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Free Download Manager backdoored – a possible supply chain attack on Linux

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Re: Free Download Manager backdoored – a possible supply chain attack on Linux

#21

But I thought there were no viruses or malware on Linux! For example: https://www.howtogeek.com/135392/htg-explains-why-you-dont-n...

Look, if the malware spreads by users manually installing it, 1. it's not really an OS problem, 2. an AV wasn't going to save them.

Re: Free Download Manager backdoored – a possible supply chain attack on Linux

#22
This is installed by adding a shady repository to your apt sources.list...

How is this a supply chain attack? My official debian repository have never been breached so far.

This is no different from downloading an .exe off a shady website and blindly running the .exe.

Also: https://packages.debian.org/search?keywords=download+manager... lists:

• uget: https://sourceforge.net/projects/urlget/

• kget: https://apps.kde.org/en-gb/kget/

• persepolis: https://persepolisdm.github.io/

why use "Free Download Manager" when high quality ones are already officially packaged by debian? Is this targeting new-comers from windows?

Re: Free Download Manager backdoored – a possible supply chain attack on Linux

#23

Why would you use a "Free Download Manager" when wget is right there? Or a web browser, such as Firefox? Or torrent clients to deal with large Linux ISO downloads? Or the various storefronts, like Steam? Or your own distro's package manager? This wasn't packaged on any distro, so this isn't even a meaningful attack: Users had to go out of their way to install it from a foreign source. This is no different than if you…

[deleted]

Re: Free Download Manager backdoored – a possible supply chain attack on Linux

#24

This is one more reason to run every program in a sandbox rather than with full privileges.

Should people reflexively refuse prompts to authenticate as admin and see if the underlying programs still work as expected? This comes up all the time for Macs and the keychain

Re: Free Download Manager backdoored – a possible supply chain attack on Linux

#27
post #4
post #2

Who uses a download manager in the days of high speed internet access and, in general, cloud services?

I'm trying to imagine the kind of user that's both able to blindly install a random .deb downloaded from a website, while also being willing to do so. Linux geeks with no sense of danger on the internet?

If you have a web browser and Linux, you can often install a .deb just by opening it in Software Centre or other graphical utilities to install apps. The comparison might be someone on windows trusting a random .msi or installer .exe or someone on Mac installing a random .app package. It’s somewhat normal these days. Package managers are sometimes harder to understand and app stores often don’t have the app you want or the newest version. Sometimes the app directs you to the website to install an update - or updates itself from a compromised location.

Re: Free Download Manager backdoored – a possible supply chain attack on Linux

#28
post #22

This is installed by adding a shady repository to your apt sources.list... How is this a supply chain attack? My official debian repository have never been breached so far. This is no different from downloading an .exe off a shady website and blindly running the .exe. Also: https://packages.debian.org/search?keywords=download+manager... lists: • uget: https://sourceforge.net/projects/urlget/ • kget: https://apps.kde.…

> This is installed by adding a shady repository to your apt sources.list...

How is this possible? Aren't the packages signed like on ArchLinux so that you can use any mirrorlist?

Re: Free Download Manager backdoored – a possible supply chain attack on Linux

#29
post #26

This is one more reason to run every program in a sandbox rather than with full privileges.

I disagree. This is more another reason to not run programs which are not from the official repository.

why do you think this can not happen in the official repository?

Re: Free Download Manager backdoored – a possible supply chain attack on Linux

#30
post #2

Who uses a download manager in the days of high speed internet access and, in general, cloud services?

Happy FileZilla user here, on my FreeBSD laptop. I move tons of files from remote astronomical observatory routinely, sometimes need to define custom rules - what to download, upload, filter across folders, etc. Sometimes I need to push a file from very low data-rate link from somewhere in the middle of nowhere to the observatory, sometimes over a satellite link. Sometimes I want a throttled download of a large queue…

R sync has a --bwlimit option.

But I suppose you're probably talking about devices that only know about internet protocols before 1991....

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