HACKER Q&A
📣 romanovcode

Why is Firefox installer listed as harmful file in Chrome?


Example: https://imgur.com/a/XMeiO4D

Is it only me? Is something is wrong with Firefox installer?

I'm trying to download Firefox from official mozilla website and Chrome says that the file is harmful. For reference it's not the .dmg extension because if I go to Chrome and download googlechrome.dmg it gets downloaded without any problems.


  👤 steve1977 Accepted Answer ✓
Well, it is harmful for Google.

👤 gjvnq
Chrome often list executable files as harmful IFF they are downloaded via HTTP instead of HTTPS.

👤 martin1b
Like the old adage : "Excel isn't done until Lotus won't run.'

👤 proactivesvcs
US English Firefox for mac OS looks pretty clean, according to VirusTotal: https://www.virustotal.com/gui/file/d0bd62e9b57062e3cb04ac05...

I wonder if Chrome is including the Mac sandbox, which is listed, in its decision to label the installer as unsafe?


👤 Firerouge
I wouldn't be surprised if it is based on the extension, with exceptions for some specific trusted domains/downloads

👤 jolmg
> For reference it's not the .dmg extension because if I go to Chrome and download googlechrome.dmg it gets downloaded without any problems.

That doesn't mean it's not the extension, as they may have somehow whitelisted their own files. I would expect that warning to come up with any file format that can carry executable code.


👤 oxguy3
I just tested and I got warnings for neither file. Maybe they warned you for the first .dmg, but didn't warn you again for Chrome because they'd already warned you about .dmg files?

👤 tim333
Dunno - I just tried it in Chrome on a Mac, same site and didn't get a warning. Computers eh?

👤 jetti
I'm running Mojave (10.14.6) and just tried to download Firefox using Chrome 78.0.3904.108 and was not prompted at all.

👤 mikl
Pretty sure Chrome says that for all .dmg files, not just Firefox.

👤 genothomas
Yes, it is harmful to Google.

👤 jammygit
Isn’t this libel to some extent?