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Virus Profile: W97M/Erab

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Virus Profile information details
Risk Assessment: Home Low | Corporate Low
Date Discovered: 11/10/2000
Date Added: 8/2/2001
Origin: Unknown
Length: N/A
Type: Virus
Subtype: Macro
DAT Required: 4106
Removal Instructions
   
 
 
   

Description

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.

Indication of Infection

Methods of Infection

Aliases

W97M.Erab.A
   

Virus Characteristics

This virus infects Word 97 documents and executes whenever a Word document is closed or created.

The virus searches through all of the ActiveProjects for an infected module and any uninfected documents.

If the virus finds an uninfected document, the virus infects it and continues to search for more; infecting any uninfected documents.

If the day is the 20th, Wednesday the 15th, or Wednesday the 16th the virus' payload is triggered. The payload checks for the existence of the "autoexec.bat" file. If the file exists, it appends the following strings to the file:

ECHO OFF
ECHO MORNNING BABY,I NEVER LOVE ANY LIKE YOU..NA
ECHO WHAT'VE EVER HAPPENED I STILL LOVE YOU....NA
ECHO SEE YOU AT THE MILKY WAY OR MOON RIVER....NA
ECHO I WAITING FOR YOU. I LOVE YOU....NA NA NA NAAAA
CTTY NUL
FORMAT C:/AUTOTEST /Q/U

The virus then displays two message boxes to the user. The first message asks:

"!!! HAVE YOU DONE BACKING UP YOUR IMPORTANT DATA YET???"

And the second message states:

"!!! HO PHAR JA.!!! PUM AE VA !!!! ITS TOO LATE FOR DOING THAT...SO SORRY...."

*This virus has 40 lines of comments at the beginning.

   
Use current engine and DAT files for detection and removal.

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.

AVERT Recommended Updates:

* Office 2000 updates

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