Bug 145490 - Bitdefender flagged the 2021.10.31 download of LO Dev infected with a virus
Summary: Bitdefender flagged the 2021.10.31 download of LO Dev infected with a virus
Status: RESOLVED NOTOURBUG
Alias: None
Product: LibreOffice
Classification: Unclassified
Component: LibreOffice (show other bugs)
Version:
(earliest affected)
7.3.0.0 alpha0+
Hardware: All All
: medium normal
Assignee: Not Assigned
URL:
Whiteboard:
Keywords:
Depends on:
Blocks:
 
Reported: 2021-11-01 12:02 UTC by xordevoreaux
Modified: 2024-02-29 06:02 UTC (History)
3 users (show)

See Also:
Crash report or crash signature:


Attachments
bitdefender message (13.12 KB, image/png)
2021-11-01 12:03 UTC, xordevoreaux
Details

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Description xordevoreaux 2021-11-01 12:02:14 UTC
Description:
Bitdefender caught file name pyono.pyd infected with Gen:Variant.Ulise.257598.
See screenshot.  I will uninstall this download and wait for a later iteration of the dev cut to see if this happens again.

This has never happened before. 

Not sure if it's related, but I did install (in the dev version) an extension (a pallet) which neither worked and was so badly malformed that LO could not remove it, forcing me to wipe out the user profile and use a back up of it:

https://extensions.libreoffice.org/en/extensions/show/hsv-color-palette



Steps to Reproduce:
1. In MS Windows, install 2021.10.31 download of Libreoffice dev.
2. Scan with Bitdefender

Actual Results:
Virus detected

Expected Results:
No virus should be detected.


Reproducible: Always


User Profile Reset: No



Additional Info:
Version: 7.3.0.0.alpha1+ (x64) / LibreOffice Community
Build ID: c6af59b234e8eb8182dc7f686290524feafd6ed6
CPU threads: 8; OS: Windows 10.0 Build 19043; UI render: Skia/Vulkan; VCL: win
Locale: en-US (en_US); UI: en-US
Calc: CL
Comment 1 xordevoreaux 2021-11-01 12:03:04 UTC
Created attachment 176059 [details]
bitdefender message
Comment 2 Mike Kaganski 2021-11-01 12:13:26 UTC
(In reply to xordevoreaux from comment #0)
> 1. In MS Windows, install 2021.10.31 download of Libreoffice dev.

Please mention where you downloaded it from, exactly.
Comment 3 Richard George 2021-11-01 13:16:06 UTC
Problem is with the scripting protection .. see the following from MalwareBytes.

I would like to welcome you to Malwarebytes Customer Support,
My name is xxxxx and I will be assisting you with your ticket # 3613653.
 
Very sorry to hear about the trouble you are having with Anti-Exploit protection blocking your program.
 
If you are 100% sure this is a false positive then you can do the following and see if it fixes the issue for you.
 
 
Open Malwarebytes by double-clicking the Malwarebytes icon on the desktop..Click the Settings icon in the top right.Click the "Security" tab.Scroll all the way down to "Exploit Protection" and click "Advanced Settings".Select the "Application Behavior Protection" tab.Look for the "Office scripting abuse prevention" row.Remove the checkmark under "MS Office".Click "Apply". 
 
To ensure the changes take effect:
 
Exit Malwarebytes by right-clicking the system tray icon and select "Quit Malwarebytes"Wait about a minute and re-launch Malwarebytes via the Desktop icon.
Comment 4 xordevoreaux 2021-11-01 13:50:22 UTC
(In reply to Mike Kaganski from comment #2)
> (In reply to xordevoreaux from comment #0)
> > 1. In MS Windows, install 2021.10.31 download of Libreoffice dev.
> 
> Please mention where you downloaded it from, exactly.

https://dev-builds.libreoffice.org/daily/master/current.html
Comment 5 xordevoreaux 2021-11-01 13:54:33 UTC
(In reply to Richard George from comment #3)
> Problem is with the scripting protection .. see the following from
> MalwareBytes.
> 
> I would like to welcome you to Malwarebytes Customer Support,
> My name is xxxxx and I will be assisting you with your ticket # 3613653.
>  
> Very sorry to hear about the trouble you are having with Anti-Exploit
> protection blocking your program.
>  
> If you are 100% sure this is a false positive then you can do the following
> and see if it fixes the issue for you.
>  
>  
> Open Malwarebytes by double-clicking the Malwarebytes icon on the
> desktop..Click the Settings icon in the top right.Click the "Security"
> tab.Scroll all the way down to "Exploit Protection" and click "Advanced
> Settings".Select the "Application Behavior Protection" tab.Look for the
> "Office scripting abuse prevention" row.Remove the checkmark under "MS
> Office".Click "Apply". 
>  
> To ensure the changes take effect:
>  
> Exit Malwarebytes by right-clicking the system tray icon and select "Quit
> Malwarebytes"Wait about a minute and re-launch Malwarebytes via the Desktop
> icon.

