Specificially https://en.z-lib.gs/
I downloaded some pdfs from there and according to virustotal and some pdf online scanner i tried, they have something possibly malicious going on in them. I already deleted them but i opened them in firefox pdf reader. I dont have acrobat installed.
Scanning my system with malwarebytes now, but nothing is finding anything wrong and I havent seen any suspicious activity.
Here is the analysis itself.
I’m starting to panic, please help if you have any advice
Thank you all, you are wonderful people
I have downloaded hundreds of documents from Z-library and LibraryGenesis and never had an issue with a single one of them.
That virus total scan shows free and clear, it has some warnings about there being external links inside the doc afaik (VT very broken on mobile so i can’t understand the report well), but that’s really fringe edge stuff to actually be “dangerous”. You’re over-awfulizing the danger.
If it is new malware, scanners wouldnt pick up on it.
On behavior tab there is tons of stuff. Shouldnt there be none? I dont know too much about virustotals results mean, but doesnt the mitre thing mean it could potentially do something like that?
Actually they do often pick up on it, unless it is a very novel attack vector (and probably not something you’d find on a pirate site). Malware often follows very predictable code execution patterns of communicating with outside IP’S and modifying other executables, and these are things that can be detected by most AV.
There will never be none. it’s all listed as low or no risk/informational only anyway, which goes back to the pattern recognition thing.
VT is listing things that the file has done during viewing. ALL things. This stuff might or might not be a concern, whether or not it’s a known attack or pattern of malicious behavior. If you are a legit security analyst you can use the behavior data to see what files its touching and stuff and understand good and bad security design. Like, the only actual yellow warning is… it apparently looked at Google dns. Which is something any browser pdf viewer will do.
Oh. The other thing I forgot to mention, is every submission to Z-Lib goes through an approval process where a certain number of community contributors have to review the document and make sure it’s legible, safe, and valid. I know, because I’ve submitted stuff before, it takes quite a few days to go live. It’s not just random bad actors shotgunning stuff onto the site.
thank you, that puts my mind at ease somewhat
The only way to be 100% sure is to wipe the machine. If its a business machine it should be wiped asap.