W97M/Bibdot

This page shows details and results of our analysis on the malware W97M/Bibdot

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Threat Detail

Malware Type: Virus

Malware Sub-type: Macro

Discovery Date: 1999-12-08

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

4057 (1999-12-22)

Updated DAT

4057 (1999-12-22)

Minimum Engine

5400.1158

File Length

Description Added

2000-03-08

Description Modified

2002-09-18

Malware Proliferation

Characteristics

This virus propagates by infecting Word documents in Microsoft Word 97 and 2000. This virus consists of a module called Bible. It is not able to replicate under the SR-1 release of Word 97. Upgrading to the SR-1 release of Word 97 or later will stop it from spreading. It may still be able to activate its payload, if any. It will turn off the macro warning feature of Word 97. This is a stealth virus; it will attempt to intercept the macro viewing commands to attempt to hide its presence.

This macro virus will install an infected document into the Startup folder of Word because any Word document in the Startup folder is loaded whenever Word starts. The name of the file in the startup folder is bible.dot.

Symptoms

Existence of the file "bible.dot" in the startup folder of Office97.

If the user attempts to use viewvbcode to view the macros, it displays a different message box depending on the day:

"Sunday" - "I am controlling your Computer"
"Monday" - "Don't fear I am controlling man!"
"Tuesday" - "Don't fear maaaaaaaaaan!"
"Wednesday" - "Cool down man! "
"Thursday" -"You are a imbecile..! "
"Friday" - "You are a fool... Stupid jerk... ahh..ahh..ahh"
"Saturday" - "Pooda Mairre ninak vere joli elliode..! "

with the title "I am saying". Then it sets the system clock ahead one day.

If the user attempts to use Tools/Macro to view the macros, it displays the message box:

"Died"
"Oops..! macro expired..!! "

When starting Word, it displays a different message depending on the system clock:

"Weclome"
"Good Morning... [UserName]"
"Have a nice day"
where "Good Morning..." can be replaced with "Good Afternoon...", "Good Evening...", or "Good Night..." depending on the time of day.

On Feb 23, it displays the message
"Birthday"
"*** Today is my Birthday ***"

On Dec 25, it displays the message
"Christmas"
"*** Wish you a Happy Christmas ***"

On Jan 1, it displays the message
"New Year"
"*** Wish you a Happy New Year ***"

On Apr 1 before Noon, it displays the message
"Foolish"
"Today is your day! (Foolish day)"

Method of Infection

Opening infected documents will directly infect the global template and any file used on this system will become infected.

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.