Stupid question but is it possible to get a virus from an MKV file that is less than 24 hours old. I was streamed using VLC version 3.0.20 form the repose on Linux.
theoretically… but no.
Definitely no, viruses need 48-72 hours of incubation before the .mkv host becomes contagious. If the file is <24 hours old, I’d look for another source.
If you’re worried your computer might be infected, you should consider swapping your case LEDs with UV lights to purify your system.
This made my day 😁
Fucking genius 🤣🤣
The 3DS got rooted by playing a music file. Anything can happen homie.
Depends what you play it through TBH. If a program has access to your memory, then yes. Naturally it’s a nuanced answer and unless you are a security expert that knows exactly how memory is allocated and how elevated privileges work, not to mention all the little bugs, etc. in your system, then the answer is yes. You aren’t really safe from anything that hits your hard drive.
I’m gonna go with unlikely.
Every once in a while security researchers would discover sophisticated exploits that would allow malwares to take over your computer via multimedia files, but those are actually rarely exploited in the wild by run off the mill malwares.
Unless you’re an important person being targeted by hackers and three letter agencies, your biggest source of threat is running infected programs from untrusted sources, e.g. cracks downloaded from random torrents or warez sites, shady sites serving ads that trick you to run some executables, etc.
Wild that people have ESCAPED VMs… but yeah that’s not happening on my boring ass’s computer
I really hate to be “that person”, but..........it’s “run of the mill”, not “run off the mill”, friend.
It’s a term from the late 1800s that refers to “manufactured goods not graded or sorted for quality—that is, a mill’s products before they’ve been separated according to what will sell for how much.” (Source for quote: https://www.merriam-webster.com/wordplay/where-does-run-of-the-mill-come-from)
Seriously, I’m not trying to be a grammar nazi here. Unless of course that was just autocorrect being a dick, in which case I’ll go walk off a cliff now… :/
Thank you for the correction!
That’s really interesting. Thanks :)
I thought I was wrong about the phrase for a minute
There’s imho no stupid questions regarding personal cyber-security. There are only things we don’t know yet.
It’s possible to get a virus from any data that enters your computer full stop.
Likelyhood wise: that virus on the MKV will have to attack the operating system preview system (which means you fucked all the way up to personal nation state attention), or attack the video player (which is a lot more likelier, they discover theoretical exploits all the time).
You’re talking about streaming with VLC? Was it a trusted source? Cause otherwise the FBI or script kiddie has probably fucked you up.
Afaik, it’s possible for any file to be infected with a virus. Videos themselves can be, and .MKV is a container of other files (video, audio, subtitles). The video source, audio source or even .txt containing the subtitles could be a malicious virus inside the container.
In general media files can be formed in a way to trigger some bug in the media player, sometimes in ways that allow to overflow buffers and start ROP chaining.
About 8 years ago there was this media file going around crashing any iPhones that tried to play it with the integrated player.
Of course crashing is way easier than code execution. So overall your scenario is unlikely. VLC also does not yet know of any issues with 3.0.20: https://www.videolan.org/security/
When was the last time VLC paid $50K USD for a proper security audit?
Probably never?
Next you’re gonna be judging cars on their ability to float.
Open source follows an entirely different risk model (and arguably much more effective than throwing money at greedy companies)
You’re probably fine it’s extremely unlikely. Dont trust emails that say they recorded you wanking its a scam
Send them back a clip of you wanking to their email.
if you really only played it and it didn’t abuse some zero day in vlc (extremely unlikely), the there’s basically zero chance you could have activated a virus.
But it’s definitely possible to ship a virus embedded in a playable mkv file, but something else would have to extract it first, for it to do anything
Like someone else said, it’s unlikely. However it is possible but it would need to exploit your media player (VLC) and/or your OS. As long as your source is trustworthy you shouldn’t have to worry, that’s why the megathread is there.
The mkv file wasn’t form a trustworthy source.
As others have said, it’s technically possible, but it would extremely difficult and would require coordinating a lot of different variables which is extremely unlikely. I’m not sure there’s actually ever been an example of this type of attack outside of a lab.
someone please correct me if I’m wrong but I believe that for it to be possible, the application that plays the mkv file would have to have a remote execution exploit and the code for the virus would be executed through the player. the player would be required to have elevated privileges. I think this is exceptionally unlikely for vlc
The player does not have to be elevated. With an unelevated player the file exploiting such a vuln would be able to execute code with the privileges and access of the player
Absolutely yes. Even if it is not disguised executable.
It could contain an exploit which targets the video player you are opening it with.
