MVF Virus

Virus Name: MVF Aliases: Arka, Arkanoid V Status: Rare Discovery: July, 1992 Symptoms: .COM file growth; TSR; system hangs Origin: USSR Eff Length: 1,898 - 1,909 Bytes Type Code: PRsCK - Parasitic Resident .COM Infector Detection Method: ViruScan, F-Prot, AVTK, Sweep, ChAV, NAV, IBMAV, NAVDX, VAlert, PCScan, NShld, AVTK/N, Sweep/N, NAV/N, IBMAV/N, Innoc Removal Instructions: Delete infected files General Comments: The MVF, or Arkanoid, virus was received in July, 1992. It is reported to be from the USSR. MVF is a polymorphic, memory resident infector of .COM files, including COMMAND.COM. When the first MVF infected program is executed, the MVF virus will install itself memory resident as a low system memory TSR of approximately 2.1K. Interrupt 21 will be hooked by MVF in memory. Once the MVF virus is memory resident, it will infect .COM programs when they are executed. If COMMAND.COM is executed, it will become infected. Programs infected with the MVF virus will have a file length increase of 1,898 to 1,909 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. The following text strings are encrypted within the MVF viral code, and are not visible in infected files: "????????COM" "THE MVF-FILEVIRUS" "Programmed 1991 by the MVF" "MAD Virus Factory" "No. 0001" "*.COM" Systems infected with MVF will experience system hangs when some .COM programs are executed. These hangs will occur very frequently once the boot copy of COMMAND.COM becomes infected. Known variant(s) of the MVF virus are: MVF-1954: Based on the MVF virus described above, this variant's size in memory is approximately 2.2K. It adds 1,954 to 1,969 bytes to the .COM programs it infects. Programs are infected when they are executed or opened for any reason. The virus will be located at the end of the file. The program's date and time in the DOS disk directory listing will not be altered. The following text strings are encrypted within the viral code: "THE MVF-FILEVIRUS" "Programmed 1991 by the MVF" "MAD Virus Factory" "28/9/91 - V1.6" "*.COM" As with the original virus, system hangs may occur when some .COM programs are executed. Origin: USSR November, 1992. MVF-1954B: Similar to the MVF-1954 variant, this is a very minor variant. It doesn't always infect .COM programs when they are opened. Origin: USSR November, 1992. MVF-1954C: Similar to the MVF-1954 variant, this is a very minor variant. Origin: Unknown April, 1993.