Information
RootRepeal is a new rootkit detector currently in public beta. It is designed with the following goals in mind:
- Easy to use - a user with little to no computer experience should be able to use it.
- Powerful - it should be able to detect all publicly available rootkits.
- Stable - it should work on as many different system configurations as possible, and, in the event of an incompatibility, not crash the host computer.
- Safe - it will not use any rootkit-like techniques (hooking, etc.) to protect itself.
Currently, RootRepeal includes the following features:
- Driver Scan - scans the system for kernel-mode drivers. Displays all drivers currently loaded, and shows if a driver has been hidden, and whether the driver's file is visible on-disk.
- Files Scan - scans any fixed drive on the system for hidden, locked or falsified* files.
- Processes Scan - scans the system for processes. Displays all processes currently running, and shows if a processes is hidden or locked.
- SSDT Scan - shows whether any of the functions in the System Service Descriptor Table (SSDT) are hooked.
* - falsified files are files which have their size mis-reported to the Windows API. Some rootkits use this to hide data.
RootRepeal is currently in public beta. Whereas every effort has been made to ensure compatibility with every system configuration on Windows 2000, XP, 2003 and Vista, it cannot be guaranteed. There is always some risk when scanning for rootkits. Before running RootRepeal, please make sure you have backups of all important data and have saved all open documents.
Frequently Asked Questions
Question: What is a rootkit?
Answer: A rootkit is a set of tools or a program that is designed to hide activity on a computer (legitimate or otherwise). A rootkit in itself is not malicious - many antivirus programs and some games (for example, nProtect GameGuard) use rootkit-like technology to hide or protect themselves. RootRepeal does not target any specific product or malware, but simply identifies rootkit-like activity on a computer and leaves the decision of what is malware or not to the user. For more information, please refer to the Wikipedia entry on rootkits here.
Question: How do I install/run RootRepeal?
Answer: Simply run RootRepeal.exe by double-clicking on it. No installation is necessary.
Question: How do I uninstall RootRepeal?
Answer: Delete RootRepeal.exe and (optionally) settings.dat, and reboot. RootRepeal is completely self-contained and no uninstallation is necessary.
Question: How do I know if I have a rootkit?
Answer: Run a system scan using the "Report" tab, and send the log to an expert for analysis. Some good resources are the forums at Sysinternals here, and the Castlecops forums here. If you are unsure if something is a rootkit, DO NOT DELETE IT!
Question: Does RootRepeal contain any malware/spyware/adware/other bad stuff?
Answer: Absolutely not! However, some Antivirus products may flag RootRepeal as malware because it is packed (compressed). See the VirusTotal link in the Download section for more information.
Question: What is the SSDT? Why is it important?
Answer: The SSDT is a table that stores addresses of functions that are used by Windows. Whenever a certain type of function is called, Windows looks in this table to find the address for it. However, a lot of rootkits and some legitimate software hooks this table, redirecting these requests. This type of hooking can be used to hide just about anything on Windows.
System Requirements
- Microsoft® Windows Vista®; Windows XP Professional or Home Edition; Windows 2000 with Service Pack 4; Windows 2003 Server
Note: Only x86 versions of Windows are supported. - 128MB of RAM.
- 600KB of hard-drive space.
Download
The latest version of RootRepeal can always be downloaded from this site.
The current version is: Version 1.1.2
Download: RootRepeal_1.1.2.rar
MD5 (of the EXE): E330BA6632915F79F662B5E7FDFD7B80
SHA-1 (of the EXE): 7BC755DF56972B16C98F1FD0858E56A8C6358AB3
VirusTotal Scan: http://www.virustotal.com/analisis/66f0be86f825fbdecec92f89ba2a5e4b
Because, as mentioned above, there is always an element of risk when scanning for rootkits, the author offers NO WARRANTY for RootRepeal. USE AT YOUR OWN RISK!
Changelog
Version 1.1.2
-Improved: Initialization speed.
-Fixed: Bugs in handling certain types of directories on NTFS.
-Fixed: "Could not find kernel file on disk" bug on initialization.
-Fixed: Bugs in scanning for hidden ADSs on NTFS.
Version 1.1.1 (link)
-Fixed: Bug in the files scan that causes a crash.
Version 1.1.0 (link)
-Added: SSDT scan page.
-Improved: Process scanning on Windows Server 2003 and Windows Vista.
-Improved: Process scan internals on all versions of Windows.
-Improved: Speed of the files scan.
-Improved: Windows Vista SP0 and SP1 support.
-Fixed: Bugs in the process scan.
-Fixed: Various small bugs, user-interface bugs.
-Fixed: Bypassing certain types of malware.
-Fixed: Minor bug while using "Wipe File" on a directory.
Version 1.0.2 (link)
-Added: Showing whether a driver's file is hidden on-disk.
-Added: Saving settings to a file.
-Improved: "Report" tab - generating a condensed report.
-Fixed: Process scan on Windows 2003 Server SP1+
-Fixed: BSoD when starting files scan.
-Fixed: Crashes while scanning NTFS partitions.
-Fixed: Previously terminated processes showing as "hidden" in the processes scan.
-Fixed: Bypassing malware that attempts to prevent raw-disk scanning.
-Fixed: User-interface bugs.
Version 1.0.0 (link)
-Initial release.
Contact
If you have questions or concerns regarding RootRepeal, please feel free to contact me at RootRepealNOSPAM@gmail.com. Remove the "NOSPAM" from the email address before sending. Please note that if you wish to send me a log, I may not be able to respond immediately.
If you have experienced a crash of RootRepeal, please include the words "RootRepeal crash" in the subject line, and I will try to get back to you as quickly as possible.