Perfume Virus
Virus Name: Perfume
Aliases: 765, 4711, G-Virus
V Status: Common
Discovered: December, 1989
Symptoms: .COM growth; decrease in total system & available free
memory; messages
Origin: Germany
Eff Length: 765 Bytes
Type Code: PRhCK - Parasitic Resident .COM Infector
Detection Method: ViruScan, F-Prot, AVTK, NAV, Sweep, IBMAV,
NAVDX, VAlert, PCScan, ChAV,
NShld, LProt, Sweep/N, Innoc, NProt, AVTK/N, NAV/N,
IBMAV/N
Removal Instructions: F-Prot, NAV, or delete infected files
General Comments:
The Perfume virus is of German origin, and has also been isolated
in Poland in December, 1989. This virus infects .COM files,
including COMMAND.COM.
The first time a program infected with the Perfume virus is executed,
the Perfume virus will install itself memory resident at the top of
system memory but below the 640K DOS boundary. Total system and
available free memory, as indicated by the DOS CHKDSK program, will
have decreased by 1,024 bytes. Interrupt 21 will be hooked by the
virus in memory. Also at this time, the Perfume virus will infect
COMMAND.COM if it was not previously infected.
Once the Perfume virus is memory resident, it will infect .COM
programs when they are executed. Infected programs will have a
file length increase of 765 bytes with the virus being located at
the end of the file. The program's date and time in the DOS disk
directory listing will not be altered. One text string is visible
in all infected files is:
"\COMMAND.COM"
The virus will sometimes ask the system user a question, and then
not run the infected program unless the system user responds by
typing 4711, the name of a German perfume. In the most common
variant of this virus, however, the questions have been overwritten
with miscellaneous characters.
Known variant(s) of Perfume are:
G-Virus 1.2: A later version of the Perfume virus described
above, this variant's size in memory is also 1,024
bytes, hooking interrupt 21. As with the original
virus, it infects COMMAND.COM when it becomes memory
resident if it was not previously infected. G-Virus
1.2 infects .COM programs when they are executed, adding
653 bytes to their length. The virus will be located
at the end of the file, and the file's date and time
in the DOS disk directory listing will not be altered.
The following text strings are visible within the viral
code in all G-Virus 1.2 infected files:
"G-VIRUS V1.2"
"Schon mal was von G-Virus geh”rt ?"
"\COMMAND.COM"
G-Virus V1.2 will display the second line of text above
as a message on the system display each time an infected
program is executed.
Origin: Unknown April, 1993.
See: Sorry