4 ms·

something I wondered for a while do windows viruses get ported by such efforts as well?

chadgpt3 4mo ago
Yes
augusto-moura 4mo ago
Some, but not all, most don't. Ideally they would all work, ReactOS doesn't make a priority on being a "safer" option, just an open source option
canyp 4mo ago
Somewhere in the docs they state that they must also recreate whatever bugs the API has, otherwise applications written with those bugs as an (implicit) assumption could misbehave.
- hurtigioll 4mo ago
  its worse than that, Windows activates/deactivates "bugs" based on the compatibility profile of the app. so you can set an app to use a Windows XP compatibility profile, and this will simulate Windows bugs which were fixed in more recent versions of the OS
naturalmovement 4mo ago
[flagged]
- nvr219 4mo ago
  What's the major Linux malware problem that everyone is ignoring
  - shakna 4mo ago
    AUR got hit recently [0], by what looks like more work of TeamPCP and friends. EDIT: Worth noting, Arch ain't hosted on AUR. That's the community side only. [0] https://archlinux.org/news/active-aur-malicious-packages-incident/ https://archlinux.org/news/active-aur-malicious-packages-inc...
    - Grombobulous 4mo ago
      I would still note that this is not some kind of unique problem to Linux. There have been documented instances of malware making it to the Play Store, which is supposed to have a much more rigorous vetting process than AUR and costs actual money to publish on.
      - shakna 4mo ago
        Just to expand... When the above user is comparing to Windows, who got most of the US government breached, I do think shade against AUR is uncalled for. Its just a community host for packages, comes with warnings, and isn't enabled by default, etc. I can still happily upgrade via pacman without fear. Haven't been able to update on Windows without concern for over a decade - the malware comes builtin. [0] https://www.cisa.gov/sites/default/files/2024-03/CSRB%20Review%20of%20the%20Summer%202023%20MEO%20Intrusion%20Final_508c.pdf https://www.cisa.gov/sites/default/files/2024-03/CSRB%20Revi...
        Grombobulous 4mo ago
        Exactly. I only have 4 packages installed with AUR and I think that’s the intention. You’re only going there when the other solutions aren’t available or don’t make sense.
      - inigyou 4mo ago
        Linux users used to say "Linux is secure and doesn't get viruses". Now the best thing we can say about it is "Linux gets viruses just like the Play Store". Sad if you ask me.
        4mo ago
- nvme0n1p1 4mo ago
  Isn't it funny how such incidents on Linux are rare enough that they make headlines, but on Windows that's been the baseline expected state of things for so long that nobody bats an eye anymore. Btw if you're running an OS that's never had a malware incident, please, tell us!
  - hurtigioll 4mo ago
    Windows stopped having serious malware problems at least 10 years ago the ransomware campaigns would have happened on any OS enterprises use, because they were not security flaws in the OS
    - shakna 4mo ago
      ClickFix which used Windows Update, and LNK that used Microsoft's signing keys, would disagree. There are still large and ongoing attacks that exploit Windows, and they are a serious problem - its just the attackers are less pointed at the everyday person, and more at corps and govs.
  - jiggawatts 4mo ago
    Conversely, this kind of attack: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XZ_Utils_backdoor https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XZ_Utils_backdoor ...is essentially impossible to pull off against commercial operating systems, because their core components are all written in-house by staff with photo ID badges, details with HR, tax returns filed with the government, and a cubicle that makes sure that they're locals and not some faceless anonymous hacker identifiable by nothing other than a throwaway faked email address! I get that there was a lot of "stigma" about open source, the world largely forgot about it, but... actually, in this sense of allowing anonymous contributions it remains a very real risk. "Jia Tan" was almost certainly a paid professional hacker working for a nation-state actor. Their "helpful contributions" to XZ utils was nowhere near a full-time effort. They certainly had "other irons on the fire", most probably in the Linux kernel or immediately adjacent to it. He's probably not the only one doing this kind of "work". For all you know, Linux has more remote exploits purposefully baked into it than Windows has security bugs inadvertently left in it... and don't forget Linux has bugs leading to security vulnerabilities too! A rough count of "named" CVE 10.0 score (or close to it) vulns in the last 5 years: 7 for Microsoft: ProxyLogon, ProxyShell, ProxyNotShell, LDAPNightmare, PrintNightmare, noPac, Follina 10 for Linux: XZ Utils, regreSSHion, Leaky Vessels, Copy Fail, PwnKit, Dirty Pipe, Looney Tunables, GameOver(lay), Baron Samedit, Sequoia
TechSquidTV 4mo ago
Of course. Maybe not successfully but a "virus" is just software. If it runs software, it runs software, full stop. Maybe the same APIs are not available or behave differently, so it may be buggy or non-functional, but that's true of Half-Life here too.
shakna 4mo ago
WannaCry was able to successfully run on ReactOS in 2025. Most other virsuses do tend to crash, because the memory layout is just a tiny bit different, but yeah, compatibility means compatibility. Lots of malware comes along for the ride. However, there is a permissions layer that is more nix than Windows, which means the first foothold is still better than XP - you have to choose to execute the file. Self-running things don't tend to infect systems. Its not a panacea, and there is a risk factor. And there aren't a lot of antivirus systems that can run correctly under ReactOS, because they freak out and think the OS is the malware, because they're scanning hashes for Windows, not another system. But for a hobby OS, keeping hardware and software accessible after the rest of the world broke access, it still works.
dmurvihill 4mo ago
The payload yes, the exploit hopefully not.
ErroneousBosh 4mo ago
You can run WannaCry under Wine, with a bit of effort.

