Class
P2P-Worm
Platform
Win32

Parent class: VirWare

Viruses and worms are malicious programs that self-replicate on computers or via computer networks without the user being aware; each subsequent copy of such malicious programs is also able to self-replicate. Malicious programs which spread via networks or infect remote machines when commanded to do so by the “owner” (e.g. Backdoors) or programs that create multiple copies that are unable to self-replicate are not part of the Viruses and Worms subclass. The main characteristic used to determine whether or not a program is classified as a separate behaviour within the Viruses and Worms subclass is how the program propagates (i.e. how the malicious program spreads copies of itself via local or network resources.) Most known worms are spread as files sent as email attachments, via a link to a web or FTP resource, via a link sent in an ICQ or IRC message, via P2P file sharing networks etc. Some worms spread as network packets; these directly penetrate the computer memory, and the worm code is then activated. Worms use the following techniques to penetrate remote computers and launch copies of themselves: social engineering (for example, an email message suggesting the user opens an attached file), exploiting network configuration errors (such as copying to a fully accessible disk), and exploiting loopholes in operating system and application security. Viruses can be divided in accordance with the method used to infect a computer:
  • file viruses
  • boot sector viruses
  • macro viruses
  • script viruses
Any program within this subclass can have additional Trojan functions. It should also be noted that many worms use more than one method in order to spread copies via networks.

Class: P2P-Worm

P2P Worms spread via peer-to-peer file sharing networks (such as Kazaa, Grokster, EDonkey, FastTrack, Gnutella, etc.). Most of these worms work in a relative simple way: in order to get onto a P2P network, all the worm has to do is copy itself to the file sharing directory, which is usually on a local machine. The P2P network does the rest: when a file search is conducted, it informs remote users of the file and provides services making it possible to download the file from the infected computer. There are also more complex P2P-Worms that imitate the network protocol of a specific file sharing system and responds positively to search queries; a copy of the P2P-Worm is offered as a match.

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Platform: Win32

Win32 is an API on Windows NT-based operating systems (Windows XP, Windows 7, etc.) that supports execution of 32-bit applications. One of the most widespread programming platforms in the world.

Description

Technical Details

This worm is Win32 application 8192 bytes of length, it is able to infect Win32 systems only. To spread from computer to computer the worm uses the Gnutella peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing network (see http://gnutella.wego.com).

On infected computers the worm registers itself as Gnutella network node, listens to traffic of file requests and replies positive on these requests. The worm reports the file name that is being searched, but with EXE extension. If a remote user gets that reply and download the file, it gets a copy of the worm to its machine. The worm is not able to run by itself on remote computer, a user has to start the file to activate the worm routines.

While installing itself to the system the worm copies itself to Windows CurrentUser startup directory with "Gspot.exe" name and sets hidden and system attributes for that copy.

On next Windows startup the worm is automatically run by Windows (being placed in Startup folder), runs two threads (background processes) and stays in Windows memory. Under Win9x the worm also registers itself as a hidden (service) process (not visible in task list).

The worm's threads performs two actions:

The 1st thread reports "I'm Gnutella node, and here is file you are looking for."

The 2nd thread sends "the filename you are looking for" with ".exe" extension, and with worm code in it.

The worm code contains "copyright" text strings:

[Gspot 1-]
freely shared by mandragore/29A

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