I heard that it is possible to inject video containers with malware. I also heard malware is rampant on 1337x. And I don’t have an antivirus to scan files for the moment cuz I’m on Linux, also it would be too much for me to upload the movie to virustotal.

I found a release that suits my need for the movie I’m looking for, but I don’t know if I can trust this uploader (TGxGoodies). the number of seeders is over 120 for the movie.
the reason I’m reluctant is that a very active uploader on 1337x: IGGGAMESCOM is labeled “Vip Uploader” despite a simple search on reddit shows that there are victims for their malware-injected uploads.

  • catloaf@lemm.ee
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    5 months ago

    A malicious video file exploiting your video player is possible, but extremely unlikely. Keep your system up to date and you’ll be fine.

      • priapus@sh.itjust.works
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        5 months ago

        I don’t really have a YouTube video or blog post on hand to explain it, but I do have a degree in cybersecurity. Putting a malicious executable in a video is not a simple task. The most likely way for this to occur would require a vulnerability in the video player you are using that allows for code execution. If your system is up to date, it’s unlikely the video player you’re using is going to have a known vulnerability that allows this. If someone does have knowledge of a vulnerability like this that is not publicly known, it’s very unlikely random 1337x users will be their target.

        Something I will recommend is if you are using Windows, make sure you do not have file extensions hidden in File Explorer, because then someone could trick you by simply naming an executable with .exe at the end. These types of tricks are more important for the average user to be cautious about than attacks utilizing steganography.

  • Mountain_Mike_420@lemmy.ml
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    5 months ago

    lol. What? You have a link to article or some proof of a video file as an attack vector for a hacker? Video files aren’t executable and even if there was a way to cause some type of malware to be ran from it the file it would have to be coded explicitly for the video player/system running it.

    My guess that if this was a legit attack vector that all the latest movies and big popular tv shows would be targeted and we would hear a lot of stories about it.

    You’re on Linux which gives you a huge leg up on not being target by a virus. Just chill and watch your movie.

  • anon@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    5 months ago

    Thanks for reminding me of this possibility.

    Here’s how I plan to solve it on my seedbox:

    In the bash script I use to download and rename files using filebot, I added an mkvalidator step at the beginning. If the file doesn’t pass the check, it doesn’t go onto the next step.

    mkvalidator

    mkvalidator is a simple command line tool to verify Matroska and WebM files for spec conformance. It checks the various bogus or missing key elements against the EBML DocType version of the file and reports the errors/warnings in the command line.

      • anon@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        5 months ago

        Good question! Perhaps not. Someone should test my idea with a known infected mkv file.

        Get back to me if you do.

  • DAMunzy@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    5 months ago
    1. You’re either going to trust random people on the Internet on 1337x.to or here on Lemmy instances. It’s all a crapshoot.
    2. The people complaining about 1337x.to and IGGGAMES seem to be super purists or unable to grasp that IGGGAMES is made up of many people and certain people in the past (years ago) did shady (shadier) things by uploading games with unwanted extras (crypto miner and other things).
    3. There are plenty of people that like 1337x.to and feel it’s safe. Safe enough. Nothing is safe, even companies will slip in malware if they think they can get away with it. There is no safe computer.
    4. Comments on 1337x.to are rare and rarely have anything important to say. At least there is no advertisement spam comments.
  • communism@lemmy.ml
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    5 months ago

    Does the torrent listing have any comments? Ofc positive comments doesn’t guarantee it’s not malware but I wouldn’t chance it if there’s no comments

  • Squiddick17@lemm.ee
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    5 months ago

    I thought it was understood that 1337 is about as fucked as the bay? Private Russian trackers are universally the way to go, but there’s still better resources outside of that on the reddit megathread