×
cancel
Showing results for 
Show  only  | Search instead for 
Did you mean: 
kevinhaig
Former Member
Message 1 of 11

My Site Downloads - Potentially Annoying Download Detected

I have a website that offers downloads of programs including WordPress Themes and Plugins. When I test the downloads I get "Potentially Annoying Download Detected". I double checked all the download files and they are not infected. In fact I used McAfee to do the scan.

1) Why is the message appearing when the files are clean?

2) What can I do to get the message removed?

10 Replies
exbrit
MVP
MVP
Message 2 of 11

Re: My Site Downloads - Potentially Annoying Download Detected

Moved this provisionally to SiteAdvisor for better support.

Your site is http://www.kevinsspace.ca/ I assume.

I'll let one of our SiteAdvisor experts answer you.

Hayton
Reliable Contributor
Reliable Contributor
Message 3 of 11

Re: My Site Downloads - Potentially Annoying Download Detected

If the site is kevinspace.ca I'll look into it when I get back. Having a busy evening so far.

kevinhaig
Former Member
Message 4 of 11

Re: My Site Downloads - Potentially Annoying Download Detected

Thankyou

Yes that is my site.

kevinhaig
Former Member
Message 5 of 11

Re: My Site Downloads - Potentially Annoying Download Detected

Hi Hayton

I see you are busy running some tests on my site.....thankyou.

Hayton
Reliable Contributor
Reliable Contributor
Message 6 of 11

Re: My Site Downloads - Potentially Annoying Download Detected

Finished. Have run some other tests. Composing the reply will take some time , + I've got a late supper burning in the oven

Stand by. Lots of screenshots.

Edit - Correction, not quite finished. The files that triggered warnings have to be scanned.

Message was edited by: Hayton on 03/11/13 04:52:11 GMT
Hayton
Reliable Contributor
Reliable Contributor
Message 7 of 11

Re: My Site Downloads - Potentially Annoying Download Detected

Okay, all done.

First, I ran a few of the usual checks on the site itself. Nothing much to report except that there's one invisible iframe (strongly deprecated) and a piece of javascript that was flagged as suspect.

http://quttera.com/detailed_report/www.kevinsspace.ca

Quttera kevinsspace iframes.PNG

Quttera kevinsspace files.PNG

kevinsspace suspect code.PNG

As for SiteAdvisor and TrustedSource, they show a mixed picture for your site. SiteAdvisor has it as Grey (unknown or untested) but has tested links and at least one download. The data looks old, but even re-testing the site would not, I think, pick up the files from the Download section since to gain access to them involves several user-interaction steps including a Captcha.

SA downloads and links - kevinsspace.PNG

SA downloads - kevinsspace.PNG

Moving on to the site itself, you're running under the latest WordPress (3.7) but Sucuri gives a warning about one of the plug-ins -

http://sitecheck.sucuri.net/results/www.kevinsspace.ca

Wordpress internal path: /home/content/38/11061038/html/wp-content/themes/expressions/index.php

and you're sharing server spce with a number of other sites, some of which are flagged for reasons I did not investigate. This might have an impact on your site's rating at some time in the future - if the site rating goes Yellow, that's the reason.

http://www.urlvoid.com/scan/kevinsspace.ca/

urlvoid kevinsspace shared hosting.PNG

All of that was just standard site checking, and is not relevant to the main question. And so to the downloads.

As you saw, I was able successfully to download a number of zip files. Some of them were blocked from completing their download, not by McAfee or by SiteAdvisor, but by Google Chrome. The reason for the blocking was not adequately explained (lack of space) and the web page to which I was directed did not address this particular circumstance. I left Google some feedback about that.

These were the downloads that were blocked.

Cryptogram download warning.PNG

FamilyHistory download warning.PNG

SudokuSolver download warning.PNG

I forced completion of each of those downloads. When everything was downloaded and saved I scanned the whole set of downloads, first with McAfee and then with Malwarebytes. Neither reported any problems.

