TDSS / Hiloti / MBR rootkit or what? RnRMe files attached

Discussion in 'Malware Help (A Specialist Will Reply)' started by bingo, Apr 12, 2011.

  1. bingo

    bingo Private E-2

    Hi Gang!
    Apparently it's time for my annual stubborn infection ;-)

    I've been at this for almost 3 days and I admit I may have deviated from standard MG procedure: fwiw, last time I did that I turned you guys on to the gooredfix tool ;)

    Anyhow I bashed away at this thing for awhile with my usual toolkit and recurring infections before finding TDSSKiller. I figured I'd do a 'read and run me' before running TDSSKiller, I ran SAS and MBAM and then decided I should run TDSSKiller before running combofix since it seemed the reinfections were coming pretty fast and furious... so I did, and then ran combofix, rootrepeal, and MGTools: I've attached 8 logs.

    installed the newest AVG free and its initial scan identified Win32/Heur in a very old copy of kazaa.exe I had lying around, and it's rootkit tool found nothing, but then i noticed the default settings were kinda slack...

    You can see that rootrepeal says I have MBR rootkit on my F, L, and N drives... I don't even know what MBR is but it seems from MG forums that these 3 external drives are non-bootable and can't have MBR to have a rootkit of? So maybe these are false-positives but I'm too nervous to even touch the external drives...

    likewise I'm generally nervous about the whole rig, but here's my main 3 questions:
    1) How do my logs look?
    2) What is MBR, and are those MBR rootkits false-positives or what?
    3) I read how some of these types of infections can even get into a router, and since my laptop is also acting strangely I'm concerned about that... is there some way to look at that?

    OH, PS: I know I have too much junk lying around my desktop: you oughtta to see my office! I've tried to change but it seems this is just the way I work ::slightly sheepish::

    Anyhow, thanks as always for your kindness and generosity :heart y'all are the best!

    -bingo
     

    Attached Files:

    bingo, Apr 12, 2011
    #1
  2. bingo

    bingo Private E-2

    TDSS / Hiloti / MBR rootkit or what? other RnRMe files attached

    the rest of the logs... thanks again!!
    -b
     

    Attached Files:

    bingo, Apr 12, 2011
    #2
  3. TimW

    TimW MajorGeeks Administrator - Jedi Malware Expert Staff Member

    Let's make sure TDDSKiller did it's job:
    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.


    Now tell me how things are running!!
     
    TimW, Apr 12, 2011
    #3
  4. bingo

    bingo Private E-2

    here's the mbrcheck log, it found something... things seem running OK.
    Earlier today I reset my router and ran gooredfix.
    I've attached that log as well.
    thanks!
    -k
    PS since running the readandrunme on this computer and my laptop, i have a file on both desktops called settings.dat ...it's just 15 bytes big in both cases.
     

    Attached Files:

    bingo, Apr 12, 2011
    #4
  5. TimW

    TimW MajorGeeks Administrator - Jedi Malware Expert Staff Member

    What is this drive:
    465 GB \\.\PhysicalDrive1 MBR Code Faked!

    Is it FreeAgent Drive? Is it just for backups?
     
    Last edited: Apr 12, 2011
    TimW, Apr 12, 2011
    #5
  6. bingo

    bingo Private E-2

    Yes Tim, that is "freeagent drive".
    It's mostly media-storage
     
    bingo, Apr 12, 2011
    #6
  7. TimW

    TimW MajorGeeks Administrator - Jedi Malware Expert Staff Member

    MBRCheck has a hard time with external drives. I wouldn't worry about it if you are not having any malware issues.

    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:


    Malware removal from a National Chain = $149
    Malware removal from MajorGeeks = $0

    Help Support MajorGeeks
    Buy Discounted Software @ Majorgeeks Store. Giveaways Too!

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    TimW, Apr 12, 2011
    #7
  8. bingo

    bingo Private E-2

    Thanks, Tim!
    I'll do the clean-up this evening, I have to go to work...
    I still have 3 questions:

    1) since running the readandrunme on this computer and my laptop, I have a file on both desktops called settings.dat ...it's just 15 bytes big in both cases. This is just a file that appeared on my desktop, wasn't there before running the RnR: any idea what it is?

    2) Um, so what IS MBR? ;)
    ...I'm guessing "Master Boot Record"... am I close?

    3) I've seen helpers at bleepingcomputer have warned in TDSS-related threads that some of these infections are "password-stealers"... does that seem to apply in my case? Should I get proactive about changing passwords and investigating whether I'm experiencing an identity-theft attack?

    Like i said, I'll tidy up tonight: thanks again for your help, and in advance for whatever light you can shed on my three questions!

    yours,
    -b
     
    bingo, Apr 12, 2011
    #8
  9. bingo

    bingo Private E-2

    OK, now AVG Resident Shield claims to have found virus Win32/Heur in the most recent of 49 Restore Points in a System Volume Information folder on my 1TB iomega external drive (not the FA GoFlex 1TB drive). While I'm not sure about a SVI folder on an external, I'm REALLY not sure about having 49 restore points on an external drive! the path is F:\System Volume Information\_restore{A2578CBA-012A-4EE9-9E3D-27D3F494A2B6}\RP595 ...I can navigate to the (hidden) SVI folder but can't open it. There's also a (hidden) AVG folder at the same level. What's up with that?
    I have run only part of the cleanup: Combofix uninstall procedure caused combofix to try to run, then exit with a complaint about AVG. Combofix no longer appears in my C-drive (nor qoobox). HJT did not appear in add/remove programs. MGClean.bat returned "the system cannot find the file specified", but MGtools.exe and MGTools folder are now gone from C-drive. I did not toggle system restore.

