Outbound connection trojan/compromised detected from uTorrent web

[thepinkpanther]

Recently I updated malwarebytes and turned on the web protection. I got a lot of pop ups(around 70) regarding websites bocked due to trojan and compromised. All of them were with different IP's and ports. All were outbound connections from uTorrentweb. I uninstalled uTorrent immediately but the issue is I was using uTorrent from a very long time( around 5-6) months. I usually keep the web protection off because it causes BSOD on my computer. I usually do windows defender scan and malwarebytes scan but never found any threat. I was not seeding or downloading anything from uTorrent, still got all these pop ups. Though after uninstalling uTorrent, everything is fine( no popups) but I am really afraid what problems might have occured when the web protection was off. Especially I am concerned more about outbound compromised connection.

[Malwarebytes]

***This is an automated reply***

Hi,

Thanks for posting in the Malwarebytes for Windows Help forum.

If you are having technical issues with our Windows product, please do the following:

Malwarebytes Support Tool - Advanced Options

This feature is designed for the following reasons:

• For use when you are on the forums and need to provide logs for assistance
• For use when you don't need or want to create a ticket with Malwarebytes
• For use when you want to perform local troubleshooting on your own

How to use the Advanced Options:

Spoiler

1. Download Malwarebytes Support Tool
2. Double-click mb-support-X.X.X.XXXX.exe to run the program
   • You may be prompted by User Account Control (UAC) to allow changes to be made to your computer. Click Yes to consent.
3. Place a checkmark next to Accept License Agreement and click Next
4. Navigate to the Advanced tab
5. The Advanced menu page contains four categories:
   • Gather Logs: Collects troubleshooting information from the computer. As part of this process, Farbar Recovery Scan Tool (FRST) is run to perform a complete diagnosis. The information is saved to a file on the Desktop named mbst-grab-results.zip and can be added as an email attachment or uploaded to a forum post to assist with troubleshooting the issue at hand.
   • Clean: Performs an automated uninstallation of all Malwarebytes products installed to the computer and prompts to install the latest version of Malwarebytes for Windows afterwards. The Premium license key is backed up and reinstated. All user configurations and other data are removed. This process requires a reboot.
   •  Repair System: Includes various system-related repairs in case a Windows service is not functioning correctly that Malwarebytes for Windows is dependent on. It is not recommended to use any Repair System options unless instructed by a Malwarebytes Support agent.
   • Anonymously help the community by providing usage and threat statistics: Unchecking this option will prevent Malwarebytes Support Tool from sending anonymous telemetry data on usage of the program.
6. To provide logs for review click the Gather Logs button
7. Upon completion, click OK
8. A file named mbst-grab-results.zip will be saved to your Desktop
9. Please attach the file in your next reply.
10. To uninstall all Malwarebytes Products, click the Clean button.
11. Click the Yes button to proceed. 
12. Save all your work and click OK when you are ready to reboot.
13. After the reboot, you will have the option to re-install the latest version of Malwarebytes for Windows.
14. Select Yes to install Malwarebytes.
15. Malwarebytes for Windows will open once the installation completes successfully.

Screenshots:

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

If you are having licensing issues, please do the following: 

Spoiler

For any of these issues:

• Renewals
• Refunds (including double billing)
• Cancellations
• Update Billing Info
• Multiple Transactions
• Consumer Purchases
• Transaction Receipt

Please contact our support team at https://support.malwarebytes.com/hc/en-us/requests/new to get help

If you need help looking up your license details, please head here: Find my premium license key

 

 

Thanks in advance for your patience.

-The Malwarebytes Forum Team

[exile360]

Greetings,

Those connections are nothing to worry about.  They happen because uTorrent is a peer-to-peer (P2P) application, meaning it connects to many different IP addresses/servers for downloading and sharing content.  Because of this, it will sometimes connect to servers that are shared by multiple websites, so while the content you're downloading may be perfectly safe, the same IP address may also be host to a known malicious website.  You can either leave things as they are and allow Malwarebytes to continue blocking the connections, or you can exclude your Bittorrent application from Web Protection by following the instructions under the Allow an application to connect to the Internet section of this support article and Malwarebytes will no longer block the connections from your Bittorrent application while still continuing to shield the rest of your system from any malicious websites and servers.

I hope that helps to set your mind at ease, and if there is anything else we might help you with please let us know.

Thanks

[thepinkpanther]

Thanks for replying sir. Actually I am more worried about compromised outbound connections. Most of the threads I saw on this forum are only trojan outbound connection related. Is compromised outbound connection a normal thing in case of uTorrent ? Also As I said, I wasn't downloading or seeding anything, so why uTorrent is automatically connecting to these different IPs and Ports. 

[exile360]

A member of Research would have to address any specifics on any individual site, but generally a compromised site would be used to infect users through a web browser; the connections from your Bittorrent client shouldn't be able to affect your system.  As for why it is automatically connecting, I cannot say for certain but I suspect it may be due to some functionality in the application for looking up content or serving ads.  It may also be pulling up seeder/leech info on any existing torrents you've downloaded in the past if it stores a list of that info.

[thepinkpanther]

I keep scanning my system with windows defender, Malwarebytes and adwcleaner. I haven't found anything serious in any of the scans. So can I stop thinking about it now ? Is there anything more that I need to do ? Actually it was really panicking me from past few days

[exile360]

Yes, you can stop worrying about it.  It poses no risk; it's just the nature of Bittorrent applications and peer-to-peer apps in general.

In the meantime, if you want to stop the connection attempts you can exit uTorrent and disable it from running on system startup (it should have an option in its settings to do so somewhere).

You may also find the information in the following support articles from uTorrent's official support site and forums informative:

https://help.utorrent.com/support/solutions/articles/29000022717-when-i-pause-a-download-why-does-the-torrent-client-keep-downloading-or-uploading-

https://forum.utorrent.com/topic/107881-how-to-stop-utorrent-automatically-starting-when-windows-starts/

They mention that some users had trouble disabling uTorrent from starting with Windows due to a feature in Windows 10 known as fast startup; instructions on disabling fast startup can be found here if you need them (if you have an SSD, I recommend disabling fast startup as it's been known to cause issues with many applications, including Malwarebytes at times, and is of little benefit if you have an SSD since your system should be capable of starting pretty quickly without fast startup).

[thepinkpanther]

Thanks for your valuable time Sir

[exile360]

You're welcome, and if we can be of help with anything else please let us know.

Thanks