I already checked those options, and the idea of turning off protection for MS Office exploits -- one of the most widely-targeted software suites on this planet -- to avoid Malware Bytes shutting another product (LO) is asinine. Won't be doing it.
Comment 6 Mike Kaganski 2021-11-01 14:36:09 UTC Comment hidden (off-topic)
Comment 7 Buovjaga 2021-11-01 15:12:07 UTC
Please report it to Bitdefender.

Consensus has been building for years that antivirus software these days is useless and sometimes actually harmful: https://www.cbc.ca/news/science/antivirus-software-1.3668746
Comment 8 V Stuart Foote 2021-11-01 15:20:16 UTC
.
Comment 9 xordevoreaux 2021-11-01 15:49:41 UTC
I can promise you if I wind up reloading Windows because I virus from LO took out my operating system, you're going to hear about it, and no, I won't be removing either anti-virus product, and will keep reporting issues.  The one day you guys dismiss a potential problem is the day it bites the rest of us in the butt.
Comment 10 xordevoreaux 2021-11-01 23:22:29 UTC
Another interesting detail -- why did Bitdefender only identify a virus in LO Dev, but not in LO 7.2.2, which I also have installed?
Comment 11 Mike Kaganski 2021-11-02 05:34:05 UTC
(In reply to xordevoreaux from comment #10)
> Another interesting detail -- why did Bitdefender only identify a virus in
> LO Dev, but not in LO 7.2.2, which I also have installed?

That's exactly the problem that *you* try to put on *us*. The code didn't change; but *the build* is different - e.g., containing debug symbols, etc - and the antivirus uses its imperfect (it is never perfect!) heuristics and "detects" some pattern in these bytes, generated from the same code with different compiler settings. Antivirus heuristics always have *some* level of false positives - it is known fact to everyone, antivirus authors included. Only you seem to not understand that fact, trying to blame something you don't understand.
Comment 12 Mike Kaganski 2021-11-02 05:37:29 UTC
(In reply to Mike Kaganski from comment #11)

Or maybe the antivirus vendor is smart enough to detect LibreOffice, recognizing the *released* versions like 7.2.2, not scaring users with the false positives; but indeed, it would not detect a debug daily build, and then clueless users that for some unknown reason using alpha-stage dailies would again blame something that don't understand. Or many other reasons ... and the aggression that some users show in their reports shows that not everyone can be reasonable.
Comment 13 xordevoreaux 2021-11-02 09:43:09 UTC
(In reply to Mike Kaganski from comment #12)
> (In reply to Mike Kaganski from comment #11)
> 
> Or maybe the antivirus vendor is smart enough to detect LibreOffice,
> recognizing the *released* versions like 7.2.2, not scaring users with the
> false positives; but indeed, it would not detect a debug daily build, and
> then clueless users that for some unknown reason using alpha-stage dailies
> would again blame something that don't understand. Or many other reasons ...
> and the aggression that some users show in their reports shows that not
> everyone can be reasonable.

Doesn't explain why, for the dozens if not more daily dev downloads over the years that I've volunteered my time to test to help out the Document Foundation make LibreOffice a better product, that this was the first time Bitdefender ever flagged a cut with a virus, and it's the first time that I had ever tried to install that palette extension, also mentioned in this bug.
Comment 14 Buovjaga 2021-11-02 09:50:40 UTC
(In reply to xordevoreaux from comment #13)
> (In reply to Mike Kaganski from comment #12)
> > (In reply to Mike Kaganski from comment #11)
> > 
> > Or maybe the antivirus vendor is smart enough to detect LibreOffice,
> > recognizing the *released* versions like 7.2.2, not scaring users with the
> > false positives; but indeed, it would not detect a debug daily build, and
> > then clueless users that for some unknown reason using alpha-stage dailies
> > would again blame something that don't understand. Or many other reasons ...
> > and the aggression that some users show in their reports shows that not
> > everyone can be reasonable.
> 
> Doesn't explain why, for the dozens if not more daily dev downloads over the
> years that I've volunteered my time to test to help out the Document
> Foundation make LibreOffice a better product, that this was the first time
> Bitdefender ever flagged a cut with a virus, and it's the first time that I
> had ever tried to install that palette extension, also mentioned in this bug.

It does explain it in a general way. Only the developers of Bitdefender could explain the specific "why". Closed-source heuristics are a black box to us.
Comment 15 Mike Kaganski 2021-11-02 09:55:32 UTC
(In reply to xordevoreaux from comment #13)
> Doesn't explain why, ...

Sure. To explain, one needs to invest much time in this brainless project of analyzing a paid closed-source antivirus for the patterns it catches, by trying to modify the binary in different ways, and see what triggers the detection, then analyze the compilation flags used on a specific build bot, its compiler version, its libraries, and finally see that the next version of this antivirus changed its detection, but finds something in another pattern, or another antivirus does equally confusing things.

You report something detected by an antivirus. This is a valid report; thanks. It turns out to be a false positive (the file on server is the same that was initially generated, and the binary in it is indeed flagged e.g. testing on virustotal). The case is closed at this stage (because, again, for such cases the question is if the file was actually infected or not, and it was not). Your options are either trust this analysis (and maybe file something to the antivirus vendor, so that they have a chance to improve their detection), or not - and then it's your decision what to do next; it's *not* something to do in LibreOffice project.