    ...and on we go :)

    thanks as always!
     
    Last edited: Apr 13, 2011
    bingo, Apr 13, 2011
    #9
  10. TimW

    TimW MajorGeeks Administrator - Jedi Malware Expert Staff Member

    Did you set up system restore to be using the external drive? If not, try deleting the folder.

    settings.dat is a hidden folder that has appeared due to running the procedures, it should have disappeared once you ran the MGClean bat. If not, go to the control panel, folders, right click it and under the view tab, reset system files to hidden.
    Yes, that is what it means.

    Some may be, so it is always a good idea when you have been infected to use a different computer and change your online passwords.

    Tell me what other issues you are having.
     
    TimW, Apr 13, 2011
    #10
  11. bingo

    bingo Private E-2

    Thanks, Tim!

    first
    I always unhide all folders etc... in any case this is on my DESKTOP: why would I have a hidden system folder on my desktop? Can I just throw it away?

    -----
    So: I have NOT toggled system restore...

    Remember that rootrepeal and mbrcheck BOTH warned of MBR issues on my external drives. Now last night:

    Today I learned what the SVI folder is and poked around a bit... I can open the SVI folder on my C: drive, and there are, in fact, 49 restore points in there. The SVI folders on my 3 externals are all locked, I can't look in them, and the AVG scan I ran last night also shows them as locked. However, all 3 external drive SVI folders show "folder empty" on mouse-hover. So AVG resident-shield says yesterday it sees an infected file in a restore point on the F drive, and today that restore-point is apparently on the C drive (where it should be), and AVG scanner can't see into the (now ostensibly empty) SVI-folder on the F-drive where the ostensibly-infected restore point was (or is?)...

    I guess I'm not having any clear 'problems' that I can point at except for anomalous AVG-notifications, but with rootrepeal saying "MBR Rootkit Detected!" on all 3 externals, MBRCheck saying "Found non-standard or infected MBR" for 2 or 3 externals, and AVG giving me warnings about a Trojan in an external's SVI file (which SVI file is ACTUALLY on the C-drive, maybe...), well, I guess I'm concerned that there's still something hiding, maybe moving itself around between SVI-folders: perhaps I should re-run some scans?

    I did try to look in those locked SVI folders using the Cacls tool from the command-line, but I'm lame at command-line and couldn't figure out how to get into the root-folder of an external...

    Anyhow, Tim, I'm sorry if I'm being a pest but I'm still pretty concerned: what can you tell me?

    OH, PS:

    No, I never set sytem restore to use external drives, but it seems possible that the back-up software that came bundled with the drives may have done that. In any case, I can't delete those folders from the externals: the folders are locked, access is denied.

    all the best!
    -b
     
    bingo, Apr 13, 2011
    #11
  12. TimW

    TimW MajorGeeks Administrator - Jedi Malware Expert Staff Member

    Did you do as I suggested and hide your system folders and files? If so, it should disappear.

    Have you toggled system restore? If you are doing backups to the external drive, a new backup should clear the restore files.

    RootRepeal can also not distinguish between a real MBR and what is on your external drive. It pretty much always reports an unknown or infected MBR on external drives.
     
    TimW, Apr 13, 2011
    #12
  13. chaslang

    chaslang MajorGeeks Admin - Master Malware Expert Staff Member

    No! It is a normal file and it is from running RootRepeal. ;) Running MGclean.bat normally removes it along with many other things the cleaning procedures install.
     
    chaslang, Apr 13, 2011
    #13
  14. TimW

    TimW MajorGeeks Administrator - Jedi Malware Expert Staff Member

    Let's see if we can't fix that drive.

    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 an external drive not being bootable.

    * 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 1 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.
     
    TimW, Apr 14, 2011
    #14
  15. bingo

    bingo Private E-2

    Hi Tim, thanks for this!

    I'm pretty overextended and it'll be at least a few days before I can get these drives backed-up :-o

    Do I understand correctly     that you think these are almost-certainly false-positives from MBRcheck and RootRepeal, that I can probaby ignore them, and you are suggesting this fix merely as a way to be absolutely sure?

    ...if so, I'll continue to compute with (guarded) confidence until I can buy another terabyte :)

    ...and offer my heartfelt thanks for now, until I can send you fresh logs from MBRcheck and MBRfix.

    Many many thanks!
     
    bingo, Apr 16, 2011
    #15
  16. TimW

    TimW MajorGeeks Administrator - Jedi Malware Expert Staff Member

    Did you toggle system restore with the external plugged in? I suggest you just keep an eye on things to be sure nothing else is causing any problems.
     
    TimW, Apr 16, 2011
    #16
  17. bingo

    bingo Private E-2

    Yes I did... and yes I will. Thanks again!!
     
    bingo, Apr 16, 2011
    #17
  18. TimW

    TimW MajorGeeks Administrator - Jedi Malware Expert Staff Member

    You are most welcome. Safe surfing. :)
     
    TimW, Apr 17, 2011
    #18

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