McAfee VirusScan On-Access Scanner All Processes settings must be configured to find unknown unwanted programs and trojans.

Overview

Finding ID	Version	Rule ID	IA Controls	Severity
V-14626	DTAM104	SV-56431r1_rule		Medium

Description
Due to the ability of malware to mutate after infection, standard antivirus signatures may not be able to catch new strains or variants of the malware. Typically, these strains and variants will share unique characteristics with others in their virus family. By using a generic signature to detect the shared characteristics, using wildcards where differences lie, the generic signature can detect viruses even if they are padded with extra, meaningless code. This method of detection is Heuristic detection.

Description

Due to the ability of malware to mutate after infection, standard antivirus signatures may not be able to catch new strains or variants of the malware. Typically, these strains and variants will share unique characteristics with others in their virus family. By using a generic signature to detect the shared characteristics, using wildcards where differences lie, the generic signature can detect viruses even if they are padded with extra, meaningless code. This method of detection is Heuristic detection.

STIG	Date
McAfee VirusScan 8.8 Local Client STIG	2016-03-31

Details

Check Text ( C-49336r1_chk )
Access the local VirusScan console by clicking Start->All Programs->McAfee->VirusScan Console. On the menu bar, click Task->On-Access Scanner Properties. Select All Processes. Under the Scan Items tab, locate the "Heuristics:" label. Ensure the "Find unknown unwanted programs and trojans" option is selected. Criteria: If the "Find unknown unwanted programs and trojans" option is selected, this is not a finding. On the client machine, use the Windows Registry Editor to navigate to the following key: HKLM\Software\McAfee\ (32-bit) HKLM\Software\Wow6432Node\McAfee\ (64-bit) SystemCore\VSCore\On Access Scanner\McShield\Configuration\Default Criteria: If the value dwProgramHeuristicsLevel is 1, this is not a finding. If the value is 0, this is a finding.

Check Text ( C-49336r1_chk )

Access the local VirusScan console by clicking Start->All Programs->McAfee->VirusScan Console.
On the menu bar, click Task->On-Access Scanner Properties.
Select All Processes.

Under the Scan Items tab, locate the "Heuristics:" label. Ensure the "Find unknown unwanted programs and trojans" option is selected.

Criteria: If the "Find unknown unwanted programs and trojans" option is selected, this is not a finding.

On the client machine, use the Windows Registry Editor to navigate to the following key:
HKLM\Software\McAfee\ (32-bit)
HKLM\Software\Wow6432Node\McAfee\ (64-bit)
SystemCore\VSCore\On Access Scanner\McShield\Configuration\Default

Criteria: If the value dwProgramHeuristicsLevel is 1, this is not a finding. If the value is 0, this is a finding.

Fix Text (F-49140r1_fix)
Access the local VirusScan console by clicking Start->All Programs->McAfee->VirusScan Console. On the menu bar, click Task->On-Access Scanner Properties. Select All Processes. Under the Scan Items tab, locate the "Heuristics:" label. Select the "Find unknown unwanted programs and trojans" option. Click OK to Save.