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winexecsvc.exe - false positive?

  • June 14, 2017
  • 11 replies
  • 7376 views

10d
Popular Voice
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Hi,
 
I'm seeing quite a few alerts detecting winexesvc.exe as w32.hack.tool.winexe this morning.
 
Is this a false positive - popped up on an otherwise not active PC after overnight's Windows updates?
 
Anyone else seeing this?
 
Edwin

Best answer by JesseBropez

Hello 10d,
 
This file "winexesvc.exe" is related to the Windows Subsystem for Linux feature and allows remote commands to be sent to all systems in a network. Because of the enormous potential to be used maliciously, Webroot has classified this file malicious as it is potentially un-safe. If this program is needed in your environment, you may create an override and restore it from Webroot's quarantine via the Webroot Console.
 
For steps to override this file, please visit the link below.
 
http://live.webrootanywhere.com/content/1384/Creating-Whitelist-Overrides
Please let us know if we can explain anything in further detail.
 
Regards,
Jesse L.
Webroot Advanced Malware Removal Team

11 replies

I came here with the same question. Post Windows Update, lots of winexesvc.exe threats detected.

10d
Popular Voice
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  • Author
  • Popular Voice
  • June 14, 2017
it seems to have stopped now - anybody from techsupport care to comment?
 
Is a rollback/restore needed?

  • June 14, 2017
Hi, 
 
I'm also getting a lot of these detections on protected endpoints. The files are being quarantined but I would like to know the main cause or if any preventive measures can be set in place to lower the alerts. 
 
I also saw on the web where these could be generated from a Linux server pushing files to a windows machine... what are your thoughts? 
 
These alerts started for me around yesterday morning and they've escalated up to this time.  This threat is not Windows OS specific as I've had alerts from both Windows 7 and Windows server OS.

  • Retired Webrooter
  • June 14, 2017
@ @ @, I sincerely appreciate you letting us know!
 
Please submit a ticket to our Support Team so they can review the logs to make a proper determination.

10d
Popular Voice
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  • Author
  • Popular Voice
  • June 14, 2017
done.

  • June 14, 2017
Hi there,
 
Same is happening here. We have found out that our Unitrends Backup Appliance is using winexesvc.exe to push updates out to computers it is backing up. Just a heads up to other people wondering how the application got there.

JesseBropez
  • OpenText Employee
  • Answer
  • June 15, 2017
Hello 10d,
 
This file "winexesvc.exe" is related to the Windows Subsystem for Linux feature and allows remote commands to be sent to all systems in a network. Because of the enormous potential to be used maliciously, Webroot has classified this file malicious as it is potentially un-safe. If this program is needed in your environment, you may create an override and restore it from Webroot's quarantine via the Webroot Console.
 
For steps to override this file, please visit the link below.
 
http://live.webrootanywhere.com/content/1384/Creating-Whitelist-Overrides
Please let us know if we can explain anything in further detail.
 
Regards,
Jesse L.
Webroot Advanced Malware Removal Team

10d
Popular Voice
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  • Author
  • Popular Voice
  • June 15, 2017
Thanks Jesse for the background.
 
I s this happening because Windows 10 is extending the Linux subsystem feature with newer versions?

  • August 17, 2017
Webroot blocked WINEXESVC.EXE on one of my Exchange2010 servers that uses Datto backup. Consequently the backups were not running. I have since restored from quarantine and added and policy override.

  • Retired Webrooter
  • August 17, 2017
Thanks for letting us know what worked for you, @! Very much appreciated.

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  • Fresh Face
  • September 13, 2019
This is still a problem!!! Brand new Unitrends DRaaS as of 09-13-2019 and WR has just shutdown the backup agent... granted I didn't preconfig and create an exception for this; but I don't think this should be on the default list.. Can this not be digitally signed by Unitrends to prevent this from happening? I could write a volume novel with everything I don't understand; but this one escapes me...

The appliance is attempting to push to a Win 2012-R2 Server...





NAME="RecoveryOS"
VERSION="7 (Core)"
ID="centos"
ID_LIKE="rhel fedora"
VERSION_ID="7"
PRETTY_NAME="RecoveryOS 7 (Core)"
ANSI_COLOR="0;31"
CPE_NAME="cpe:/o:centos:centos:7"
HOME_URL="https://www.centos.org/"
BUG_REPORT_URL="https://bugs.centos.org/"

CENTOS_MANTISBT_PROJECT="CentOS-7"
CENTOS_MANTISBT_PROJECT_VERSION="7"
REDHAT_SUPPORT_PRODUCT="centos"
REDHAT_SUPPORT_PRODUCT_VERSION="7"