Acid.A (intended)

This page shows details and results of our analysis on the malware Acid.A (intended)

Download Current DAT: 6609

Threat Detail

Malware Type: Virus

Malware Sub-type: Macro

Discovery Date: 1998-03-01

Next Steps:

Overview
Characteristics
Symptoms
Method of Infection
Removal

Overview

This is a virus detection. Viruses are programs that self-replicate recursively, meaning that infected systems spread the virus to other systems, which then propagate the virus further. While many viruses contain a destructive payload, it's quite common for viruses to do nothing more than spread from one system to another.

Minimum DAT

4002 (1998-12-02)

Updated DAT

4002 (1998-12-02)

Minimum Engine

5.1.00

File Length

Not Applicable

Description Added

1998-03-15

Description Modified

2001-08-20

Malware Proliferation

Characteristics

This virus was intended to propagate by infecting Word Documents in Microsoft WORD Version 97 on Windows platforms. The virus consists of the macro(s):

AUTOOPEN, FILENEW, FILESAVE, FILESAVEAS, FILEPRINT, FILEPRINTPREVIEW, TOOLSMACRO, VIEWVBCODE, FILETEMPLATES, KILLBAV, TIMER, ACID, ACID2

in an infected document. The macros are stored in a module ACID.

Symptoms

The virus will copy the viral code to the users NORMAL.DOT, but it hasn't proven successful in infecting document files. Future variants might replicate properly and have nearly identical features to this variant. On an infected system the virus hides the TOOLS|MACRO, FILE|TEMPLATES and VIEW|VBCODE functionality. The virus changes Microsoft Word in the main application title bar to ULTRAS. When opening a file, the virus searches for the following file group and deletes the files where possible:

C:\Program Files\AntiViral Toolkit Pro\*.*
C:\Program Files\Command Software\F-PROT95\*.*
C:\Program Files\McAfee\VirusScan\*.*
C:\Program Files\Norton AntiVirus\*.*
C:\Program Files\FindVirus\*.*
C:\f-macro\*.*
C:\Tbavw95\*.*

When opening a file on the 1st, a MessageBox like

ULTRAS

You Infected WM97.ACID by ULTRAS

is displayed. Then the active document is saved with the password ACID BY ULTRAS and this text is also inserted in the document in 65-Point blue letters.

When opening a file on the 9th, the same MessageBox is displayed. The virus saves the file with the password ULTRASand this text is also inserted in the document in 140-Purple letters.

When opening a file on the 17th, the virus inserts ULTRAS into the document and the virus searches for the following file group and deletes the files where possible:

C:\Autoexec.bat
C:\Config.sys
C:\Command.com

When opening a file on the 25th, the virus inserts ACID BY ULTRAS into the document and the virus searches for the following file group and deletes the files where possible:

C:\Windows\*.ini
C:\Windows\System\*.dll

Method of Infection

As this is an intended virus, there is no method of infect. It does not infect.

Removal

All Users :
Script,Batch,Macro and non memory-resident:
Use current engine and DAT files for detection and removal.

PE,Trojan,Internet Worm and memory resident :
Use specified engine and DAT files for detection. To remove, boot to MS-DOS mode or use a boot diskette and use the command line scanner:

SCANPM /ADL /CLEAN /ALL

Additional Windows ME/XP removal considerations

Users should not trust file icons, particularly when receiving files from others via P2P clients, IRC, email or other mediums where users can share files.

AVERT Recommended Updates :

* Office2000 Updates

* Malformed Word Document Could Enable Macro to Run Automatically (Information/Patch )

* scriptlet.typelib/Eyedog vulnerability patch

* Outlook as an email attachment security update

* Exchange 5.5 post SP3 Information Store Patch 5.5.2652.42 - this patch corrects detection issues with GroupShield

For a list of attachments blocked by the Outlook patch and a general FAQ, visit this link .
Additionally, Network Administrators can configure this update using an available tool - visit this link for more information .

It is very common for macro viruses to disable options within Office applications for example in Word, the macro protection warning commonly is disabled. After cleaning macro viruses, ensure that your previously set options are again enabled.