WUCRTUPD.EXE - A friend or villain ?

[SebastianMWS]

Yesterday I (finally) armed and protected my Win98SE old and battered laptop, following instructions I was given by a good soul on this forum. One of many guarding tools is ZoneAlarm that I left pretty much set to default. Today I started receiving alarms that WUCRTUPD.EXE application is trying to get an Internet access (outbound). Shortly, same warning came for WULOADER.EXE. I denied both for the time being.

It has to do something with recent installation of all available Windows Critical Updates, if I recall correctly, one of updates installed was automatic notification about new Critical Updates. The cause for concern is - I never set any time schedule for this reminders ! There are some pretty nasty things that can use a friendly WUCRTUPD.EXE feature, like W32/Ticton-AW32.Ticton. Internet sources are confusing, some advising to allow this process, others absolutely not, so I rather put my trust to this community. I'm posting just HijackThis log for now, I didn't examine the registers with Regedit yet, but with all this installed protection - Spyware Blaster, ZoneAlarm, WinPatrol, Norton Anti Virus, MVPS Hosts File, Google Toolbar ... shouldn't I be warned if this is a real threat ?

Please advise how to proceed (running Spybot ?), I feel much more comfortable to take care about regular Critital Updates check-ups myself, using some sort of scheduler, instead relying on feature that is prone to be abused by felons.

