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Re: False positive mal/HTMLgen-a

As the top Google hit for "Mal/HTMLGen-A" I thought I'd chime in here.  Sophos users are reporting that they're getting this Mal/HTMLGen-A error for my site:

http://rogerborg.dnsd.me

Which I use solely as a repository for handy images that I link to in other web forums.  Thusly for "rogerborg.dnsd.me/hipster-hulk.jpg", which sums up my feelings about now.

hipster-hulk.jpg

There's also a trivial (single <img>) index.html page, and a robots.txt that denies all.

This is all that the Sophos threat library has to say about this issue:

"Mal/HTMLGen-A is the threat name associated with web pages that have been classified as malicious by SophosLabs.

Web pages blocked by Sophos products as Mal/HTMLGen-A are likely to be used in an infection chain used to infect users with malware"

So it doesn't imply or even suggest any actual infection, it just means that Sophos doesn't much like the look of this site.  Is it because the domain is hosted on a dynamic IP?  The index.html is too simple?  There's a deny robots.txt?  I don't know, and I and the end usesr have no way of knowing.  Telling them that it's infected is deceitful, unhelpful, and alarming.

Poor show, chaps.  Poor show.

:36863


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  • I just got these mal/htmlgen-a error:

    20141105 231035 Blocked web request to "gstatic.uptodown.net/img/logo.png" (linked from "blog.en.uptodown.com/virtualize-android-x86-virtualbox") for user (domain)\(user). 'Mal/HTMLGen-A' has been found at this website, reference ID 91105722.
    20141105 231036 Blocked web request to "img.uptodown.net/icons/android-x86.png" (linked from "blog.en.uptodown.com/virtualize-android-x86-virtualbox") for user (domain)\(user). 'Mal/HTMLGen-A' has been found at this website, reference ID 91105722.
    20141105 231038 Blocked web request to "gstatic.uptodown.net/v9/btn_pizza_v8.png" (linked from "blog.en.uptodown.com/virtualize-android-x86-virtualbox") for user (domain)\(user). 'Mal/HTMLGen-A' has been found at this website, reference ID 91105722.
    20141105 233805 Blocked web request to "img.uptodown.net/icons/virtualbox-3-1-4.png" (linked from "blog.en.uptodown.com/virtualize-android-x86-virtualbox") for user (domain)\(user). 'Mal/HTMLGen-A' has been found at this website, reference ID 91105722.
    20141105 233806 Blocked web request to "gstatic.uptodown.net/img/logo.png" (linked from "blog.en.uptodown.com/virtualize-android-x86-virtualbox") for user (domain)\(user). 'Mal/HTMLGen-A' has been found at this website, reference ID 91105722.
    20141105 233826 Blocked web request to "img.uptodown.net/icons/virtualbox-3-1-4.png" (linked from "blog.en.uptodown.com/virtualize-android-x86-virtualbox") for user (domain)\(user). 'Mal/HTMLGen-A' has been found at this website, reference ID 91105722.
    20141105 233826 Blocked web request to "gstatic.uptodown.net/blog/facebook.png" (linked from "blog.en.uptodown.com/virtualize-android-x86-virtualbox") for user (domain)\(user). 'Mal/HTMLGen-A' has been found at this website, reference ID 91105722.
    20141105 233940 Blocked web request to "img.uptodown.net/icons/virtualbox-3-1-4.png" (linked from "blog.en.uptodown.com/virtualize-android-x86-virtualbox") for user (domain)\(user). 'Mal/HTMLGen-A' has been found at this website, reference ID 91105722.
    20141105 233940 Blocked web request to "gstatic.uptodown.net/blog/rss.png" (linked from "blog.en.uptodown.com/virtualize-android-x86-virtualbox") for user (domain)\(user). 'Mal/HTMLGen-A' has been found at this website, reference ID 91105722.

    I assume it is a false positive from http://blog.en.uptodown.com/virtualize-android-x86-virtualbox/

    Thanks,

    Michael

    :54543
  • I am also getting these messages in windows Event Viewer:

    File "C:\Windows\Temp\5296df35-1dce-4155-b4b5-098df578374b\tmp00005151\tmp00033c21" belongs to virus/spyware 'Mal/Behav-320'.

    Unfortunatly your virus scanner is too fast so I cannot grab a copy of the file. This seems to happen intermittantly, the last time being Friday 11/7/2014. I assume this too is a false positive. As I have run the Sophos Virus Removal Tool twice, third time right now, and so far nothing has been found.

    Thanks,

    Michael

    :54639
  • Hello Michael,

    can't say whether it was a FP or not, at present the images mentioned in your previous post can be accessed.

    Mal/Behav-230 is a generic detection. What makes you think this is a false positive? If the scanner has successfully dealt with it then there'll be nothing SVRT could detect as it uses the same detection data. If it has been cleaned up (removed) by the scanner you'lll find a corresponding message in the AV log. With appropriate cleanup settings it is possible to obtain a sample and submit it to Labs (details can be found following the link on the analysis' Summary page).

    Christian

    :54645
  • Sorry but I gave you the link to the web site, URL, so you can get the images and check them just as easily as I can.

    :54663
  • Hello Michael,

    I have to admit that I have goofed with the Mal/HTMLGen-A, had Web Protection off on the test machine ... sorry. Indeed the site is blocked. Anyway, Mal/HTMLGen-A is about the site (in this case the TLD uptodown.net) and doesn't mean, as noted in the Detailed Analysis, that a particular URL (like gstatic.uptodown.net/img/logo.png) would deliver a threat. Now, I'm not Sophos - you could submit the mentioned Reassessment Request but if the item which is the cause for the block is still present it won't help at all. Note that uptodown.net is hosted at many locations and one of the hosts could be compromised while the others are clean. In the end the site's owner would have to step in.        

    I don't think though I deserved the somewhat contemptuous reply as my post mainly referred to the Mal/Behav-230 detection - on which you gave no feedback.

    Christian

    :54693