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General discussion

cnet download links are infected

Jul 22, 2008 6:19PM PDT

When clicking on a link to download popular software from the new cnet site,e.g. AVG,ADAWARE,AUSLOGICS etc, I am alerted by my antivirus software - AVIRA ANTIVI PERSONAL - that a Virus or unwanted program named 'HTML/Infected.WebPage.Gen' has been detected in the file. The anti-virus software advises me to deny access, which I do, and then I proceed with the download. However, doesn't this indicate there's a hole in the website that needs to be fixed.

Discussion is locked

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Those downloads
Jul 22, 2008 7:27PM PDT

Thanks for the report, and your message has been passed on to the Forum Admin to let Download.com know.

Are you saying that you tried to download 3 different software applications, ie, AVG anti-virus, Lavasoft's AdAware, and AUSLogics?

If so, do you have the Download.com's web sites for each download please?

I don't know about AUSLogics, (don't know what that is), but have you tried to download AVG from Grisoft and AdAware from Lavasoft?

Mark

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AusLogistics is...
Jul 22, 2008 7:50PM PDT
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Before I pass this on to the CNET Download team, please...
Jul 23, 2008 2:46AM PDT

provide me with the specific CNET download.com links to those places giving you a flag from your antivirus.

This would help out greatly helpout the team in investigating.

And just to be clear as Mark mentioned above, your antivirus utility by Avira AntiVir PersonalEdition is red flagging all those CNET download.com links for those titles and more? Please do tell.

Thanks!
-Lee

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cnet download links are infected
Jul 23, 2008 6:37AM PDT

I clicked on those titles from the 'most popular download' list on the download page. This takes me to another page with a link that says 'download now'It is clicking on this link where the red flagging occurs. So, to make it clear, yes Avira Antivirus Personal Edition is red flagging all those CNET download.com links for those titles I mentioned in my previous post, and more, although not all; Adobe and Gom Media Player were red flag free, for example. It's worth noting also that this problem did not occur in the old download.com website.

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Avira Antivirus Personal Edition is most likely...
Jul 23, 2008 6:52AM PDT

reporting false positives on certain titles...

I will let the download.com team know.

Thanks for replying back with the clarification.

-Lee
CNET Community

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Read Avira's WriteUp About That Detection..
Jul 23, 2008 1:35PM PDT

Here's the link:

HTML/Infected.WebPage.Gen
http://www.avira.com/en/threats/section/fulldetails/id_vir/3684/html_infected.webpage.gen.html

The detection is taking place "during" the opening of the download link and must be occuring because of a new method being used by download.com which I'll guess is an additional Iframe, Object or Script Tag.. Or then again, although the detection of this particular exploit has been around for a year or so, the Avira engine apparently was updated on July 2 and may be the culprit for finding this particular issue.

Hope this helps.

Grif

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The most likely culprit is the new CNET website
Jul 23, 2008 2:49PM PDT

I downloaded stuff on Saturday 19th July from the old CNET website without a problem. On the following day, the new website appeared and that's when Avira began detecting this particular exploit. I've visited a number of websites over the last few days and downloaded stuff without this exploit showing up . It is only on the CNET new website that this exploit is detected. Considering this, I think the culprit appears more likely to be the new CNET website, not Avira Antivir Personal.

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(NT) Thank you Grif! I'll pass this along.
Jul 23, 2008 3:25PM PDT
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Here too
Jul 23, 2008 1:27PM PDT

I'm having the same problem with Avira. I was downloading several programs today (Irfanview, Digsby, don't remember the other), and on three of them I got the same warning.

I don't know if this is a problem wit Avira or not.

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The problem I reported
Aug 1, 2008 6:21PM PDT

Has been fixed. I went to the website this morning, clicked on the previously problematic download link and was pleased to discover the hole has been fixed. Thank you.

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That's good. Glad it is sorted.
Aug 1, 2008 6:32PM PDT

I wonder if it was cleared up by CNET amending their coding in Download.com, or if Avira issued a patch?

We may never know, Happy

Mark

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I NEVER used the patch
Aug 1, 2008 6:45PM PDT

I quit cold Turkey Wink


Rick

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Never did received a response from the DL folks for this..
Aug 4, 2008 9:06AM PDT

But either way I'm just glad to hear that it's not happening anymore.

Thanks for returning to this discussion thread and updating us about the change. I appreciate that.

Cheers!
-Lee