rootkit.gen - swerftx.sys infection

B

BobLewiston

New Member
I'm infected with rootkit.gen (specifically: swerftx.sys, unique code IQ1LCWD7) at LBA sector 0 of my MBR. It's a "highly severe" Trojan which can enable a remote computer to take over my computer, among other things. I don't want to pay Webroot $100 to remove it for me. How do I remove it myself, or where can I learn how to do so? Or is there too much to learn just to save myself $100, or does it require special software that isn't available to the average person? Should I use ComboFix? (I've got it, but I've heard it can be dangerous.) Help!
 
Try running ComboFix;

Download and Run ComboFix
If you already have Combofix, please delete this copy and download it again as it's being updated regularly.
Note: Do not mouseclick combofix's window whilst it's running. That may cause it to stall
NOTE: IF COMBOFIX FAILS TO RUN TRY RENAMING THE FILE TO 'ANYTHING.EXE' WITHOUT THE QUOTES

Combofix should never take more that 20 minutes including the reboot if malware is detected.
If it does, open Task Manager then Processes tab (press ctrl, alt and del at the same time) and end any processes of findstr, find, sed or swreg, then combofix should continue.
If that happened we want to know, and also what process you had to end.

In your next reply i will need:
  • The ComboFix log
  • A fresh HiJackThis log
  • An update on how your computer is running
 
Try this procedure first before running combofix so we know whats on your system.

Please download Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware from here, here, here or here and save it to your desktop.
  • Double-click mbam-setup.exe and follow the prompts to install the program.
  • At the end, be sure a checkmark is placed next to
    • Update Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware
    • and Launch Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware
  • then click Finish.
  • If an update is found, it will download and install the latest version.
  • Once the program has loaded, select Perform quick scan, then click Scan.
  • When the scan is complete, click OK, then Show Results to view the results.
  • Be sure that everything is checked, and click Remove Selected.
  • A log will be saved automatically which you can access by clicking on the Logs tab within Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware

If you continue to experience problems after doing this, please post a HijackThis log by doing the following:

Download the HijackThis installer from here.
Run the installer and choose Install, indicating that you accept the licence agreement. The installer will place a shortcut on your desktop and launch HijackThis.

Click Do a system scan and save a logfile

Most of what HijackThis lists will be harmless or even essential, don't fix anything yet.

Post the logfile that HijackThis produces along with the Malwarebytes Anti-Malware log
 
rootkit removal never certain?

Thanks for the help. However, before I go to the trouble to follow your advice and possibly do something wrong, could anyone comment on the following?

I'm now reading the following online at the University of Minnesota's Safe Computing website (see http://safecomputing.umn.edu/guides/scan_unhackme.html):

Rootkits are a special kind of malware that are specifically designed to hide the activities of other viruses and worms, and compromise the operating system so that it may not be repaired. If your machine is infected with a rootkit, you will very likely not be able to regain complete control of the system. Reinstallation is highly recommended.

However, there are exceptional cases when you absolutely need to attempt to repair the system. Although no tool can guarantee results for rootkit identification and removal, there is at least one program which has show limited success from time to time in this area. It's called UnHackMe.
Click to expand...

It goes on to say:

Remember that in computer security there's no such thing as a silver bullet, and that you can't be certain which files were compromised by the viruses, worms and trojans on your machine. If you've been infected, you could still have "backdoors" riddled throughout your computer's operating system, and you should think very hard about reinstalling your operating system, and starting over from scratch.
Click to expand...

Does anyone know if you can never really be certain if you've succeeded in completely removing a rootkit? I'll reinstall the system and all my software if I really have to.
 
It depends on the infection really. Go ahead and follow my suggestion in running Malwarebytes and Hijackthis and post both logs back here and we'll go from there.
 
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