Discussion
Not sure who needs to know this, but if you download and install the Windows version of Rufus, the free software for writing ISO images to USB/CD-ROM, your PC will end up with about 100 trojans.
Edit: The site I downloaded from was rufus[.]ie which is apparently the official site. During installation, the software threw up a couple of rather verbose messages saying it needed to download additional components.
@briankrebs @vx_underground Possible goop sighting?
I've been made aware of a post from someone representing Rufus who says I'm very confused about this post. I've reported that Windows Defender went bananas after I installed Rufus on a Windows 11 device. It immediately popped up warnings about hacktools and trojans being installed while it was installing. I wish I had a record of it but I nuked everything after the alerts.
@briankrebs
I think it's worth noting, a long history of actors buying ad-space at the top of search engines.
The url in the ad appears legitimate (it's visually the legitimate URL), but when clicked goes to a different url. I'm not positive that's the case here, but it's been done 100s of times for 100s of other tools (AI tool installers, chrome installs, etc), and there is zero visual indication it's an ad directing to the wrong domain.
Thanks to LLMs, the landing pages have also gotten much better at copying the real pages too.
Making it more difficult, is that ads don't always present themselves, so seeing it a 2nd time may take 100s of visits
Or maybe it really was a compromised rufus domain🤷
@briankrebs Rufus doesn't have an installer though. That's the thing. One simply doesn't install Rufus.
@briankrebs There are some rather ... possessive communities around USB boot image builders, I forget if it was rufus or ventoy or what, but long story short: if you badmouth the product, the sealions. Dear god, the sealions.
@briankrebs I think the message here is that Windows is bad, and Rufus is bad.
Just use GNU+Linux with the dd command guys. Lol
Think I pulled down Rufus a couple of months back for a one off. Don't recall where I got it from, but didn't notice any untoward behavior, so possibly a more recent compromise?
Is it ironic that your Windoze PC gets infected while trying to download a file that allows you to write an installable Linux ISO? I think very much so and I'm still LOLing about it.
windoze malware: "quick. we gotta infect this machine while we have the chance. once it's running linux, we're out of another home..."
@briankrebs while i get that point.... without linux alot are not used to console/tui tools and need a gui. i dont think its funny cause as a nerd your probably overwrite the whole windows partition anyway, pretty soon. as a newcomer you want to try out linux on a 2nd device and then this is not as funny anymore.
@snornik 100 percent agree. I'm still fuming that we're at Windos 11 hundred and there is no obvious way to write an ISO to an external image. I credit that to Microsoft understanding this capability is a strong existential threat.
@briankrebs YES! also agree 100%!
@briankrebs New Alanis lyrics just dropped.
@briankrebs Plot twist: Windoze IS the virus!
@briankrebs
Surely, the conspiracy isn't that deep. 😆
@briankrebs haven't used rufus or cd installs in awhile so thanks for the warning!
@briankrebs When you say you "installed" rufus, did it prompt you for some kind of installation? Or did the startup match what was in the any.run analysis that was submitted? I ask because rufus doesn't really have an install, you just run it and go. Trying to forensically put this back together is going to require a bit more info if you can provide it. I don't suppose, since you are wiping that computer, that you saved anything at all from it?
@briankrebs Thanks. I'm running Rufus 4.15.2396, pulled from Github via the link on the rufus dot ie page. Writing a Win11 x64 ISO out to USB in a VM. It failed the USB write, but my USB drive might also be flakey.
@briankrebs I've never liked the name of this program; it sounds like it refers to a specific country. Please use only Fedora Media Writer.
@briankrebs Yes, rufus[.ie] is the official site for Rufus. That being said, I haven’t used Rufus in more than a year (and honestly it didn’t work for me). Ventoy and dd work.
@briankrebs Weird. I just downloaded the latest portable yesterday and it was fine.
@briankrebs
I didn't run it, but I downloaded the x64 installer and portable from rufus.ie and it's signed and the sha256 matches the download page. It looks like the 'extras' download checks a hardcoded checksum database too. Do you still have the version you downloaded? Maybe check the sha256, or if you're tired of it consider sending to steveshockley.99 on signal.
I've never been able to get Rufus to work. Instead, I've been an avid user of Universal USB Installer for decades: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_USB_Installer
For years now it has Ventoy, so it's even better than it was originally.
@briankrebs you know you can create iso files from folders directly through PowerShell? I forget where I got the script from but it feels like magic every time I use it.
@StephenBoylett no, I didn't know that. If you can supply a link that would be helpful, thanks.
@briankrebs I think I got the original Chris Wu version that has been deleted, but this looks to be an updated fork of that.
Install Fedizen
Get the full app experience
@briankrebs
Ha ha ha hah: you’re still using Windows. 🤪🤭