Author Topic: Whitelisting application - help required [RESOLVED]  (Read 1894 times)

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Offline AppWizardDev

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Whitelisting application - help required [RESOLVED]
« on: February 24, 2021, 04:33:48 PM »
Hello,

We submitted a whitelisting application at 2020-09-25, and fixed the software according to the researcher's feedback, but have not received any response regarding the status of our application yet. Avast does not respond to our emails, so I am asking you to forward the message to the whitelisting team to find the application and update its status.

Our product is AppWizard (https://appwizard.ru), it is a software catalog which is distributed as a portable shell (standalone executable) and a complete installation (shell/update system/support tools). AppWizard contains offers from well-known vendors like Yandex or Opera, and the offers follow industry standards and clean guidelines (one offer per page, explicit Accept/Decline buttons, etc).

Most of installer builds get FileRepMalware detection in several days. Although there is a probability that an individual build may be whitelisted through the false-positive form, in the meantime AV software prevents execution of the installer, and the detection lowers the program reputation on Virustotal, causing additional distrust from users.

At 2020-09-25 we opened the whitelisting request [ ref:_00Db0Z3Sf._5005p2HALTP:ref ]. According to the researcher's feedback the following things were fixed:
- modified offer parameres not to create an additional shortcut;
- removed virtual machine checks;
- fixed uninstaller to delete the updater scheduled task;
- added a switch to options screen to control the scheduled task;
Later we even removed the updater from the distribution to decrease the chance of detection.

At 2020-11-25 we opened a false-positive request [ ref:_00Db0Z3Sf._5005p2JnTtO:ref ] for a newer installer build and fixed offer pages according to the feedback:
- every page contains Accept and Decline buttons;
- option checkboxes are accessible by default (older installers required one more click to edit them);
- added option for Opera to set as default browser.

At 2020-12-03 we opened another false-positive request for a newer installer build, and Avast specialist responded that the file will be still classified as PUP - potentially unwanted. It does not make a difference, as Avast blocks these files just as viruses.

I did read these articles:
- https://support.avast.com/en-ww/article/228/ - it seems the installer is compliant with your clean guidelines,
- https://support.avast.com/en-ww/article/229/ - unable to take actions described in the whitelisting FAQ.
An example installer is available at https://dl.appwizard.ru/dl/installer/master/AppWizardSetup_1613599181.exe.

Everything that could lead to adware-related detection has been fixed so far, but since the first whitelisting application it is impossible to re-apply from the same email or domain, and there are no way of communication via email. That is why I am asking for help on the forum.

Best regards,
Constantin.
« Last Edit: April 12, 2021, 12:59:39 PM by AppWizardDev »

Offline AppWizardDev

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Re: Whitelisting application - help required
« Reply #1 on: March 23, 2021, 08:13:32 PM »
Hello again,

It's been a while since I posted the first message, but there were no response through forum posts, private messages or email. Can you give a hint, what is wrong?

If I should have posted the thread elsewhere, and that is why you are not answering, please move it in the correct location if possible, or let me know.

Offline prokopes_

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Re: Whitelisting application - help required
« Reply #2 on: March 31, 2021, 02:39:41 PM »
Hi there and sorry for the delayed response. We just sent an email response to one of your previous false-positive reports (reference ID 12510174).

Offline AppWizardDev

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Re: Whitelisting application - help required
« Reply #3 on: April 05, 2021, 06:19:11 PM »
Hi prokopes_,

Thank you for the reply. We've fixed the issues you mentioned and published the updated version.

Looking forward to continue the whitelisting process.

Offline polonus

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Re: Whitelisting application - help required
« Reply #4 on: April 05, 2021, 09:46:31 PM »
Initial detection could have been IP related, see a.o.:
https://www.virustotal.com/gui/ip-address/104.21.22.188/relations

Was there any reporting to: -https:\/\/a.nel.cloudflare.com\/report?s=5zocGiLLP%2FaIvrMFhY5b2U0onr6w%2BUh%2F7wpYlkCWe%2BbOlo2Fk6KrMiTfVzN4j1aJrMfqBSNvfvR%2FE1LbFVKJRHiq1R6JMd0dExofJ1Y%3D  ?  :P

I have observed some issues recently that are CloudFlare related,
and then later developers are wrongly barking up the avast-tree  ;)

Good, the issue has been solved now.

polonus
Cybersecurity is more of an attitude than anything else. Avast Evangelists.

Use NoScript, a limited user account and a virtual machine and be safe(r)!

Offline AppWizardDev

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Re: Whitelisting application - help required
« Reply #5 on: April 12, 2021, 12:59:09 PM »
Got confirmation from Avast, AppWizard has been whitelisted. I am very grateful for your help.

We will report the IP address issue to Cloudflare.