Can Music Files Have Virus?

[balamm]

I have had mp3s with viruses embedded. It's not all music. Haven't you ever run a suspect file through an analyzer? Stereo only has two tracks usually. I've found many more in some and odd bits of data. Some of it might be corruption, noise, or digital management stuff but who knows?
Not as bad or as common as mpegs with viruses or code to open internet connections but they do exist.

[CrumbCat]

Good to know - thanks Ballam.

I need to remember to run my analyzer more often.

This reply (or lack thereof) has been brought to you as a courtesy of CrumbCat.
© Copyright 2003 by CrumbCat, all rights reserved.

[Rip The Jacker]

Yup. There is a lot of dangerous shit out there......

[balamm]

Yes, don't forget now! And check .png's while you're at it. Everyone claims they are not executable either but they have become a favourite of the virus creators.
I believe there was a problem with jpegs for a while as well but it's died off.

[MUSLEMAN]

honestly i don't care what the file is i always check, you never know, when comes to viruses my model is better safe than sorry

[Cl1mh4224rd]

Let's see here, hmm...

1) A legit song, say "Korn - Blind.mp3" renamed to "Korn - Blind.exe" will give you error when run.

2) A virus, say "virus.exe" renamed to "virus.mp3" will not execute, because as far as Windows knows, it's an MP3 file, and will send it to your default application for playing MP3 files (e.g. Winamp). The app will try to decode the file as an MP3, looking for needed information in every MP3 file. If it can't find that information, it's an invlaid MP3 file, and it just dies...

3) There was an exploit possible in Winamp, by using the ID3v2(?) tag, but that was quickly fixed, more than a few releases ago.

4) Image viruses require that another virus-like program be installed and running on your system. This program encodes executable code into an image file. Viewing the image will not execute the code. The only way the code can be executed is if it's extracted by the same program (on another computer, for instance) and then executed.

[Inevitable]

No music files can't have viruses because it's an mp3 extension. Only EXE extentions have viruses in them.

[Acecool]

exe com bat files can be viruses, image files can be viruses, pretty much anything can be a virus if an image can, the klite logo could be a virus for as much as anyone knows

[Jibbler]

Originally posted by Inevitable@6 September 2003 - 14:32
No music files can't have viruses because it's an mp3 extension. Only EXE extentions have viruses in them.

Actually, lots of files can contain viruses. Scr, Vbs, Exe, and the list goes on and on. However, at this time, music files cannot contain viruses. Though due to technology advancements, it could happen in the future. ID tags can contain lines of code to track mp3s, etc, so it stands to reason that a virus could be embedded in there.

[MadDog-2000]

Originally posted by Inevitable@6 September 2003 - 12:32
No music files can't have viruses because it's an mp3 extension. Only EXE extentions have viruses in them.

I hate to disappoint you guys but mp3s can actually contain viral code. But since an mp3 file is not an executible or an intepreted script file it can not do any harm to your PC. However, the viral code can be executed by a program/virus/trojan horse that has already been installed/infected your system. Don't forget that mp3s can and do contain ID and Meta Tag information, which can contain the viral code but it is unable to do any harm by itself.

There are also a bunch of executed and intepreted files that, if activated/opened will infect your system. Some of these executed or intepreted files incluse:

*.exe -> Standard Windows executible
*.msi -> Microsoft Windows Installer Package
*.msp -> Microsoft Windows Installer Pacth
*.bat -> Batch file which is intepreted by the system
*.vbs -> Visual Basic Script which is interpreted
*vbe -> Visual Basic Encoded Script
*.sct -> Windows Script component
*.html -> HyperText ducuments can contain bad code (JavaScript)
*.htm -> HyperText ducuments can contain bad code (JavaScript)
*.scr -> Screen Saver file which basically is a compiled program
*.tga -> Targa Image file which can contain scripting
*.inf -> Setup Information file which can contain bad code
*.js -> Java script which is intepreted by the Java Virtual Machine
*.jse -> Java script which is intepreted by the Java Virtual Machine
*.key -> Registry entry which can contain bad code
*.reg -> Registry entry which can contain bad code

There are a few more I think but that's all I can remember for now. Eh, and every Microsft Office Document because those can have Macro viruses. So... be afraid, be very afraid!