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VirginMedia distributing viruses!

Lil-Squabbit
Up to speed

As the title says.

VirginMedia are now distributing malicious malware/ viruses via their Telly Tablets. The viruses in question are:

  • COM.WAGD.SMARTER
  • COM.WAGD.XIAOAN
  • COM.WAGD.GEM

Apparently, this is due to an infection on one of their update servers which hard codes the malware into the system software. This means that even if you do a hard reset on the device, the malicious products will be reinstalled too.

What are VirginMedia doing about this as I am sure we cant be the only people that are having this issue.

This is worrying that a major broadband supplier is letting these malware/viruses run rampant through their products. Bad form VirginMedia, bad form!

What are you going to do about this? 

...........................................................................................................
Lil-Squabbit is soooooo NOT amused!!!!
193 REPLIES 193

ENDYT
Tuning in

Like everyone else I did not actively chose any updates. My build number is different though:

LF141-V2.0-M0-24GB-D1P1-JCV17

Android version is 6.0

Never thought to look at that before but I guess I should wait for this saga to be fixed before delving into a version update?

hmfc4eva
On our wavelength

just out of curiosity I factory reset my tablet and set it back up as normal, I left the System Update app running,

It is no longer downloading any malware (e.g. SMARTER,GEM or XIAOAN).

AVG scan only reports the System Update app as a threat nothing else,

It looks like the compromised upstream update server has possibly been fixed/disabled, for now at least,

Hopefully Virgin will update us soon but things are looking a bit better.

In the attempts to factory reset I made, it can take a day to come back. 

How long has your tab been up and running for...?

 

hmfc4eva
On our wavelength

Since lunchtime, guess I'll have to leave it running to see what happens (still clean),

The previous times I've reset I have been infected within minutes.

Ok, can you post back tomorrow please if still all clear.  I might go for another attempt....

hmfc4eva
On our wavelength

Hi Thickear

You're  right the  malware has eventually  come back, so it's back to square one for me.

Mrbennn
Joining in
  • I have been experiencing the same issues for over two weeks now. Tried multiple resets, flashing it with a custom ROM ( which failed as the bootloader page won't load) I've tried the suggested temp fix, uninstalling from ADB and waiting to see if that works. Virgin need to sort an OTA fix or a firmware download

1. I didn't update it, it just happened - most likely as part of a Google Play Store update - see the Malwarebytes threads re. Gigaset issues, symptoms of this are very similar

2. see above - and as others have stated, Malwarebytes and AVG both report it as System Updates (Redstone) being malware. On factory reset all looks good until connecting to Play Store 

3. build LF141.N0.V30.24.RC-V03, android v7, last updated manually quite a long time ago, years possibly as that build seems to be 2018.

 

Am happy that yours is a somewhat Helpful Answer - but setting the topic to Solved, well it isn't is it ? Though to be a fair a different title may be more appropriate !

Hi all + VM Forum Team,

I'm unsure if more users' experiences are required, but here are my affected TellyTablet's info too:

  • Model Number VM_MD_001
  • Android Version 7.0
  • Android security patch level 05 Jan 2018
  • Kernel version 3.18.35 lxg@iot-svr #1 Thu May 17 17:13:00 HKT 2018
  • Build number LF141.N0.V30.24.RC-V03
  • Custom built version ROCO-2017-08-01

Definately looking forward to the solution, since factory reset doesn't seem to sort it either !

Same as everyone here, it's very annoying. I've just uninstalled all apps and now wait for virgin to sort this asap, seen as this seems to be their fault. 

I hope to see updates from their tech here.