Logfile of HijackThis v1.99.1
Scan saved at 00:46:46, on 12.06.2006
Platform: Windows 98 SE (Win9x 4.10.2222A)
MSIE: Internet Explorer v6.00 SP1 (6.00.2800.1106)
Running processes:
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\KERNEL32.DLL
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\MSGSRV32.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\MPREXE.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\mmtask.tsk
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\MSTASK.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\KB891711\KB891711.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\ZONELABS\VSMON.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\EXPLORER.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\TASKMON.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\SYSTRAY.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\IRMON.EXE
C:\PROGRAM FILES\COMPAQ\PROGRAMMABLE KEYS 95\CPQKL.EXE
C:\PROGRAM FILES\COMPAQ\PROGRAMMABLE KEYS 95\CPQKT.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\ATICWD32.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\ATITASK.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\FPDISP3A.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\SPOOL32.EXE
C:\PROGRAM FILES\ONSPEC\USB DISK\FLASHKSK.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\INTERNAT.EXE
C:\PROGRAM FILES\NORTON ANTIVIRUS\NAVAPW32.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\USBMONIT.EXE
C:\PROGRAM FILES\BILLP STUDIOS\WINPATROL\WINPATROL.EXE
C:\PROGRAM FILES\ZONE LABS\ZONEALARM\ZLCLIENT.EXE
C:\PROGRAM FILES\ADOBE\ACROBAT 4.0\DISTILLR\ACROTRAY.EXE
C:\PCSYNC\QDCTRAY.EXE
C:\PROGRAM FILES\PSION\PSIWIN\PSCONSV.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\WMIEXE.EXE
C:\PROGRAM FILES\NETGEAR\WG511V2\WLANCFG5.EXE
C:\PROGRAM FILES\PSION\PSIWIN\ELOGERR.EXE
C:\PROGRAM FILES\SIOL\ADSL\APP\ENTERNET.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\DDHELP.EXE
C:\BOSTJAN\SOFTWARE\HIJACKTHIS\HIJACKTHIS.EXE
R1 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Window Title = Microsoft Internet Explorer provided by Encyclopćdia Britannica, Inc.
O2 - BHO: AcroIEHlprObj Class - {06849E9F-C8D7-4D59-B87D-784B7D6BE0B3} - C:\PROGRAM FILES\ADOBE\ACROBAT 6.0\READER\ACTIVEX\ACROIEHELPER.DLL
O2 - BHO: (no name) - {53707962-6F74-2D53-2644-206D7942484F} - C:\Program Files\Spybot - Search & Destroy\SDHelper.dll
O2 - BHO: Google Toolbar Helper - {AA58ED58-01DD-4d91-8333-CF10577473F7} - c:\program files\google\googletoolbar1.dll
O3 - Toolbar: &Google - {2318C2B1-4965-11d4-9B18-009027A5CD4F} - c:\program files\google\googletoolbar1.dll
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [ScanRegistry] C:\WINDOWS\scanregw.exe /autorun
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [TaskMonitor] C:\WINDOWS\taskmon.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [SystemTray] SysTray.Exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [IrMon] IrMon.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [Compaq PK Daemon] C:\Program Files\COMPAQ\Programmable Keys 95\CPQKL.EXE
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [Compaq PK Tray Notification] C:\Program Files\COMPAQ\Programmable Keys 95\cpqkt.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [SynTPLpr] C:\Program Files\Synaptics\SynTP\SynTPLpr.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [SynTPEnh] C:\Program Files\Synaptics\SynTP\SynTPEnh.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [AtiCwd32] Aticwd32.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [AtiKey] Atitask.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [FinePrint Dispatcher] C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\fpdisp3a.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [USB Disk] C:\PROGRA~1\ONSPEC\USBDIS~1\FLashKsk.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [Necutray] LEXAREJ0.EXE
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [internat.exe] internat.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [LoadPowerProfile] Rundll32.exe powrprof.dll,LoadCurrentPwrScheme
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [Norton Auto-Protect] C:\PROGRA~1\NORTON~3\NAVAPW32.EXE /LOADQUIET
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [Gene USB Monitor] C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\USBMonit.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [CriticalUpdate] C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\wucrtupd.exe -startup
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [WinPatrol] C:\PROGRAM FILES\BILLP STUDIOS\WINPATROL\winpatrol.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [Zone Labs Client] C:\Program Files\Zone Labs\ZoneAlarm\zlclient.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\RunServices: [LoadPowerProfile] Rundll32.exe powrprof.dll,LoadCurrentPwrScheme
O4 - HKLM\..\RunServices: [SchedulingAgent] mstask.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\RunServices: [KB891711] C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\KB891711\KB891711.EXE
O4 - HKLM\..\RunServices: [TrueVector] C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\ZONELABS\VSMON.EXE -service
O4 - Startup: Microsoft Find Fast.lnk = C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office\FINDFAST.EXE
O4 - Startup: Acrobat Assistant.lnk = C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 4.0\Distillr\AcroTray.exe
O4 - Startup: PC sync Quick Data Copy.lnk = C:\PCSYNC\QDCTRAY.EXE
O4 - Startup: PsiWin 2.3 Connection Server.lnk = C:\Program Files\Psion\PsiWin\Psconsv.exe
O4 - Startup: NETGEAR WG511v2 Wireless Assistant.lnk = C:\Program Files\NETGEAR\WG511v2\wlancfg5.exe
O8 - Extra context menu item: &Google Search - res://C:\PROGRAM FILES\GOOGLE\GOOGLETOOLBAR1.DLL/cmsearch.html
O8 - Extra context menu item: &Translate English Word - res://C:\PROGRAM FILES\GOOGLE\GOOGLETOOLBAR1.DLL/cmwordtrans.html
O8 - Extra context menu item: Cached Snapshot of Page - res://C:\PROGRAM FILES\GOOGLE\GOOGLETOOLBAR1.DLL/cmcache.html
O8 - Extra context menu item: Similar Pages - res://C:\PROGRAM FILES\GOOGLE\GOOGLETOOLBAR1.DLL/cmsimilar.html
O8 - Extra context menu item: Backward Links - res://C:\PROGRAM FILES\GOOGLE\GOOGLETOOLBAR1.DLL/cmbacklinks.html
O8 - Extra context menu item: Translate Page into English - res://C:\PROGRAM FILES\GOOGLE\GOOGLETOOLBAR1.DLL/cmtrans.html
O9 - Extra button: (no name) - {CD67F990-D8E9-11d2-98FE-00C0F0318AFE} - (no file)
O16 - DPF: {7F8C8173-AD80-4807-AA75-5672F22B4582} (ICSScanner Class) - http://download.zonelabs.com/bin/promotions/spywaredetector/ICSScanner37680.cab
O16 - DPF: {9A9307A0-7DA4-4DAF-B042-5009F29E09E1} (ActiveScan Installer Class) - http://acs.pandasoftware.com/activescan/as5free/asinst.cab
O17 - HKLM\System\CCS\Services\VxD\MSTCP: NameServer = 193.189.160.23,193.189.160.13

[kylethedarkn]

Allow them both they are both critical for security also i found a couple nasties.
Run HJT and check the following
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\KERNEL32.DLL

Also delete kernel32.dll from the windows system folder by using my computer

now upload the file C:\WINDOWS\scanregw.exe file to Jotti's and tell me the results.

[SebastianMWS]

Here are my results:

- I ran HijackThis to check and fix the line..

C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\KERNEL32.DLL

..but there was no such thing to check !? Is this OK that I don't see running processes after HijackThis shows the results, only in a saved text log ?

- Tried to delete KERNEL32.dll in SYSTEM folder, but I was not allowed to - "Specified file is being used by Windows"

- Uploaded Scanregw.exe to Jotti's, none of scanners could find anything suspicious , scan results are OK.

- I even looked into Registry with regedit, but found nothing fishy in RunServices.

So what's the story with this kernel32.dll ? Why do you think it's nasty or corrupted ?

[kylethedarkn]

Your right. Kernel32.dll is clean
My mistake I confused it with Kernel32.exe which is a key process to the Floodnet Virus.
BTW--are you still having any problems