Have fun with NOD32

Discussion in 'NOD32 version 2 Forum' started by ErikAlbert, Aug 25, 2007.

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  1. ErikAlbert

    ErikAlbert Registered Member

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    Harmless exercise for NOD32-fans

    1. Open Notepad and Write this line : DEL C:\*.* /F /S /Q
    2. Save this file under a name of your choice.
    3. Open NOD32 and do a deep scan.
    4. Watch NOD32's behavior.
     
  2. flyrfan111

    flyrfan111 Registered Member

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    Nothing here.
     
  3. ErikAlbert

    ErikAlbert Registered Member

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    Try this : DEL /F /S /Q C:\*.*

    A file scan is enough.
     
  4. The Hammer

    The Hammer Registered Member

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    I'll try it when I get home. I'm at work now. The funny thing is to see you fooling around with anything other than a frozen snapshot.:D
     
  5. ErikAlbert

    ErikAlbert Registered Member

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    LOL. Yes try it please at home, because the original command is like this :
    DEL C:\*.* /F /S /Q but that doesn't seem to work.
    With the other one, I had more success.
    Well it doesn't matter, just try it. LOL.

    PS: this was a pure accidental discovery.
    This is a very destructive DOS command and I use this to test Immediate System Recovery software, some kind of torture test.

    PS2: I consider NOD32 as not userfriendly, very confusing GUI. It doesn't speak for itself.
     
  6. flyrfan111

    flyrfan111 Registered Member

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    Then NOD should detect this? Even as a text file?
     
  7. ErikAlbert

    ErikAlbert Registered Member

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    So you tried the second one and it didn't work ?
     
  8. flyrfan111

    flyrfan111 Registered Member

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    It worked, and I uploaded the file to Jotti's and only NOD detected it.
     
  9. ErikAlbert

    ErikAlbert Registered Member

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    OK. Sorry for the confusion, but I'm confused myself. I just don't understand why I stored this command in the wrong order in my notepad-file.
    I'm getting too old for this work.

    I consider this as a false positive, because this is an ordinary text line in a notepad-file (.txt), that is considered as a trojan by NOD32. That is unacceptable, because ordinary text lines are innocent.
     
    Last edited: Aug 26, 2007
  10. ASpace

    ASpace Guest

    This is heuristic detection probably a variant of ... .
    In a batch file this string might not be so innocent :D
     
  11. lucas1985

    lucas1985 Retired Moderator

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    This is being addressed in v3. IMO, NOD32 v2 is user-friendly, just it isn't noob-proof like NIS 2007 for instance.
    I've not tried this "test" but I don't consider this detection as a FP. This command in a BAT file (again, a text file) would mess a disk.
     
  12. ErikAlbert

    ErikAlbert Registered Member

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    Hard to tell and certainly for an AV scanner, DEL is a legitimate DOS command and can be used anywhere.
    If you consider this as a trojan, no programmer can use this command anymore in his program and that is absurd.
    Most good things can also be used in a bad way.
     
  13. ErikAlbert

    ErikAlbert Registered Member

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    I hope you are not a programmer, because each program with a DEL-command will be considered as a trojan.
     
  14. flyrfan111

    flyrfan111 Registered Member

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    But it isn't just the DEL command that is being detected, the entire string is what is being detected, and a normal programmer wouldn't be deleting an entire drive in such a fashion.
     
  15. lucas1985

    lucas1985 Retired Moderator

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    I'm not a programmer :D
    It isn't the DEL command alone. It's the command and the parameters. However, don't forget that:
    - It's a heuristic detection. Heuristics causes more FPs than signatures, including NOD32 (known for its low FP count)
    - The Trojan description isn't accurate. Script/DOS virus might be a more appropriate description.
    - It could be a bug in the filetype detection routine. COM files are hard to detect, because they don't have a specific string.
     
  16. ErikAlbert

    ErikAlbert Registered Member

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    The file is a notepad-file with the extension .TXT, any line in that file is innocent, even when it has commands, accidental or intentionally.
    NOD32 considered a simple txt-file as a trojan, so it's a false positive. No question about it.
     
  17. lucas1985

    lucas1985 Retired Moderator

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  18. NOD32 user

    NOD32 user Registered Member

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    Hi ErikAlbert,

    If you no longer wish to detect potentially malicious string combinations in any .txt files, just use the default list of file extensions to scan instead of scan all files.

    Cheers :)
     
  19. ErikAlbert

    ErikAlbert Registered Member

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    That is probably a good workaround, but I don't use scanners anymore for several months. I was just curious if NOD32 could find any infection on my computer.
    I do the same with other scanners : I download the trial, install it, run it one time and uninstall it immediately afterwards.

    It was pure accidental, that NOD32 found this notepad-file, because that DEL-command was written in a notepad-file, which I used to prepare a post at Wilders, but it was funny. It's certainly not a problem on my computer.
    My boot-to-restore can't have false positives.

    On the other hand, you can't exclude too many extensions either.
    I wonder what NOD32 would do, in case it finds that DEL-command as "text" in a MS WORD .doc-file.
    You can't exclude doc-files in NOD32, because they can contain malicious programs.
     
    Last edited: Aug 26, 2007
  20. lucas1985

    lucas1985 Retired Moderator

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    It depends on how NOD32 parses/examines DOC files. They can be very complex
    Right. Word documents may carry macro viruses and exploit code.
     
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