MP3 containing extra file?

[Savage Pvpman X D]

Hey all, so earlier I downloaded an MP3 file (not music, just audio of something) from convert2mp3, when I scanned it with Windows defender it contained 2 files... Which was odd, since my other MP3 files only contained 1..

Could this be malware/a virus? Apparently it's not possible to get a virus from an MP3, but want to make sure.

 

thanks,

 

 

Example of another piece of mp3 downloaded (this is a song, but not keeping it; not promoting plagiarism):

Kaaris - Chargé (Alexander Lewis Trombone Flip).mp3

[Car712]

10 minutes ago, x_x / Tom said:

Hey all, so earlier I downloaded an MP3 file (not music, just audio of something) from convert2mp3, when I scanned it with Windows defender it contained 2 files... Which was odd, since my other MP3 files only contained 1..

Could this be malware/a virus? Apparently it's not possible to get a virus from an MP3, but want to make sure.

 

thanks,

 

Pretty sure you cant get a virus from a MP3 file.

[Savage Pvpman X D]

2 minutes ago, bobbyd52 said:

Pretty sure you cant get a virus from a MP3 file.

Yeah, what I thought, any ideas on what the other file could mean? Was thinking it might be a ._ file.. But idk

[aezakmi]

4 minutes ago, bobbyd52 said:

Pretty sure you cant get a virus from a MP3 file.

you can get a malware from a file masked as MP3 though

[Savage Pvpman X D]

10 minutes ago, aezakmi said:

you can get a malware from a file masked as MP3 though

Yeah, but how would that work?

if the malware cannot escape MP3 form isn't it just a audio file (Max I can think of is it crashing the software being played on)

[aezakmi]

1 minute ago, x_x / Tom said:

Yeah, but how would that work?

if the malware cannot escape MP3 form isn't it just a audio file (Max I can think of is it crashing the software being played on)

VBS maybe, if you're on windows and download a vbs file it won't show its extension unless you've checked to show all extensions on windows explorer options, that's my idea at least

[Guest]

You could get malware or malicious behavior. An MP3 file could carry an exploit within it to say, take advantage of a flaw within a program. So if you got an MP3 that contained an exploit for let's say the default Groove player, the computer could be infected with a payload. I'm no malware expert, I just wanted to dispel that illusion that there is no way you can get infected by an mp3.

[kirashi]

22 minutes ago, x_x / Tom said:

Yeah, what I thought, any ideas on what the other file could mean? Was thinking it might be a ._ file.. But idk

5 minutes ago, x_x / Tom said:

Yeah, but how would that work?

if the malware cannot escape MP3 form isn't it just a audio file (Max I can think of is it crashing the software being played on)

You can get malware from literally any file. All it takes is for someone to discover a buffer overflow attack for the program you open the file with, then use that to deliver a payload of their choosing. The extra information in your MP3 could be malware, or it could just be extra metadata stored in the file. Why are you using convert2mp3? Most MP3 conversion sites are shady as hell so I really don't recommend using them as they pose a security risk.

[Savage Pvpman X D]

Just now, kirashi said:

You can get malware from literally any file. All it takes is for someone to discover a buffer overflow attack for the program you open the file with, then use that to deliver a payload of their choosing. The extra information in your MP3 could be malware, or it could just be extra metadata stored in the file. Why are you using convert2mp3? Most MP3 conversion sites are shady as hell so I really don't recommend using them as they pose a security risk.

How else would you suggest I download MP3 files, I'm not talking about music, so there is no way that I can think of to get the audio..

[kirashi]

15 minutes ago, x_x / Tom said:

How else would you suggest I download MP3 files, I'm not talking about music, so there is no way that I can think of to get the audio..

While you need to stay within the legal confines of your country's laws, I recommend using youtube-dl from the local command line to acquire offline copies of streamable videos and audio files. It runs locally, doesn't connect to 3rd party services, and most importantly, is fully open source so it supports hundreds of sites.

 

Again though, you must not use this if your local country does not allow legally backing up files that are already stored in your computer's memory. If it's legally allowed, then you still have to comply with the license terms of the streaming site, so if the video or audio disappears from the site, you must remove your local copy, and you can ONLY listen to the local copy in the countries for which there is a license for.

[Savage Pvpman X D]

3 minutes ago, kirashi said:

While you need to stay within the legal confines of your country's laws, I recommend using youtube-dl from the local command line to acquire offline copies of streamable videos and audio files. It runs locally, doesn't connect to 3rd party services, and most importantly, is fully open source so it supports hundreds of sites.

