Malware Problems in Linux App Stores
Trust It?
© Lead Image © alphaspirit, 123RF.com
Fake cryptocurrency wallets in the Snap Store have cost users hundreds of thousands of dollars. A community project aims to create more transparency for Snap package users.
In February 2024, an application that called itself Exodus appeared in the Canonical Snap Store. The store page looked professional: an impressive logo, appealing screenshots, a detailed description, and the reputable-sounding publisher name Movement Exod. Everything pointed to a legitimate cryptocurrency wallet application, as you can see from Figure 1. But these appearances were deceiving.
A few days after the release, a user with the pseudonym of "castle" posted a disturbing question on the Snapcraft forum. After restoring his wallet via the app, his entire balance had disappeared, transferred to an unknown address. The damage: around 9 bitcoins, worth approximately $490,000 at the time.
Former Canonical employee Alan Pope analyzed the suspicious application on an isolated virtual machine [1] [2] [3]. His findings were clear: While the real Exodus wallet is an Electron-based application, the Snap was a Flutter app. The metadata in snap.yaml still contained the default placeholder text from the Snapcraft template – a clear indication of a fake that had been cobbled together in a hurry.
[...]
Buy this article as PDF
(incl. VAT)
Buy Linux Magazine
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Digital Autonomy
• The Answer Was Already on the Shelf
• Changing the Chip Industry: How Public Investment Has Grown Open Silicon
• United Nations Open Source Portal Goes Live
• EU Open Source Strategy Plays Key Role in Tech Sovereignty Package
• France Says “Au Revoir” to Microsoft
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.
News
-
KDE Sets Ambitious Goals for 2026 and Beyond
KDE Connect reveals the goals for the Linux desktop darling, with one of those goals long overdue.
-
It’s Time to Test Fedora 45 Beta
Fedora 45 beta has been released with updated Gnome, KDE Plasma, and kernel.
-
Ubuntu Stonking Stingray Gets Even Rustier
Ubuntu 26.10 has completed its migration to the Rust-based coreutils.
-
AI Fixes Linux Bottlenecks Using “Hideous” Code
A Linux developer used AI to fix bottlenecks that caused problems when building the kernel. The resulting AI-generated code needed a lot of work.
-
Advanced Video Coding Still Under Patent
Brazilian patent BRPI0109962B1 has expired, which means that DivX and Xvid are no longer problematic for Linux, but it doesn’t mean that video is all of a sudden fully unleashed.
-
2,000 Vulnerabilities per Linux Release
Thanks to AI bug hunters, the Linux kernel is seeing record numbers of vulnerabilities, and it's overwhelming developers.
-
Linux Exempt from California’s Age Verification Law
So long as Linux is distributed under the GPL, MIT, BSD, and Apache licenses, the OS is exempt from being required to verify the age of its users in California.
-
Roll Out the Cake: Linux Turns 35
35 years ago, a Finnish student began a humble project that would forever change the course of technology.
-
China Switching from Windows to Linux
China has ordered several government agencies to drop a Chinese-developed version of Windows 10 in favor of either KylinOS or UOS.
-
Pine64 Halts Production of Linux Devices
With continued DRAM and eMMC shortages, Pine64 has decided to discontinue production of Linux devices.