A new worm, disguised as a tribute to singer Avril Lavigne, is spreading quickly through the Internet, disabling security software as it goes.
The worm, known variously as Avril-A, Lirva and Naith, takes advantage of a year-old exploit in Outlook that allows the worm to run its code without waiting for a user to click on its attachment.
Besides attempting to disable anti-virus and security software on the infected machine, the worm also tries to open the Canadian singer`s Web site on the 7th, 11th and 24th of the month. It spreads by mailing itself to all addresses it finds on the infected machine. It is also able to copy itself into the root folder of shared drives, quickly spreading across networks.
The security flaw in Microsoft`s Internet Explorer that allows the worm to launch the attachment was first noted early in 2001. A patch for the flaw is available here.
Anti-virus company Symantec this morning upgraded the worm to category three status and says it has a high distribution. Symantec rates the damage caused by the worm as medium.
Security company MessageLabs reports that it has collected close to 19 000 copies of the worm since it was first detected on Monday. The company says the worm has been spotted in 91 countries, with Brazil, Italy, France, UK and the US among the worst hit.
The Avril Lavigne worm joins a growing list of celebrity viruses, the best known of which is the Anna Kournikova worm. Others include the Jennifer Lopez and Britney Spears worms.
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