Then I uploaded each of the zip files to VirusTotal and scanned it there with a range of antivirus scanners. Only two zip files did not pass the test completely : CryptogramSolver.zip and SudokuSolver.zip - both of those were flagged by Symantec as "Suspicious.Insight"  (Risk Level = Very Low).

https://www.virustotal.com/en/file/6f10c3e1a8ede8709c03e6dd0f7b2fa21ab59e8500a5d71771ce4d47e97bfaa3/...

https://www.virustotal.com/en/file/e9db03483756cec5fa8a18abb1b41abfaad03fda8261a3407745fadfc6a30cca/...

So there appears to be nothing McAfee is doing to block your files. I haven't tried this in any other browsers so I don't know whether Microsoft, for instance, would block those files because of feedback from Smartscreen Filter. All I can say is that Chrome, at least, is picking up a warning about them from somewhere, so somewhere they are flagged as suspect. Not dangerous - Chrome would have a much more alarming blocking page for that - but low-risk-suspect.

Let me know if there is anything else I can help with and -time permitting - I'll see what I can do.

kevinhaig
Former Member
Message 8 of 11

Re: My Site Downloads - Potentially Annoying Download Detected

Hi Hayton

Wow !  I can't believe the effort you've put in to help me .....thankyou!

In Chrome the three zip files that were blocked were old visual basic programs I developed a few years ago. They contain unsigned executables so I suspect that may be the problem. I have decided to take those downloads off the site.

I fixed the frameborder problem and re-scanned with Quttera and everything was fine including the suspect jquery script, which I did not change. It is a popular script to access and set cookies.

Still outstanding :

1) I have tried everything out there to get rid of the WordPress internal path warning in Sucuri SiteCheck, but nothing works.

2) It looks like Chrome and Opera are downloading with out a problem but Firefox and IE10 continue to give the Siteadviser  "Potentially annoying Download Detected" warning in Firefox?

New question :

I've also tried to submit the site for review through McAfee, but the verify won't work. I have tried with and without the .htacces active. Any ideas?

Hayton
Reliable Contributor
Reliable Contributor
Message 9 of 11

Re: My Site Downloads - Potentially Annoying Download Detected

kevinhaig wrote:

Hi Hayton

Still outstanding :

1) I have tried everything out there to get rid of the WordPress internal path warning in Sucuri SiteCheck, but nothing works.

2) It looks like Chrome and Opera are downloading with out a problem but Firefox and IE10 continue to give the Siteadviser  "Potentially annoying Download Detected" warning in Firefox?

New question :

I've also tried to submit the site for review through McAfee, but the verify won't work. I have tried with and without the .htacces active. Any ideas?

1 : I've seen several sites with a similar Sucuri warning. It's a WordPress configuration issue, and I'm not expert enough with WordPress to recommend any fixes. I say leave it for now.

2. Firefox and IE : which files get the download warning?

New question : verification not working - what error message do you get?

kevinhaig
Former Member
Message 10 of 11

Re: My Site Downloads - Potentially Annoying Download Detected

All my downloads are giving this message :

download warning.JPG

Site verification error

Error Verifying Site

                   Could not verify the Web site file

    http://kevinsspace.ca/ea78c64acb440a59ab0ae6f0df403fbd9ab10d43.html                 

for the Web site kevinsspace.ca.                    Please be sure you have placed the verification file in the root Web directory                   of your site without changing the contents of the file, using the exact file name listed above.

How Many Badges Can You Collect?
Ready for a little competition? Members like you are earning badges and unlocking perks for their helpful answers. Are you? Click here to find out.

Community Help Hub

    New to the forums or need help finding your way around the forums? There's a whole hub of community resources to help you.

  • Find Forum FAQs
  • Learn How to Earn Badges
  • Ask for Help
Go to Community Help

Join the Community

    Thousands of customers use the McAfee Community for peer-to-peer and expert product support. Enjoy these benefits with a free membership:

  • Get helpful solutions from McAfee experts.
  • Stay connected to product conversations that matter to you.
  • Participate in product groups led by McAfee employees.
Join the Community
Join the Community