Yes

Some, but not all, most don't. Ideally they would all work, ReactOS doesn't make a priority on being a "safer" option, just an open source option

canyp 4mo ago

Somewhere in the docs they state that they must also recreate whatever bugs the API has, otherwise applications written with those bugs as an (implicit) assumption could misbehave.

hurtigioll 4mo ago
its worse than that, Windows activates/deactivates "bugs" based on the compatibility profile of the app. so you can set an app to use a Windows XP compatibility profile, and this will simulate Windows bugs which were fixed in more recent versions of the OS

naturalmovement 4mo ago

[flagged]

nvr219 4mo ago
What's the major Linux malware problem that everyone is ignoring
- shakna 4mo ago
  AUR got hit recently [0], by what looks like more work of TeamPCP and friends. EDIT: Worth noting, Arch ain't hosted on AUR. That's the community side only. [0] https://archlinux.org/news/active-aur-malicious-packages-incident/ https://archlinux.org/news/active-aur-malicious-packages-inc...
  - Grombobulous 4mo ago
    I would still note that this is not some kind of unique problem to Linux. There have been documented instances of malware making it to the Play Store, which is supposed to have a much more rigorous vetting process than AUR and costs actual money to publish on.
    - shakna 4mo ago
      Just to expand... When the above user is comparing to Windows, who got most of the US government breached, I do think shade against AUR is uncalled for. Its just a community host for packages, comes with warnings, and isn't enabled by default, etc. I can still happily upgrade via pacman without fear. Haven't been able to update on Windows without concern for over a decade - the malware comes builtin. [0] https://www.cisa.gov/sites/default/files/2024-03/CSRB%20Review%20of%20the%20Summer%202023%20MEO%20Intrusion%20Final_508c.pdf https://www.cisa.gov/sites/default/files/2024-03/CSRB%20Revi...
      - Grombobulous 4mo ago
        Exactly. I only have 4 packages installed with AUR and I think that’s the intention. You’re only going there when the other solutions aren’t available or don’t make sense.
    - inigyou 4mo ago
      Linux users used to say "Linux is secure and doesn't get viruses". Now the best thing we can say about it is "Linux gets viruses just like the Play Store". Sad if you ask me.
      - 4mo ago
nvme0n1p1 4mo ago
Isn't it funny how such incidents on Linux are rare enough that they make headlines, but on Windows that's been the baseline expected state of things for so long that nobody bats an eye anymore. Btw if you're running an OS that's never had a malware incident, please, tell us!
- hurtigioll 4mo ago
  Windows stopped having serious malware problems at least 10 years ago the ransomware campaigns would have happened on any OS enterprises use, because they were not security flaws in the OS
  - shakna 4mo ago
    ClickFix which used Windows Update, and LNK that used Microsoft's signing keys, would disagree. There are still large and ongoing attacks that exploit Windows, and they are a serious problem - its just the attackers are less pointed at the everyday person, and more at corps and govs.
- jiggawatts 4mo ago
  Conversely, this kind of attack: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XZ_Utils_backdoor https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XZ_Utils_backdoor ...is essentially impossible to pull off against commercial operating systems, because their core components are all written in-house by staff with photo ID badges, details with HR, tax returns filed with the government, and a cubicle that makes sure that they're locals and not some faceless anonymous hacker identifiable by nothing other than a throwaway faked email address! I get that there was a lot of "stigma" about open source, the world largely forgot about it, but... actually, in this sense of allowing anonymous contributions it remains a very real risk. "Jia Tan" was almost certainly a paid professional hacker working for a nation-state actor. Their "helpful contributions" to XZ utils was nowhere near a full-time effort. They certainly had "other irons on the fire", most probably in the Linux kernel or immediately adjacent to it. He's probably not the only one doing this kind of "work". For all you know, Linux has more remote exploits purposefully baked into it than Windows has security bugs inadvertently left in it... and don't forget Linux has bugs leading to security vulnerabilities too! A rough count of "named" CVE 10.0 score (or close to it) vulns in the last 5 years: 7 for Microsoft: ProxyLogon, ProxyShell, ProxyNotShell, LDAPNightmare, PrintNightmare, noPac, Follina 10 for Linux: XZ Utils, regreSSHion, Leaky Vessels, Copy Fail, PwnKit, Dirty Pipe, Looney Tunables, GameOver(lay), Baron Samedit, Sequoia

TechSquidTV 4mo ago

Of course. Maybe not successfully but a "virus" is just software. If it runs software, it runs software, full stop. Maybe the same APIs are not available or behave differently, so it may be buggy or non-functional, but that's true of Half-Life here too.

shakna 4mo ago

WannaCry was able to successfully run on ReactOS in 2025. Most other virsuses do tend to crash, because the memory layout is just a tiny bit different, but yeah, compatibility means compatibility. Lots of malware comes along for the ride. However, there is a permissions layer that is more nix than Windows, which means the first foothold is still better than XP - you have to choose to execute the file. Self-running things don't tend to infect systems. Its not a panacea, and there is a risk factor. And there aren't a lot of antivirus systems that can run correctly under ReactOS, because they freak out and think the OS is the malware, because they're scanning hashes for Windows, not another system. But for a hobby OS, keeping hardware and software accessible after the rest of the world broke access, it still works.

dmurvihill 4mo ago

The payload yes, the exploit hopefully not.

ErroneousBosh 4mo ago

You can run WannaCry under Wine, with a bit of effort.