Malwarebytes reports real-time detection (v1.14.15)

Having trouble with the game? Report issues and get help here. Read this first!

Moderator: Forum Moderators

Forum rules
Before reporting issues in this section, you must read the following topic:
Post Reply
User avatar
Spannerbag
Posts: 505
Joined: December 18th, 2016, 6:14 pm
Location: Yes

Malwarebytes reports real-time detection (v1.14.15)

Post by Spannerbag »

Hi,
This is just a heads-up.
I use Malwarebytes (Mwb) v1.0.38435 (licensed) and it recently started compaining about Wesnoth.exe (v1.14.15, which had been installed for months without, afaik, any changes). So I reinstalled and re-scanned. Same again.

I am 99% sure this is a false positive generated by their machine learning software (the actual issue id is Malware.AI.1576335953) and have submitted a ticked to malwarebytes and am awaiting a response.

If anyone else has had this issue and is worried, I'm happy to post Mwb's reply here. Also if anyone else is ahead of me in this I'd really like to hear their experience...

Please feel free to get back to me if you'd like more details (PM preferred if you want a swift response :))
Cheers!
-- Spannerbag
SP Campaigns: After EI (v1.14) Leafsea Burning (v1.17, v1.16)
I suspect the universe is simpler than we think and stranger than we can know.
Also, I fear that beyond a certain point more intelligence does not necessarily benefit a species...
User avatar
Pentarctagon
Project Manager
Posts: 5527
Joined: March 22nd, 2009, 10:50 pm
Location: Earth (occasionally)

Re: Malwarebytes reports real-time detection (v1.14.15)

Post by Pentarctagon »

Thanks for submitting the ticket to Malwarebytes :)
99 little bugs in the code, 99 little bugs
take one down, patch it around
-2,147,483,648 little bugs in the code
User avatar
Spannerbag
Posts: 505
Joined: December 18th, 2016, 6:14 pm
Location: Yes

Re: Malwarebytes reports real-time detection (v1.14.15)

Post by Spannerbag »

Pentarctagon wrote: March 20th, 2021, 5:02 pm Thanks for submitting the ticket to Malwarebytes :)
You're very welcome :)

Update:
The first step in getting my ticket sorted was to upload the antivirus logs via the Support Tool.
I duly downloaded (and unblocked) it. Though apparently launching OK on my elderly Windows 7 PC it unfortunately then simply quit silenty. No error, nada :x
Afaik I have all the pre-requisites installed. So I replied to Malwarebytes and am awaiting their response. (I suspect I may wait some time...).

Since then I have done a bit more digging and found a forum post; Machine Learning/Anomalous Detections and Explanation which may be of interest to programmers?

Fyi it is possible to flag Wesnoth.exe as a false positive. As someone who has not been involved at all with the coding of the game itself I don't feel comfy doing this until it's been considered by a more informed and knowlegeable community first! (This also needs a log upload, so I can't do it at present anyway...)

Cheers!
-- Spannerbag
SP Campaigns: After EI (v1.14) Leafsea Burning (v1.17, v1.16)
I suspect the universe is simpler than we think and stranger than we can know.
Also, I fear that beyond a certain point more intelligence does not necessarily benefit a species...
gnombat
Posts: 682
Joined: June 10th, 2010, 8:49 pm

Re: Malwarebytes reports real-time detection (v1.14.15)

Post by gnombat »

Spannerbag wrote: March 21st, 2021, 12:40 pm Since then I have done a bit more digging and found a forum post; Machine Learning/Anomalous Detections and Explanation which may be of interest to programmers?
To be frank ... they call it "machine learning" :geek: but if you read through the entire post and get to the details buried near the end it sounds like it may just be performing some very simple checks on executable files. In particular, it mentions that one of the reasons it may flag a file as "anomalous" is "the lack of a valid digital signature." I wonder if that might be the only issue that it's detecting (since wesnoth.exe is relatively unusual these days in that it does not have a digital signature).
User avatar
Pentarctagon
Project Manager
Posts: 5527
Joined: March 22nd, 2009, 10:50 pm
Location: Earth (occasionally)

Re: Malwarebytes reports real-time detection (v1.14.15)

Post by Pentarctagon »

Well, it wouldn't be the first time that not having a valid certificate caused problems with anti-virus (ie: #5568). Unfortunately the solution isn't simple and also not especially cheap either.
99 little bugs in the code, 99 little bugs
take one down, patch it around
-2,147,483,648 little bugs in the code
User avatar
Spannerbag
Posts: 505
Joined: December 18th, 2016, 6:14 pm
Location: Yes

+RESOLVED+ Malwarebytes reports real-time detection (v1.14.15)

Post by Spannerbag »

Issue went away, to quote Malwarebytes: The original detection was likely a false positive that was fixed on our end.

Glad to have it confirmed as a false positive! :)

Cheers!
-- Spannerbag
SP Campaigns: After EI (v1.14) Leafsea Burning (v1.17, v1.16)
I suspect the universe is simpler than we think and stranger than we can know.
Also, I fear that beyond a certain point more intelligence does not necessarily benefit a species...
Post Reply