Lehigh Virus

Alias:
Strain:
detected when:November 1987
where:Lehigh University (Bethlehem/USA)
Classification:System virus (COMMAND.COM), RAM-resident
Length:555 bytes

Preconditions

Operating System(s):
Version/Release:
Computer model(s):All MS-DOS machines
Caroname:Lehigh

Attributes

Easy identification:Last two bytes of COMMAND.COM = A9h 65h; text found: ":\command.com".

Type of Infection:

COMMAND.COM only (stack space at end of file overwritten); RAM resident (no check if RAM infected before).

Infection Technique:
Infection Trigger:Uninfected COMMAND.COM in the root directory of used or current drive (checked by INT 21h)
Storage Media affected:
Interrupts hooked:INT 21h; INT 44h (Set as old INT 21h).
Stealth:
Tunneling/Selfprot:
Oligo/Polymorphism:
Encoding Method:
Damage:If A: or B: selected (if it is not the current drive), then sector 1 to 32 are overwritten with garbage read from BIOS and print-text (also from BIOS).
Damage Trigger:Infection counter = 4
Particularities:Not hardware-dependent: INT 21h, 26h used only
Similarities:---

Agents

Countermeasures:Several antiviruses (McAfee, Solomon, Skulason et.al.) successfully detect and eradicate this virus.
Standard means:---

Acknowledgements

Location:Virus Test Center, University Hamburg, FRG
Classification by:Daniel Loeffler (disassembly by Joe Hirst)
Documentation by:Daniel Loeffler
Date:June 30, 1990
Information Source:---

(c) 1996 Virus-Test-Center, University of Hamburg