PUP.Optional.AppMaster

Short bio

PUP.Optional.AppMaster is Malwarebytes’ detection name for a potentially unwanted program that behaves like adware.

Type and source of infection

PUP.Optional.AppMaster displays advertisements not originating from the sites you are visiting. PUP.Optional.AppMaster is usually installed by bundlers.

Protection

Malwarebytes protects users from PUP.Optional.AppMaster by blocking the sites that promote the bundlers.

Malwarebytes blocks pdfpro100.com

Remediation

Malwarebytes can detect and remove PUP.Optional.AppMaster without further user interaction.

Please download Malwarebytes to your desktop.
Double-click MBSetup.exe and follow the prompts to install the program.
When your Malwarebytes for Windows installation completes, the program opens to the Welcome to Malwarebytes screen.
Click on the Get started button.
Click Scan to start a Threat Scan.
Click Quarantine to remove the found threats.
Reboot the system if prompted to complete the removal process.

Add an exclusion

Should users wish to keep this program and exclude it from being detected in future scans, they can add the program to the exclusions list. Here’s how to do it.

Open Malwarebytes for Windows.
Click the Detection History
Click the Allow List
To add an item to the Allow List, click Add.
Select the exclusion type Allow a file or folder and use the Select a folder button to select the main folder for the software that you wish to keep.
Repeat this for any secondary files or folder(s) that belong to the software.

If you want to allow the program to connect to the Internet, for example to fetch updates, also add an exclusion of the type Allow an application to connect to the internet and use the Browse button to select the file you wish to grant access.

Traces/IOCs

Runkey:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run|AppMaster=%APPDATA%\appmaster\AppMaster.exe

Scheduled Tasks:

%SYSDIR%\Tasks\UpdatePrt

%WINDIR%\Tasks\UpdatePrt.job

Folder:

%appdata%\Roaming\AppMaster

Malwarebytes removal log

A Malwarebytes log of removal will look similar to this:

Malwarebytes
www.malwarebytes.com

-Log Details-
Scan Date: 9/13/18
Scan Time: 10:55 AM
Log File: c314ff23-b732-11e8-a33c-00ffdcc6fdfc.json

-Software Information-
Version: 3.5.1.2522
Components Version: 1.0.441
Update Package Version: 1.0.6803
License: Premium

-System Information-
OS: Windows 7 Service Pack 1
CPU: x64
File System: NTFS
User: {computername}\{username}

-Scan Summary-
Scan Type: Threat Scan
Scan Initiated By: Manual
Result: Completed
Objects Scanned: 252102
Threats Detected: 7
Threats Quarantined: 7
Time Elapsed: 3 min, 11 sec

-Scan Options-
Memory: Enabled
Startup: Enabled
Filesystem: Enabled
Archives: Enabled
Rootkits: Enabled
Heuristics: Enabled
PUP: Detect
PUM: Detect

-Scan Details-
Process: 0
(No malicious items detected)

Module: 0
(No malicious items detected)

Registry Key: 0
(No malicious items detected)

Registry Value: 0
(No malicious items detected)

Registry Data: 0
(No malicious items detected)

Data Stream: 0
(No malicious items detected)

Folder: 3
PUP.Optional.AppMaster, C:\Users\{username}\AppData\Roaming\AppMaster\Resources\PdfPro100, Delete-on-Reboot, [760], [559415],1.0.6803
PUP.Optional.AppMaster, C:\Users\{username}\AppData\Roaming\AppMaster\Resources, Delete-on-Reboot, [760], [559415],1.0.6803
PUP.Optional.AppMaster, C:\USERS\{username}\APPDATA\ROAMING\APPMASTER, Delete-on-Reboot, [760], [559415],1.0.6803

File: 4
PUP.Optional.AppMaster, C:\Users\{username}\AppData\Roaming\AppMaster\Resources\PdfPro100\shortcut.ico, Delete-on-Reboot, [760], [559415],1.0.6803
PUP.Optional.AppMaster, C:\Users\{username}\AppData\Roaming\AppMaster\AppMaster.exe, Delete-on-Reboot, [760], [559415],1.0.6803
PUP.Optional.AppMaster, C:\Users\{username}\AppData\Roaming\AppMaster\AppMaster.exe.config, Delete-on-Reboot, [760], [559415],1.0.6803
PUP.Optional.AppMaster, C:\Users\{username}\AppData\Roaming\AppMaster\pref.txt, Delete-on-Reboot, [760], [559415],1.0.6803

Physical Sector: 0
(No malicious items detected)

WMI: 0
(No malicious items detected)


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