Installation
It drops itself into your PC as the file %APPDATA%\verison.dll. It renames itself as <startup folder>\HpM3Util.exe so that it starts every time Windows starts.
It creates these registry values to store its configuration data:
In subkey: HKCU\SOFTWARE\Adobe\Adobe ARM\1.0\ARM
Sets value: "tLast_ReadedSpec"
With data: "<encrypted configuration>"
In subkey: HKCU\SOFTWARE\Adobe\Adobe ARM\1.0\ARM
Sets value: "tLastCollab_doc"
With data: "<encrypted configuration>"
Payload
Disables features of security software
This threat injecets itself into all 32-bit processes and then tries to unload these DLL files:
These files are used by certain security software, so if this threat is successful in unloading these files, your security software won't run properly.
Connects to a server
This threat tries to collect the following information about your PC:
- What operating system version you're running
- If it's running in a virtual environment
- What version of Adobe Flash is installed in your PC
- How many processors you have in your PC
- Your PC's GUID
It then tries to send the information to a server with a name generated using a specific algorithm.
Depending on commands from the server, it might also do the following on your PC:
- Update itself
- Update its configuration
- Load modules
Does click-fraud
It does click-fraud by generating fake clicks to ads in the server in 95.211.193.11 (the referrer is starmina.net).
It also hooks these APIs to hide its click-fraud activities:
- CoCreateInstance
- DialogBoxIndirectParamAorW
- GetCursorPos
- waveOutOpen
- waveOutSetVolume
Depending on how many processors you have in your PC, this threat might start one or multiple instances of these files, into which it injects itself to do its click-fraud activities:
It also creates these registry values to hide the browser while it does click-fraud:
In subkey: HKCU\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main\FeatureControl\FEATURE_BROWSER_EMULATION
Sets value: "twunk_32.exe"
With data: "9000"
Sets value: "winhlp32.exe"
With data: "9000"
Analysis by Shawn Wang