Energizer Removes Infected Battery Monitoring Software

Energizer Holdings, Inc. on Friday said that it had been notified by the U.S.-CERT Coordination Center that Windows software it had been offering for download contained a vulnerability.

The company said that the software, designed to complement its DUO USB battery charger by allowing users to view battery power levels on a connected computer, has been removed from Energizer's Web site and that the company has discontinued the sale of the charger.

Unlike past incidents in which malware has been distributed with a consumer product, like the infected digital picture frames sold by Best Buy in early 2008, the Energizer DUO USB battery charger does not ship with infected software.

Instead, the product's manual directs users to download the malware from Energizer's Web site.

"Energizer is currently working with both CERT and U.S. government officials to understand how the code was inserted in the software," the company said in a statement.

Energizer is advising its Windows-using customers to uninstall the software, which may require the manual removal of a file, Arucer.dll, which resides in the Window system32 directory.

The company also offers an version of this software that's compatible with Apple's Mac OS X. That version, however, does not contain any known vulnerability.

According to a U.S.-CERT advisory published on Friday, "Arucer.dll is a backdoor that allows unauthorized remote system access via accepting connections on 7777/tcp. Its capabilities include the ability to list directories, send and receive files, and execute programs."

Symantec security researcher Liam O Murchu on Friday published a technical analysis of what Symantec is calling Trojan.Arugizer.

He notes that the name "Liu hong" was found in the code and speculates that this could be the name of the Trojan's creator.

He also says that the Trojan will operate with or without the DUO USB charger plugged in.