PUP.SecretSauce

Posted: December 13, 2013

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.

Ranking:	12,288
Threat Level:	2/10
Infected PCs:	7,656

First Seen:	December 13, 2013
Last Seen:	January 8, 2025
OS(es) Affected:	Windows

PUP.SecretSauce is an adware program that makes changes to your Web browser so it can be amenable to loading extra advertisements. In most cases, adware programs like PUP.SecretSauce aren't considered a threat, but they are frequent origin points for corrupted advertisement-based attacks against vulnerable computers, and also may have undesirable side effects on PC performance. Since malware researchers generally recommend deleting adware, and see no reason to recommend differently in the case of PUP.SecretSauce, a good anti-adware or anti-malware program used to uninstall PUP.SecretSauce immediately should be your standard response to its advertisements.

The Open Secret to the Bad Browsing Taste of PUP.SecretSauce

As a Potentially Unwanted Program without a robust marketing network, PUP.SecretSauce appears to be using the traditional standby of free software bundles to install itself onto new PCs. An adware product that proffers supposed benefits for your browser, PUP.SecretSauce's actual purpose is to load new advertisements, which PUP.SecretSauce may do without respect for any original website content or original browser settings. Malware researchers count some of the most common side effects of a PUP.SecretSauce and similar adware installation as follows:

PUP.SecretSauce may modify Web pages to host additional advertisements through side banners, sponsored search results, injected keyword links (also known as in-line text advertisements) and/or other common methods.
PUP.SecretSauce may load separate windows for advertisements, such as pop-unders and pop-ups.
PUP.SecretSauce may provide redirects to sponsored sites or advertisements through browser hijacks of your homepage or search engine.

PUP.SecretSauce doesn't try to damage your PC's security or steal private information, and can't be classified as a Trojan. However, malware experts almost never see any good come from letting a Potentially Unwanted Program like PUP.SecretSauce reside on a system indefinitely.

Sending the Weak Sauce Back to the Kitchen

Any adware program, no matter how seemingly benevolent, always has certain risks that are inherent in its advertising functions. PUP.SecretSauce, like other adware, may accidentally launch advertisements that could harm your PC. Protection from advertisement attacks should use general safe browsing habits, among which malware experts especially would encourage the disabling of JavaScript when it's not mandatory, regular patching of software and refusing software 'updates' or other downloads from advertising networks. When these common sense ideas are combined with solid anti-malware defense, your PC should be safe from any prospective harm that could be caused by PUP.SecretSauce.

Since adware programs tend to be unwilling to delete themselves properly, removing PUP.SecretSauce also should make use of those same anti-malware defenses. Other means of ridding your PC of PUP.SecretSauce may run various risks, such as not restoring all of your Web browser's settings for optimal safety.

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:

%PROGRAMFILES%\SecretSauce\updateSecretSauce.exe

File name: updateSecretSauce.exe
Size: 66.84 KB (66848 bytes)
MD5: c9e17861d3a96f605919f0b2f1275ce2
Detection count: 42
File type: Executable File
Mime Type: unknown/exe
Path: %PROGRAMFILES%\SecretSauce
Group: Malware file
Last Updated: December 18, 2013

Registry Modifications

The following newly produced Registry Values are:

CLSID{0ffd0ef2-dbe9-483a-80c4-d2c331da1ce4}{24B1AADD-EDA7-454D-B65E-14DC07CC7811}{E98BAC43-260C-4BB5-9CD5-75EE5BD6BF5E}Regexp file mask%WINDIR%\System32\drivers\wnetfilter2.sysHKEY..\..\..\..{RegistryKeys}Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Approved Extensions\{0FFD0EF2-DBE9-483A-80C4-D2C331DA1CE4}SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Tracing\updateSecretSauce_RASAPI32SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Tracing\updateSecretSauce_RASMANCSSOFTWARE\Microsoft\Tracing\utilSecretSauce_RASAPI32SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Tracing\utilSecretSauce_RASMANCSSOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\explorer\Browser Helper Objects\{0ffd0ef2-dbe9-483a-80c4-d2c331da1ce4}Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Ext\Settings\{0FFD0EF2-DBE9-483A-80C4-D2C331DA1CE4}Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Ext\Stats\{0FFD0EF2-DBE9-483A-80C4-D2C331DA1CE4}Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Ext\CLSID\{0ffd0ef2-dbe9-483a-80c4-d2c331da1ce4}SOFTWARE\SecretSauceSOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Tracing\updateSecretSauce_RASAPI32SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Tracing\updateSecretSauce_RASMANCSSOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Tracing\utilSecretSauce_RASAPI32SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Tracing\utilSecretSauce_RASMANCSSOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\explorer\Browser Helper Objects\{0ffd0ef2-dbe9-483a-80c4-d2c331da1ce4}SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\SecretSauceSYSTEM\ControlSet001\services\eventlog\Application\Update SecretSauceSYSTEM\ControlSet001\services\Update SecretSauceSYSTEM\ControlSet001\services\Util SecretSauceSYSTEM\ControlSet002\services\eventlog\Application\Update SecretSauceSYSTEM\ControlSet002\services\eventlog\Application\Util SecretSauceSYSTEM\ControlSet002\services\Update SecretSauceSYSTEM\ControlSet002\services\Util SecretSauceSYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\eventlog\Application\Update SecretSauceSYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\eventlog\Application\Util SecretSauceSYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\Update SecretSauceSYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\Util SecretSauceHKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\[APPLICATION]\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall..{Uninstaller}SecretSauce

Additional Information

The following directories were created:

%PROGRAMFILES%\SecretSauce%PROGRAMFILES(x86)%\SecretSauce

The following URL's were detected:

SecretSauce