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Running Windows Viruses Under Linux

Posted by timothy on from the under-is-the-right-preposition dept.

ResQuad writes "Everyone loves Windows viruses, right? Well, the crazy people over at NewsForge (owned by the same people that own Slashdot) decided to try running Windows viruses with Wine. So next time you receive an email virus, strike up Wine and see what you can do (or not)."

7 of 361 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Wine is not an Emulator. by Jarn_Firebrand · · Score: 4, Informative

    Mod parent up and insightful

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    Grammar Nazi
  2. Discussed in Ask Slashdot by gbulmash · · Score: 3, Informative
    Oddly enough, this was discussed in an Ask Slashdot in October 2003.

    - Greg

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    Start a happiness pandemic
  3. Because it didn't execute the not-zip file by SuperKendall · · Score: 4, Informative

    When a zip file on Linux is not a zip file, you get an error.

    When a zip file on Windows is not a zip file, you get some system enhancemnets you may not have wished for (or would even wish on your worst enemy).

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
    1. Re:Because it didn't execute the not-zip file by ad0gg · · Score: 3, Informative

      No you don't, extensions have always been handled by the associated application. If you change an .exe to .zip and try to run it, you get a corrupted zip file error message.

      --

      Have you ever been to a turkish prison?

  4. PE on linux by northcat · · Score: 3, Informative

    Linux kernel now supports foriegn binaries. IIRC, some patches are available to enable support for PE binaries (Windows native binaries). If dependencies are kept low, with some clever programming, virii that run on multiple platforms are possible without something like wine or java.

  5. Re:Wine is not an Emulator. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    Wine emulates the Win32 API, if anything

    Wine does not emulate a processor, video, or sound subsystem, but rather 'wraps' the necessary calls (in theory) to native Linux calls. It requires an x86 CPU (for which an x86 emulator could be used, I suppose, but it's still not part of Wine).

    And in the situations where real Win32 DLLs are used, it's not even emulating that part of the API.

    It might be considered a simulator, but I doubt it would be considered an emulator.

  6. File Associations, RH 7.2 and Windows Viruses by BigBlockMopar · · Score: 3, Informative

    When a zip file on Windows is not a zip file, you get some system enhancemnets you may not have wished for (or would even wish on your worst enemy).

    Uhhh... no. File associations are based on extensions. It's probable that you've forgotten to turn off the Explorer "feature" of hiding extensions for known filetypes. This way, you get sexygirls.jpg.exe which appears as sexygirls.jpg, or xxx.zip.scr which appears as xxx.zip. Most people are ignorant enough to leave that "feature" enabled as per Microsoft's negligent default; furthermore, most users who are pseudo-capable with computers will click on it with the flawed reasoning that, "Well, it's a JPEG, so it can't be a virus".

    Furthermore, years ago I ranted on my website that it was *very* possible to run Windows e-mail viruses, etc. under Wine. So easy that, with Red Hat 7.2's default associations which launch Wine to run DOS/Windows apps, I accidentally infected my Wine directory while demonstrating Linux freedom from virii... "Moving right along, you can see how well Linux can emulate Windows well enough to run many programs..."

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    Fire and Meat. Yummy.