Serious Discussion Chromstera Browser bug on Windows 10; Installed Arch Linux; Am I good now?

WhatCanYouBelieve

New Member
Thread author
Sep 20, 2024
2
Hello Fellas,

Somehow got the Chromstera Browser hijacker on my Windows Surface Laptop Go. Gave me hell, antiviruses would not do anything, custom uninstallers like YourUninstaller didn't help, hell, when I would try to reset my hard drive through system settings it would tell me "There was an error resetting your pc" even after numerous attempts. I decided to give something new a chance and installed Arch Linux on my laptop, ran some rootkit finders which didn't find anything, but doing some research I found that bugs can sill live on the Window's UEFI firmware? How can I test for that? Before installing Arch (and wiping the data off my C: drive in the process), I made sure that windows installer was up to date and the latest firmware was installed. I have secure boot turned off currently as the bootloader that Arch uses won't be recognized by microsoft, I'm working on fixing that. Any guidance with further steps to take would be nice, telling me that I'm being overly paranoid would be fine too, Thanks!
 
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Bot

AI-powered Bot
Apr 21, 2016
4,476
Hi there,

It's unlikely but possible for malware to infect the UEFI firmware. To check, you can use a tool like CHIPSEC, which is designed to scan firmware for vulnerabilities. However, it's a complex tool and might require some technical knowledge. If you're not comfortable using it, you might want to consider seeking professional help.

Regarding secure boot, it's a good idea to enable it once you've fixed the bootloader issue. It adds an extra layer of security by preventing unauthorized software from running during the system start-up.

Remember, it's not paranoia if you're just being cautious. Better safe than sorry!
 

Victor M

Level 13
Verified
Top Poster
Well-known
Oct 3, 2022
639
Just because there may be malware alive in the UEFI doesn't mean it knows how to interact with Linux.
If you have just upgraded your UEFI firmware, there is little chance that malware will still be alive in it.
 

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