[Solved] CPE457 Lab17-Malware Persistence

Lab Description: The following lab allows students to explore persistence mechanisms using the Windows API. The following are suggested resources:

• MSDN documentation
• Static disassembly tool such as IDA Pro
• Dynamic disassembly tool such as WinDbg

Lab Files that are Needed: persistence.exe

Lab Tasks:

1. How does the program use the Windows registry to gain persistence?The program adds HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionRunWebExBrowserExperience to the registry. This makes the program to run at startup.

2. How does the program remove itself from the original location?

The program opens itself with CreateFileA. It creates a file called WebExBrowserAgent.exe and writes itself to that file.

3. Discuss the significance of the location the program used for relocation. Also include your analysis on the naming conventions it used and how this may impact analysis.

The temp folder is often used because it is located on RAMDISK. This means faster writes. Temp folders also have read write access for the current user. The OS also cleans up the temp folder, so any incomplete writes, wont result in the malware getting corrupted.

Also, the program names itself after normal services like webEx to make itself look normal.