HN Explorer

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

51 points by romanovcode ↗ HN
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.

14 comments

[ 3.9 ms ] story [ 41.4 ms ] thread
Firerouge
I wouldn't be surprised if it is based on the extension, with exceptions for some specific trusted domains/downloads
martin1b
Like the old adage : "Excel isn't done until Lotus won't run.'
smacktoward
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.

mikl
Pretty sure Chrome says that for all .dmg files, not just Firefox.
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?
jammygit
Isn’t this libel to some extent?
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.

gjvnq
Chrome often list executable files as harmful IFF they are downloaded via HTTP instead of HTTPS.
tim333
Dunno - I just tried it in Chrome on a Mac, same site and didn't get a warning. Computers eh?
[dead] romeroa9
I think google don't like it
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.