Win32/IRCBot.NHR

Posted: December 5, 2014

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:	9/10
Infected PCs:	19

First Seen:	December 3, 2014
Last Seen:	November 27, 2021
OS(es) Affected:	Windows

Win32/IRCBot.NHR is a backdoor Trojan capable of a variety of diverse attacks, targeting either the compromised machine or unrelated third parties, such as websites. With little to separate Win32/IRCBot.NHR from other IRC-based backdoor Trojans, Win32/IRCBot.NHR still has achieved notice through its recent campaign of distribution that leveraged a previously unused vulnerability found on the Internet Explorer. IE users are recommended to patch their systems immediately while anti-malware programs with database entries for this thread should be able to remove Win32/IRCBot.NHR.

The Latest News of New Trojan Attacks

Win32/IRCBot.NHR is a prototypical example of a multipurpose backdoor Trojan, with its latest distribution campaign exploiting a compromised news website for Bulgaria. Visitors using Internet Explorer were attacked by an as-of-yet unidentified exploit kit, which installed Win32/IRCBot.NHR and enabled third parties to gain remote access to their PCs. Some of the attacks that malware experts have associated Win32/IRCBot.NHR (and other backdoor Trojans) are as follows:

Exploiting your PC's resources to mine Bitcoins, generate artificial advertising traffic or flood websites with fake traffic (a DDoS attack). Although they don't target the 'host' machine, these attacks may impact your PC's performance and, in severe cases, damage the underlying hardware.
Allowing third parties to modify your PC's settings or files through the backdoor. Win32/IRCBot.NHR includes a command shell interface specifically for this purpose.
The distribution of other threats through automatic downloads and installations.

The vulnerability used to install Win32/IRCBot.NHR, labeled as CVE-2014-6332, has existed within Internet Explorer for nearly two decades since VBScript support was introduced to that Web browser. Other browsers are unaffected, but they may be vulnerable to additional vulnerabilities used by the same exploit kit. Many exploit kits may use more than one vulnerability in their attacks, which may enable Win32/IRCBot.NHR's installation even when your PC blocks individual attempts.

From Proof of Concept to Proof of Mischievous Intent

The so-called 'Unicorn' IE bug, dubbed for its rarity, has not been widely used by hackers, due to the relative complexity of doing so. However, the recent circulation of a proof-of-concept exploitation of this CVE-201406332 vulnerability has allowed third parties to make minor modifications to personalize the exploit's use for their individual goals. In the coming year, Win32/IRCBot.NHR may not be the only threat to be distributed by Unicorn.

Prior security measures, such as Internet Explorer's Enhanced Protected Mode, don't block this exploit. Although Microsoft has released a new security update meant to disable the exploit, PC users still will need to update their software for their browser's protection. PC users who use non-IE browsers are at less risk than IE users of being affected, although malware experts wouldn't recommend visiting the compromised domain.

Anti-malware alerts from any relevant software are likely to be the only symptoms of any visibility for Win32/IRCBot.NHR infections and such software always should be used for deleting Win32/IRCBot.NHR from your machine.

Win32/IRCBot.NHR

Threat Metric

The Latest News of New Trojan Attacks

From Proof of Concept to Proof of Mischievous Intent

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