Aveo

Posted: August 18, 2016

Threat Metric

The Threat Meter is a malware assessment that SpywareRemove.com's research team is able to give every identifiable malware threat. Our Threat Meter includes several criteria based off of specific malware threats to value their severity, reach and volume. The Threat Meter is able to give you a numerical breakdown of each threat's initial Threat Level, Detection Count, Volume Count, Trend Path and Percentage Impact. The overall ranking of each threat in the Threat Meter is a basic breakdown of how all threats are ranked within our own extensive malware database. The scoring for each specific malware threat can be easily compared to other emerging threats to draw a contrast in its particular severity. The Threat Meter is a useful tool in the endeavor of seeking a solution to remove a threat or pursue additional analytical research for all types of computer users.

The following fields listed on the Threat Meter containing a specific value, are explained in detail below:

Threat Level: The threat level scale goes from 1 to 10 where 10 is the highest level of severity and 1 is the lowest level of severity. Each specific level is relative to the threat's consistent assessed behaviors collected from SpyHunter's risk assessment model.

Detection Count: The collective number of confirmed and suspected cases of a particular malware threat. The detection count is calculated from infected PCs retrieved from diagnostic and scan log reports generated by SpyHunter.

Volume Count: Similar to the detection count, the Volume Count is specifically based on the number of confirmed and suspected threats infecting systems on a daily basis. High volume counts usually represent a popular threat but may or may not have infected a large number of systems. High detection count threats could lay dormant and have a low volume count. Criteria for Volume Count is relative to a daily detection count.

Trend Path: The Trend Path, utilizing an up arrow, down arrow or equal symbol, represents the level of recent movement of a particular threat. Up arrows represent an increase, down arrows represent a decline and the equal symbol represent no change to a threat's recent movement.

% Impact (Last 7 Days): This demonstrates a 7-day period change in the frequency of a malware threat infecting PCs. The percentage impact correlates directly to the current Trend Path to determine a rise or decline in the percentage.

Threat Level:	8/10
Infected PCs:	166

First Seen:	August 19, 2016
Last Seen:	May 2, 2022
OS(es) Affected:	Windows

Aveo is a backdoor Trojan that gives remote attackers control over reading and writing files on your PC. Associated security issues may provoke the installation of new threats besides Aveo, or help the Trojan's administrators collect confidential information. Defenses against Aveo's campaign that malware experts currently recommend include scanning unidentified e-mail content and using anti-malware products to remove Aveo if it does succeed in installing itself.

Threat's Back Door into the Nation of Japan

In their simplest formats, backdoor Trojans are not extremely sophisticated threats but do include attack features capable of creating enormous security implications. Even ones based on previously-examined families may avoid outdated identification methods while collecting sensitive data, disabling essential settings or installing other programs. For an example specific to a single country, malware analysts can point out Aveo, a variant of DragonOK (or FormerFirstRAT).

Like its predecessor in backdoor attacks, Aveo only targets Japanese PC owners. Its installer is a disguised e-mail attachment that loads a spreadsheet in Japanese text while also installing Aveo, and then using a batch script for removing any file system-based traces of the act. The spreadsheet's contents invoke data related to a research initiative by the Saitama Institute of Technicalnology, providing a possible clue as to which entities are preferred targets.

Features of Aveo that malware analysts found significant include:

Aveo uses a Registry modification to maintain persistence in your system after any reboots.
Aveo transfers some essential system information, such as the version of Windows and IP addresses, to a C&C server. Remote attackers may use these identifiers for coordinating other attacks through their backdoor. Aveo conceals this traffic with an RC4 data-encrypting algorithm using a methodology identical to that of its 2015 family, DragonOK/FormerFirstRAT.
This backdoor Trojan also has simple, but comprehensive access to the infected PC's file system. Aveo may read existent content, write new data, examine drive lists and directories, and analyze any individual file attributes.

Excelling at Blocking Fake Excel Attacks

Besides its highly geographically-specialized campaign, Aveo's infection vectors also show other characteristics making their visual identification possible. PC owners believing themselves at risk should look for attachments using Microsoft Excel's spreadsheet icon, which the campaign uses to hide the fact that the attachment is an intentionally-misnamed executable. Since Aveo's installer includes a document as a distraction from its real purpose, seeing a spreadsheet open after launching the attachment isn't an indication of safety.

Aveo and FormerFirstRAT are not rated as being especially highly-developed threats by malware analysts but do provide fully-functional backdoors through which con artists may access and control your PC. Assume that Aveo is active until you take steps to disable it, such as booting directly from a recovery device. As always, your anti-malware programs, if kept patched, should detect and delete Aveo during their scheduled or manual system scans.

Ordinarily, e-mail is a technicalnological innovation that has provided incalculable benefit to individuals, businesses, governments and NGOs communicate with one another. However, Japanese PC users forgetting that digital communication also may be a threat attack vector soon may find themselves losing control of the PCs they own.

Technical Details

File System Modifications

Tutorials: If you wish to learn how to remove malware components manually, you can read the tutorials on how to find malware, kill unwanted processes, remove malicious DLLs and delete other harmful files. Always be sure to back up your PC before making any changes.

The following files were created in the system:

cd6d979280146c3205010ac3c4b81d02

File name: cd6d979280146c3205010ac3c4b81d02
Size: 241.68 KB (241688 bytes)
MD5: cd6d979280146c3205010ac3c4b81d02
Detection count: 23
Group: Malware file
Last Updated: August 19, 2016

Registry Modifications

The following newly produced Registry Values are:

HKEY..\..\..\..{RegistryKeys}SOFTWARE\microsoft\windows\currentversion\run\msnetbridge