Heads Up: CCleaner Infected

[bwanshoom]

I know that CCleaner is popular on this forum. For almost a month it was compromised and installing malware. This is quite serious - it means that Piriform's development servers were probably compromised. CCleaner is owned by Avast which would also be a great target for the bad guys. It doesn't appear that Avast detected this on their own which is also troubling.

Link

[Edd505]

mr. ed wrote:
Anyone know of a good replacement for Ccleaner, preferably free?

The problem was from Sept 2017 nothing current. Old post floated to the top because someone added 3 years later.

[joebedford]

mr. ed wrote:
Anyone know of a good replacement for Ccleaner, preferably free?

Don't use one?

[mr__ed]

Anyone know of a good replacement for Ccleaner, preferably free?

[Edd505]

OK guys September 18, 2017 05:11 AM just a bit late. Current 5.68.7xxx

[letBen]

Reinstallation should always work. Generally, you can choose a new program. Ccleaner has driven me crazy because of the abundance of advertising. By the way, because of ??, applications on my computer slowed down. Recently I've found an article https://thinkmobiles.com/blog/best-registry-cleaner-tools where you can check detailed comparisons of different tools . So, if you're interested you can take a look. I chose for myself there IObit. Nothing slows down already, so I advise you to search in this article.

[AllegroD]

SidecarFlip wrote:
My Norton 360 caught it right away and I did the upgrade and no issues now. Kind of wondering about the CCleaner on my Android phone.

x2

[SidecarFlip]

The upgrade 5.34.0.6207 cures (removes) the virus. My Norton 360 caught it right away (even before I ran the CCleaner.), but I agree, a very poor way to manage a program.

Nothing in the release notes at all and should have been. I run the freeware version myself and have for years.

Never used Avast, Always used Norton. never an issue with them.

[bwanshoom]

ksg5000 wrote:
When you update CCleaner they always provide a list of the reasons for the update - they mentioned fixing various minor bugs but conveniently left out any mention of the virus. Not sure I am going to re-install - credibility counts and they just lost some.

Avast (owners of CCleaner) didn't mention anything about it until Cisco's security group Talos wrote about it. And now there are reports that Avast was first notified a month ago by another security company. They're becoming a case study on how not to handle a security incident.

If I were an Avast user I'd uninstall that, too.

[ksg5000]

When you update CCleaner they always provide a list of the reasons for the update - they mentioned fixing various minor bugs but conveniently left out any mention of the virus. Not sure I am going to re-install - credibility counts and they just lost some.

[T18skyguy]

I read that it only infects 32 bit machines and not 64 bit, but might still be plenty of 32's still out there.

[SidecarFlip]

My Norton 360 caught it right away and I did the upgrade and no issues now. Kind of wondering about the CCleaner on my Android phone.

[bwanshoom]

1492 wrote:
If I'm reading Cisco Talos correctly, if one has an infected version of CCleaner, they recommend rolling back (System Restore) before August 15, 2017. Or do a "re-install". :E

That is what they're recommending. Note that that is in stark contrast to Avast's claims that just reinstalling CCleaner is sufficient. I don't think I trust Avast in this instance - I think they're statements are self-serving and disingenuous.

[1492]

If I'm reading Cisco Talos correctly, if one has an infected version of CCleaner, they recommend rolling back (System Restore) before August 15, 2017. Or do a "re-install". :E

[1492]

Here is the original Cisco Talos blog article: CCleanup: A Vast Number of Machines at Risk.