If you have the Brave Browser installed on your Windows devices, then you may also have Brave VPN services installed on the machine. Brave installs these services without user consent on Windows devices.

Brave Firewall + VPN is an extra service that Brave users may subscribe to for a monthly fee. Launched in mid-2022, it is a cooperation between Brave Software, maker of Brave Browser, and Guardian, the company that operates the VPN and the firewall solution. The firewall and VPN solution is available for $9.99 per month.

  • citytree@lemmy.ml
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    11 months ago

    What’s to stop the installer on Linux from configuring the service such that the service always runs on boot? e.g. systemctl enable malware.service.

    • hottari@lemmy.ml
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      11 months ago

      You still need to manually enable the service. The configuration of the service has zero effect on its activation or lifecycle.

      • calm.like.a.bomb@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        11 months ago

        Huh? Any script can create a service, enable it and then start it. What would make you think the brave package (or just the application itself) can’t do this?

        • hottari@lemmy.ml
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          11 months ago

          Not possible to start or enable a created service without user intervention. You don’t know what you are talking about.

          • calm.like.a.bomb@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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            11 months ago

            OK… challenge accepted. Maybe you don’t know about systemd user services.

            Content of mytrojan.sh:

            #!/usr/bin/env bash
            
            echo "Writing the service unit file"
            
            cat > ~/.config/systemd/user/my_test_service.service << EOF
            [Unit]
            Description=Script Daemon For Test User Services
            
            [Service]
            Type=simple
            User=
            #Group=
            ExecStart=/home/user/bin/myscript.sh
            Restart=on-failure
            StandardOutput=file:%h/log_file
            
            [Install]
            WantedBy=default.target
            EOF
            
            echo "Reloading systemd for the user"
            systemctl --user daemon-reload || exit 1
            
            echo "Enabling and starting the service"
            systemctl --user enable --now my_test_service.service
            

            Content of myscript.sh:

            $ cat ~/bin/myscript.sh
            #!/usr/bin/env bash
            
            while true
            do
                now=$(date)
                me=$(whoami)
                echo "User $me at $now"
                sleep 10
            done
            

            Now run the script (mytrojan.sh) and check service status after that:

            $ ./mytrojan.sh
            Writing the service unit file
            Reloading systemd for the user
            Enabling and starting the service
            $ systemctl --user status my_test_service.service
            ● my_test_service.service - Script Daemon For Test User Services
                 Loaded: loaded (/home/user/.config/systemd/user/my_test_service.service; enabled; vendor preset: ena>
                 Active: active (running) since Thu 2023-10-19 12:15:21 EEST; 6s ago
               Main PID: 1666383 (myscript.sh)
                  Tasks: 2 (limit: 18757)
                 Memory: 556.0K
                    CPU: 4ms
                 CGroup: /user.slice/user-1000.slice/user@1000.service/app.slice/my_test_service.service
                         ├─1666383 /bin/bash /home/user/bin/myscript.sh
                         └─1666387 sleep 10
            
            Oct 19 12:15:21 tesla systemd[1866318]: Started Script Daemon For Test User Services
            
          • Ferk@kbin.social
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            11 months ago

            Systemd “enabled” services are literal symlinks… whenever a target runs, it tries to start also all the service files on its “wants” directory.

            You can literally enable any service for next boot by making a symlink in /etc/systemd/system/multi-user.target.wants/ (or whichever other target you want it to run on) as root (and installation scripts are run as root).

            ln -s /usr/lib/systemd/system/whatever.service  /etc/systemd/system/multi-user.target.wants/whatever.service
            
            
            • hottari@lemmy.ml
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              11 months ago

              This is actually very close (just tested and confirmed it). I somehow stand corrected about requiring manual enablement but this is just using the package manager to do the dirty work for you.

              However the program itself cannot write into those directories without root permissions. You still have to allow your package manager to do this with root permissions as mentioned.

    • Possibly linux@lemmy.zip
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      11 months ago

      Linux doesn’t have “installers” as Linux uses package managers. The only way you can get malware is if you manually add a bad repo.

      So it doesn’t really matter in the long run

      • AtmaJnana@lemmy.world
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        11 months ago

        Linux doesn’t have “installers” as Linux uses package managers. The only way you can get malware is if you manually add a bad repo.

        Are you really serious making this claim? lol.

        • Possibly linux@lemmy.zip
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          11 months ago

          Yes, prove me wrong. As long as your running a up to date system there shouldn’t be anything that could be easily compromised.

          • AtmaJnana@lemmy.world
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            11 months ago

            I’ve been using Linux (and UNIX) professionally since the kernel version started with a “1.” I have no need to try to prove anything to you. Linux has installers other than just those invoked by a package manager, and it is laughable that you claim otherwise.