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So, MSFT is injecting code into a binary? This probably won't be a popular opinion here, but this does seem like a pretty good definition of malware to me. It d
by _RPM 10y ago
So, MSFT is injecting code into a binary? This probably won't be a popular opinion here, but this does seem like a pretty good definition of malware to me. It doesn't make it okay that just because it's MSFT they can get away with it.
- UnoriginalGuy 10y agoSo every C++ compiler that allows you to build in the run-time library with a flag is malware? The user in this case used the /MT flag which tells the compiler to inject code by design. The issue here isn't with injecting code, it is with what that code does. I'm sure many would find the lack of informed consent offputting, and I'd agree. This "feature" lacks documentation and or a warning.
- schmichael 10y agoYou're linking against their C runtime (CRT) standard library, so it's not injecting per se. Standard C libraries often include all kinds of stuff in otherwise "empty" main(){} executables. That being said, I've never heard of a C runtime including telemetry by default, so malware wouldn't be a totally unfounded opinion.
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- XMPPwocky 10y agoThe point of a linker is sort of to "inject code into a binary", and the point of a library is sort of to be code that gets injected into a binary. How does any of this relate to malware?
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- Aelinsaar 10y agoI don't know if it's malware, but it's something really close.
- HillRat 10y agoOr, to put it another way, it's Microsoft saying, "Hey, you probably want local event tracing in your application, so we enabled it by default." Been a while since I've done Windows dev (and I'll install VS Beta to check this out), but it might be as simple as the default project skeleton including an instrumentation manifest whose presence adds EWT tracing to the build chain. It's basically Windows' syslog equivalent, so unless Win10 is sending back all EWT eventing as a matter of course -- which, Win10 being a privacy carwreck, it might well be! -- I'm not too alarmed.
- Aelinsaar 10y agoI don't think it's a reason to be alarmed regardless of the intention, it's just one of those "Huh, isn't that funny?" moments IMO.