Ask HN: Why is Firefox installer listed as harmful file in Chrome? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Why is Firefox installer listed as harmful file in Chrome?

51 pointsromanovcode13 comments

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.

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Well, it is harmful for Google.

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

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

Nonono, you've got the saying wrong. It was "DOS isn't done until Lotus won't run."

The old Microsoft wouldn't bother competing at the app level if they could just kneecap the competition at the platform level instead.

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?

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

> 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.

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?

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

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.

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

Yes, it is harmful to Google.

Isn’t this libel to some extent?

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