I still don't get why this is the default, and why people don't change it when they install. It's been a detriment of the OS since day one, and changing that one thing alone probably could have saved so many people over the decades.

DOS making file extensions a fundamental part of their filesystem just to hide them by default in windows is some good irony.

even so, I would think this could be easily countered with a small bit of configuration in modern versions of qbittorrent for most users.

like this for example:

https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/post/75665493/28875544

So unhide them? It will still say Application under type. I’m not going to defend Microsoft doing that but it’s not like it’s a new thing or it’s hard to fix.

payloads hidden in MP4 metadata

interesting. i wasn't aware that was a thing.

any clue how that works? like if it targets specific video players like vlc or something?

in my head, i was just thinking that if that was the case, then on linux it might make sense for me to start using flatpak version of vlc (or use bwrap/firejail container on it).

edit: for anyone else interested in this, there are apparently a bunch of articles about it online. here's one if you're too lazy to look for yourself:

https://cloudmersive.com/article/How-Malicious-MP4-Files-Threaten-Security-and-Reputation

from the several articles I skimmed, it seems like it is more common to embed a batch or powershell script and target windows users, so being on Linux might help in terms of not being in the primary target demographic. But there was mention of buffer overflow techniques and such so it sounds like it really is kind of random.

And sometimes its not even technically malware but basically steganography. like the article mentioned this:

Finally, the possibility of hidden NSFW content (including CSAM and other extremely sinister illegal media) within video files can’t be ignored.

That last part would actually bother me a LOT more than some windows-specific malware on my non-windows systems. I might have to start running my pirated media thru ffmpeg / etc and having it remove any metadata I don't specifically whitelist by field and data type... at least for the stuff that doesnt come from well known release groups on popular sites.

appreciate you calling this out, PabloSexcrowbar

That kind of browser exploit isn't cheap and this is not the way that it is likely to get used.

Well if visiting a (compromised) site can get you infected the problem is not the site, but your browser, right?

Sure except they did use a .exe. The article states the expected .torrent was being replaced with a .torrent that downloads an 865 MB .exe file.