What can carry a virus?

Mephisto_Helix

Mephisto_Helix

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I heard somewhere that avi and mpg files can carry a virus and it got me thinking, firstly, can they carry a virus and secondly, what are other non-mainstream extensions that can carry? Just some paranoid curiosity :D
 
Try this, ask yourself how the virus's payload with be executed, ie what function of the app that it's associated to will allow it to work.
 
Almost forgot, .ani files can also contain buffer overflow exploits. (Cursor files)
 
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a few extensions come to mind:
pif, scr, cpl, bat, com, exe, dll, ppt, xl?, do?, pdf, jpg, ani, 386, js, bas, chm, hlp, hta, reg
 
Mephisto_Helix said:
I heard somewhere that avi and mpg files can carry a virus and it got me thinking, firstly, can they carry a virus and secondly, what are other non-mainstream extensions that can carry? Just some paranoid curiosity :D
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Any file on a windows system could potentially carry a virus. In this case, utilising the expected format of a .avi or .mpg file, a potential hacker could utilise flaws in the software reading the file (for example windows media player, winamp etc.). So to answer your question, yes. But, it would need to rely on the software opening the file as opposed to the avi itself.
 
I do believe that the folder where the avi is in can be a virus but not the stock file itself.
remember the brontok and vb worms,aahhhh those were the days
 
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