New Rootkit Infection Requires Windows Reinstall, Says Microsoft

[nsane.forums]

Microsoft is telling Windows users that they'll have to reinstall the operating system if they get infected with a new rootkit that hides in the machine's boot sector. A new variant of a Trojan Microsoft calls "Popureb" digs so deeply into the system that the only way to eradicate it is to return Windows to its out-of-the-box configuration, Chun Feng, an engineer with the Microsoft Malware Protection Center (MMPC), said last week on the group's blog .

"If your system does get infected with Trojan:Win32/Popureb.E, we advise you to fix the MBR and then use a recovery CD to restore your system to a pre-infected state," said Feng.

A recovery disc returns Windows to its factory settings.

Malware like Popureb overwrites the hard drive's master boot record (MBR), the first sector -- sector 0 -- where code is stored to bootstrap the operating system after the computer's BIOS does its start-up checks. Because it hides on the MBR, the rootkit is effectively invisible to both the operating system and security software.

According to Feng, Popureb detects write operations aimed at the MBR -- operations designed to scrub the MBR or other disk sectors containing attack code -- and then swaps out the write operation with a read operation.

Although the operation will seem to succeed, the new data is not actually written to the disk. In other words, the cleaning process will have failed.

Feng provided links to MBR-fixing instructions for XP, Vista and Windows 7

Rootkits are often planted by attackers to hide follow-on malware, such as banking password-stealing Trojans. They're not a new phenomenon on Windows.

In early 2010, for example, Microsoft contended with a rootkit dubbed "Alureon" that infected Windows XP systems and crippled machines after a Microsoft security update.

At the time, Microsoft's advice was similar to what Feng is now offering for Popureb.

"If customers cannot confirm removal of the Alureon rootkit using their chosen anti-virus/anti-malware software, the most secure recommendation is for the owner of the system to back up important files and completely restore the system from a cleanly formatted disk," said Mike Reavey, director of the Microsoft Security Response Center (MSRC), in February 2010.

Since then, Microsoft has added a check for the Aluereon rootkit to all security updates so that when the malware is detected, the updates are not installed.

View: Original Article

[Ambrocious]

Wow, this root kit is highly predatory. I wonder what sort of mad man sat back and decided this was a good idea to create...

[Dodel]

More to the point what person thought it was a good idea to leave a most critical part of any system un-protected ?, it's 512kb of space yet it can cripple anything that needs it.

You cannot write protect the MBR, (Master boot record) which is just mental. However there are certain low level tools that allow you to backup / restore the MBR

Free tool here : MBR Backup Tool

I've never used this tool, nor am I affiliated with it (Just though I would get that out of the way), but there is a way around it rather than M$ a clean install.

Obviously the crux is that you could be backing up the actual infection and simply be restoring it every time, but for the tech savvy it's a handy tool.

Regards

Dodel

[marke68]

Now thats what i call a nasty rootkit,whoever wrote it is very skilled indeed.

[Ambrocious]

Brilliance and madness walk on adjacent roads, often sharing with each other. I'm supposing that it would take about the same amount of energy (maybe a bit more) to make a helpful program rather than making a horrible malicious code. What is it about darkness and mischief that makes people feel as if doing something like this makes them powerful?

[marke68]

Brilliance and madness walk on adjacent roads, often sharing with each other. I'm supposing that it would take about the same amount of energy (maybe a bit more) to make a helpful program rather than making a horrible malicious code. What is it about darkness and mischief that makes people feel as if doing something like this makes them powerful?

For once i actually agree with you :P i can only assume that the people who create this kind of stuff do it for reasons of vanity and to make money obviously,makes you wonder what these people could achieve if they were to go legit although the chances are they do legitimate coding and create the malicous stuff as a sideline.

[ffi]

why not install grub on the mbr and remove the infection from linux?