Exclusions not excluded?!

Discussion in 'ESET NOD32 Antivirus' started by XIII, Jan 27, 2009.

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  1. XIII

    XIII Registered Member

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    NOD32 gives some false positives on a few programs that use AutoIt(-like) tools for automation (in this case some custom made Nero installers from the MSFN forums). I have added these files to the NOD32 exclusions, but still the on-demand scan stalls on these files, asking me what I want to do with them (delete or no action).

    What I want to achieve: NOD32 should ignore/skip the files I configure and finish the scan, without any user interaction, but also without deleting any files.

    How can I achieve this?

    (I'm using NOD32 3.0.684)
     
  2. elapsed

    elapsed Registered Member

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    Could you post a screenshot of your exclusions so we can see if you've done them properly.
     
  3. SmackyTheFrog

    SmackyTheFrog Registered Member

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    The exclusion list is for the Real-Time Scanning module. With on-demand scans you need to deselect the directories and files you want excluded from the scanning profile. If you are getting false positives, it is better to submit them to Eset so the signatures can be updated to correct the issue.
     
  4. Marcos

    Marcos Eset Staff Account

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    The exclusion list is actually effective for both real-time protection and the on-demand scanner.
     
  5. SmackyTheFrog

    SmackyTheFrog Registered Member

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    Yep, you're right. My bad on that.
     
  6. XIII

    XIII Registered Member

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  7. XIII

    XIII Registered Member

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    That's also what the GUI suggests (if you look at the small lines).
     
  8. XIII

    XIII Registered Member

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    Hm, "false positive" might actually be the wrong term in this case...

    The programs probably do use AutoIt, but I trust these, so don't want to be bothered by NOD32 about them every scan. I don't want to trust AutoIt applications in general though. That's why I would like to exclude the four programs you see in the screen dump.
     
  9. elapsed

    elapsed Registered Member

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    I suggest you remove them all and create the following filter:

    J:\Downloads\Install\CD\Nero\nero_*.*
     
  10. XIII

    XIII Registered Member

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    Why?

    Does NOD32 not allow exact matches, but only wildcards?

    EDIT: it seems to help anyway (tested it by doing a custom scan on J:\Downloads\Install\CD\Nero)
     
    Last edited: Jan 27, 2009
  11. XIII

    XIII Registered Member

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    Unfortunately it did not help for a complete scan: that one still stalls on the files that are supposed to be excluded...
     
  12. ahsan_khan

    ahsan_khan Registered Member

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  13. Marcos

    Marcos Eset Staff Account

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    Again, it's not a false positive in the true sense of the word. I've already explained that it uses code obfuscation that is exploited by malware to prevent antivirus programs from seeing their code. ESET doesn't detect it as malware, but as a potentially unwanted application which you have agreed to detect.
     
  14. XIII

    XIII Registered Member

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    True, but does that option (detecting potentially unwanted applications) have higher priority than the exclusion option?

    I don't understand why the files are scanned while I configured them as an exclusion...
     
  15. Marcos

    Marcos Eset Staff Account

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    I'd suggest exporting your EAV configuration and sending it to customer care along with the appropriate entries from the threat log where detection of excluded files is logged.
     
  16. ahsan_khan

    ahsan_khan Registered Member

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    do you know 90% people will not run my file if ESET is giving this warning.
    potentially unwanted means that there maybe something wrong in file, so users will not run my file...
    that's why i always recommend users to use AVG Free or McAfee because these antiviruses give less false positive warnings.
    ESET should do something about it...

    What you think?
     
  17. elapsed

    elapsed Registered Member

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    Why would you obfuscate your program?
     
  18. ahsan_khan

    ahsan_khan Registered Member

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    For protecting my script/code to prevent from decompiling and cracking. for making my code safe from hackers.
    did you get it?
     
  19. elapsed

    elapsed Registered Member

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    So use another method for compiling?
     
  20. ahsan_khan

    ahsan_khan Registered Member

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    can you explain more... what you want to say?

    Obfuscator makes the code unreadable, so, hackers and crackers can bot access the saved information in code.
    There is no alternative for autoit scripts if we want to use any other compiler. only default compiler works for Autoit script (*.AU3) files.
     
  21. ahsan_khan

    ahsan_khan Registered Member

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    where are you Marcos & elapsed o_O

    please answer to my previous post.

    bump
     
  22. elapsed

    elapsed Registered Member

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    Well I have no idea what program you're making, what language you're using, etc.

    All I'm saying is other legitimate programs seem to survive fine without the use of "malware abused" packers/obfuscators etc, etc.
     
  23. ahsan_khan

    ahsan_khan Registered Member

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    thanks for your helpful reply but i am using AutoIt Script for automation of a program. ever heard about it? (Google it)
    i don't want my customers to decompile it and get the source, passwords, or any other information from it.

    what should i do now? packing and obfuscation methods flag my exe as a virus always.

    if you are going to say that you should send these files to ESET then pls don't suggest me this because all of my scripts always get flages as a virus.

    thanks!
     
  24. edwin3333

    edwin3333 Registered Member

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    Could it be that this is an issue with accessing the file using it's short name?

    When we use other antivirus software, such as CA Etrust, exclusions require us to enter both the long name and the short name. This is because some software always converts to DOS 8.3 naming and uses that.

    Your path is obviously using long names, so perhaps you can try entering the short name?

    To see a short name, you DIR /x and it will show you each path's short name. For example,

    C:\Documents and Settings\Fred\My Documents\My FaxPress\*.*
    becomes
    c:\docume~1\Fred\MyDocu~1\MyFaxP~1\*.*

    Anyway, this solved this issue for us on other antivirus products. We currently don't have many exclusions in Nod32, and the ones we do are short names so they wouldn't run into this issue.
     
  25. ahsan_khan

    ahsan_khan Registered Member

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    but i want to know, why autoit programs are always flaged as a virus?
     
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