I heard that it is possible to inject video containers with malware. I also heard malware is rampant on 1337x. And I don’t have an antivirus to scan files for the moment cuz I’m on Linux, also it would be too much for me to upload the movie to virustotal.
I found a release that suits my need for the movie I’m looking for, but I don’t know if I can trust this uploader (TGxGoodies). the number of seeders is over 120 for the movie.
the reason I’m reluctant is that a very active uploader on 1337x: IGGGAMESCOM is labeled “Vip Uploader” despite a simple search on reddit shows that there are victims for their malware-injected uploads.
A malicious video file exploiting your video player is possible, but extremely unlikely. Keep your system up to date and you’ll be fine.
This. And TGxGoodies is one of the biggest uploaders on 1337x, I’d say they can be trusted. I prefer them to most others, because they keep good quality on low file sizes.
I feel the same way about MeGusta — x265, always great size/quality ratio.
any youtube video or blog post explanation you advice ? I’d like to know more
I don’t really have a YouTube video or blog post on hand to explain it, but I do have a degree in cybersecurity. Putting a malicious executable in a video is not a simple task. The most likely way for this to occur would require a vulnerability in the video player you are using that allows for code execution. If your system is up to date, it’s unlikely the video player you’re using is going to have a known vulnerability that allows this. If someone does have knowledge of a vulnerability like this that is not publicly known, it’s very unlikely random 1337x users will be their target.
Something I will recommend is if you are using Windows, make sure you do not have file extensions hidden in File Explorer, because then someone could trick you by simply naming an executable with .exe at the end. These types of tricks are more important for the average user to be cautious about than attacks utilizing steganography.
yeah I heard about that classic trick it was used in that “I Love you” virus. thank you
if you download Boy and the Heron but end up watching Fight Club, you know they can’t be trusted
Thanks for reminding me of this possibility.
Here’s how I plan to solve it on my seedbox:
In the bash script I use to download and rename files using filebot, I added an mkvalidator step at the beginning. If the file doesn’t pass the check, it doesn’t go onto the next step.
mkvalidator
mkvalidator is a simple command line tool to verify Matroska and WebM files for spec conformance. It checks the various bogus or missing key elements against the EBML DocType version of the file and reports the errors/warnings in the command line.
so it is impossible to be infected from an MKV or webm if I use this to scan the files ??
Good question! Perhaps not. Someone should test my idea with a known infected mkv file.
Get back to me if you do.
