cycle of reloading the Dell logo screen over and over again.

    I'm not sure what to do at this point. Any advice?
     
  15. TimW

    TimW MajorGeeks Administrator - Jedi Malware Expert Staff Member

    Did you go into the bios and change the boot order to cd first?
     
  16. toastayy

    toastayy Private E-2

    Yes, I press F12 go into the Boot menu and choose CD/DVD boot options...just a black screen then it does the dell logo thing
     
  17. TimW

    TimW MajorGeeks Administrator - Jedi Malware Expert Staff Member

    At this point you need to post in the software forum to try to get your system back up and running.
     
  18. toastayy

    toastayy Private E-2

    Hey Tim,

    Don't give up on me just yet. I managed to get it working after a few tries.

    I really appreciate all the help, and I was wondering if we could pick it up where we left off? last thing I did was run MBRCheck.
     
  19. TimW

    TimW MajorGeeks Administrator - Jedi Malware Expert Staff Member

    I believe that since you did a repair install, your MBR file is now good. But I would like you to get me a new C:\MGLogs.zip by running the C:\MGtools\GetLogs.bat file by double clicking on it (Note: if using Vista, don't double click, use right click and select Run As Administrator).
     
  20. toastayy

    toastayy Private E-2

    Here it is.
     

    Attached Files:

  21. TimW

    TimW MajorGeeks Administrator - Jedi Malware Expert Staff Member

    Phew.......your MBR is fixed and your logs are clean!!! Good deal!!

    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.
    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:




    Support MajorGeeks!
     
  22. toastayy

    toastayy Private E-2

    *sigh of relief* okay so I'm keeping SAS and Mbam. I think I'm going to scan my computer one more time with avast just to soothe my mind.

    Thanks again for all you help Tim, I really appreciate it.
     
  23. TimW

    TimW MajorGeeks Administrator - Jedi Malware Expert Staff Member

    You are most welcome. I am just glad that you now have a Vista CD for future use and that all is back working!! :)

    Since you still have the scanning tools>

    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.
    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:




    Support MajorGeeks!
     
    Last edited: Jul 31, 2010

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