AFAIK, you can't have a file without a file name of some sort. What happens
if you do a dir /b in the directory? What do you get if you use PowerShell
to enumerate the directory? Are you sure that it's not creating an ADS? Try
this to make sure: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb897440

Kurt

On Sat, Oct 29, 2011 at 12:47, Tammy <[email protected]> wrote:

> Hi,
>
> Interesting issue.
>
> One of the variants of sirefef/zeroaccess trojan while it infects several
> 3rd party exe files that usually run as services such as google updater
> service (just as an example) also in the same directory creates a totally
> blank file. No file name & no extension. File is completely blank.
> Having the AV repair infected exes is not an issue.
> Removing the main rootkit(s) is not an issue.
> Issue is mostly with 64 bit vista/windows7
>
> Not usually an issue removing these blanks (on 32 bit OS) with the likes of
> GMER (an anti-rootkit tool) or if that is the only file in the directory
> (moved orig exe so nothing is in that directory besides the blank) & doing
> del *.* from cmd will wipe out the file.
>
> However if this file is there along with a bunch of others that cannot be
> moved out (even temporary) obviously I can't do del *.*.
> If it is in say the system32 directory (which is common) where tools like
> Gmer does not work because it is not compatible with the system (64 bit OS,
> critical server where one cannot chance a crash (gmer is not the most stable
> ARK tool on the planet) )
> The ones that seem to be the biggest issue are the ones that are burried in
> some \assembly sub directories where permissions are different anyways.
>
> Cleaning up the rootkit & infected exes then trying to do a system retore
> (because at this point the infection is not blocking it) is at best sketchy.
> Either it works well or blanks cause issues and restore brings OS to worse
> condition than half fixed infection.
>
> How can one look for & delete totally blank file names without nuking
> everything else in said directory?
> Biggest issue seems to be 64 bit OSes.
> No specific file size. All are different.
> Leaving said blank files often cause issues with whatever program this
> blank is in.
> These blanks also often cause issues with updating said software or
> successful uninstall/re-install.
> Often system directories are affected. (system32, drivers, assembly, etc)
>
> To further complicate things permissions on said file are trashed so
> nothing has enough access to it to remove.
> Cannot do it in explorer because windows cannot read the files. (I assume
> blank file names are illegal in windows)
> You can see them in explorer but cannot do anything from there.
> This blank is usually a copy of whatever exe that was infected.
>
> Because of the above...
> Most AV scanners when it hits this blank it is either haulted & can't scan
> any deeper so just hangs or passes the directory entirely without scanning
> contents. (so one cannot scan (or even properly monitor) the entire system
> until this file is cleared out)
> If you have a dozen of these files including a few in large system
> directories -- you can see how this can be a security issue.
>
> So to make a long story short (er).....
> 1. I need to be able to search entire drive for files with no file
> name/extension
>
> 2. I need to be able to adjust permissions on said files so I can delete
> them. (without messing with permissions on entire directory)
>
> 3. I need to delete said files without nuking the remaining contents of
> whatever directory these files live in.
>
> Google-Fu soes not seem to be working well.
> Ideas on a batch or script to perform the above?
>
> TIA!
>
> Tammy
>
> ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~
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~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/>  ~

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