 

Again though, you must not use this if your local country does not allow legally backing up files that are already stored in your computer's memory. If it's legally allowed, then you still have to comply with the license terms of the streaming site, so if the video or audio disappears from the site, you must remove your local copy, and you can ONLY listen to the local copy in the countries for which there is a license for.

How does YouTube-dl work? Surely you would still have the same threats as downloading the file from convert2mp3?

 

sorry I'm clueless in this field 

[Savage Pvpman X D]

Also back to original post, what does the file mean?

[kirashi]

4 minutes ago, x_x / Tom said:

How does YouTube-dl work? Surely you would still have the same threats as downloading the file from convert2mp3?

sorry I'm clueless in this field 

Nope, because YouTube-dl is a command line utility that uses Python to analyze a website and extract the source of the media, downloading it to your computer locally exactly the same as if you were streaming it in your web browser using the websites' native streaming player.

 

YouTube-dl has full instructions and documentation available on their website - just know that if you're not familiar with the command line you will need to take your time to learn it. http://rg3.github.io/youtube-dl/

 

4 minutes ago, x_x / Tom said:

Also back to original post, what does the file mean?

I don't have the file, so I have no way to analyze it, nor do I really want to risk it.

[homeap5]

Mp3 may contain jpg file inside. Cd cover tag.

[Savage Pvpman X D]

4 hours ago, homeap5 said:

Mp3 may contain jpg file inside. Cd cover tag.

It doesn't have a cover image, but ty for reply

[homeap5]

You can attach this mp3 here and we will see. It's interesting.

[Savage Pvpman X D]

12 hours ago, homeap5 said:

You can attach this mp3 here and we will see. It's interesting.

Deleted file, but you can try downloading an audio file from the site if you wanted (just be warned if you don't know about the risks).

 

 

[kelvinhall05]

Download a free trial of MalwareBytes and scan it.

[Savage Pvpman X D]

9 hours ago, kelvinhall05 said:

Download a free trial of MalwareBytes and scan it.

Apparently malware bytes doesn't scan media files ?

[Savage Pvpman X D]

On 9/24/2018 at 11:56 AM, homeap5 said:

You can attach this mp3 here and we will see. It's interesting.

Downloaded another file on private machine, it's a song, but I'm not going to keep it anyway.

Just so you don't think I'm promoting plagiarism. 

 

Kaaris - Chargé (Alexander Lewis Trombone Flip).mp3

[homeap5]

3 hours ago, x_x / Tom said:

Downloaded another file on private machine, it's a song, but I'm not going to keep it anyway.

Just so you don't think I'm promoting plagiarism. 

 

Kaaris - Chargé (Alexander Lewis Trombone Flip).mp3

Well, nothing so strange in this file.

It CONTAINS JPEG image inside (about 60 KB) and when I decode mp3 and encode it with program removing metadata, it's +/- the same size minus +/- 60 KB (so without image).

Nothing suspicious inside except sound, metadata and image.

 

I remember that years ago someone created dangerous jpeg or mp3 (I don't remember exactly and I never tested that). But it's not just a file that was required to infect computer, but also not updated player / viewer (and only one was affected). Or just not up to date system. But that was (as far as I remember) win98 era or early XP at most.

[Savage Pvpman X D]

45 minutes ago, homeap5 said:

Well, nothing so strange in this file.

It CONTAINS JPEG image inside (about 60 KB) and when I decode mp3 and encode it with program removing metadata, it's +/- the same size minus +/- 60 KB (so without image).

Nothing suspicious inside except sound, metadata and image.

 

I remember that years ago someone created dangerous jpeg or mp3 (I don't remember exactly and I never tested that). But it's not just a file that was required to infect computer, but also not updated player / viewer (and only one was affected). Or just not up to date system. But that was (as far as I remember) win98 era or early XP at most.

Ok thanks, much appreciated.

So effectively, unless i had the infected/non updated player I'm good to go?

 

[homeap5]

3 minutes ago, x_x / Tom said:

Ok thanks, much appreciated.

So effectively, unless i had the infected/non updated player I'm good to go?

You're good to go no matter what player you're using (except maybe early version of WinAmp on windows 98, but even then it's hard to find prepared mp3 that can harm your computer). Don't worry about viruses that much and you'll be happier as computer user.

 

[Savage Pvpman X D]

5 minutes ago, homeap5 said:

You're good to go no matter what player you're using (except maybe early version of WinAmp on windows 98, but even then it's hard to find prepared mp3 that can harm your computer). Don't worry about viruses that much and you'll be happier as computer user.

 

Good, just it's a new PC and I really don't wanna go through the hassle of reinstalling stuff

I use itunes to play mp3s anyway (easy syncing from my paid music) .

 

Much appreciated for the help