CamStudio

CamStudio is an open-source screencasting program for Microsoft Windows released as free software. The software renders videos in an AVI format. It can also convert these AVIs into Flash Video format, embedded in SWF files. CamStudio is written in C++, but CamStudio 3 will be developed in C#. The program has distributed malware and harmful viruses via the installer.

CamStudio
CamStudio v.2.7.4 (build r354) screenshot on Windows 10
Developer(s)nickthegeek, windycity, wolfpackmars2, romulus9, jpetroules, gotschai, bleeblap
Initial releaseOctober 21, 2001 (2001-10-21)
Stable release
2.7.4 (Build r354) / 10 August 2016 (2016-08-10)[1]
Written inC++
Operating systemMicrosoft Windows
Available inEnglish
TypeScreencasting software
LicenseGNU General Public License
Websitesourceforge.net/projects/camstudio/

History

The original CamStudio was released as an open source product by RenderSoft software in October 2001.[2] The source code license was converted to the GNU General Public License in December 2002 with release 1.8.[3] The Source code of versions 1.0, 1.4 and 2.0 are still available at SourceForge.

In 2003, the company was acquired by eHelp Corporation who owned a competing product called RoboDemo (now called Adobe Captivate[4][5][6]). eHelp Corporation released an updated version as CamStudio 2.1 under a proprietary software license only and removed the ability to create SWFs.[7] A succession of acquisitions led to the company being owned by Adobe.

Development of CamStudio 2.0 (the last open-source version) was resumed and released as free software again in September 2007 with the CamStudio 2.5 Beta 1 release.[8] Accordingly, it was re-branded as CamStudio Open Source.

CamStudio 3 is a complete rewrite of the project in the pre-alpha stages of development as of April 19, 2010.[9]

Malicious software

There have been ongoing reports about malicious code contained in some binaries of the software. In 2013, Google-run website VirusTotal declared that CamStudio contains malicious software, where most anti-virus programs detected Artemis Trojan in CamStudio installer file.[10] In January 2014, the binary on the webpage was reported to be infected with the trojan, Artemis!0FEA2B12900D.

This edit from Nick Smith, the "caretaker" of CamStudio, "to finance future development, CamStudio has chosen to use an ad-supported installer offering other free software during the installation process. Regardless of what AV software is reporting, CamStudio unequivocally is *not* infected with a trojan or any other malicious software. It is possible that software offered via the installer could be triggering the alert, but CamStudio and the installer are both clean."

Comodo blocked "CamStudio_Setup_v2.7.2_r326_(build_19Oct2013).exe" from installing, stating that it had a "Application.Win32.InstallCore.BWAN@1" infection. Nick Smith suggested disabling Comodo. Later, "PC Utilities Pro – PC Optimizer Pro" was reportedly being installed and being run without people's permission. Systems were infected with the following: "PUP.Optional.Delta.A", "PUP.Optional.Spigot.A", "PUP.Optional.InstallCore.A", "Rogue.Multiple", "PUP.Optional.CrossRider.A".

At the beginning of 2015, CamStudio installation was still distributing a malicious software, though the prior uninfected installers could be obtained from SourceForge. The installer used by CamStudio also appeared to violate the conditions set forth in the first offer, not only changing all search engines and homepages to Yahoo - the stated actions - but installing a batch script to ensure that the homepages and search providers could never be set back.

In March 2016, the developers of CamStudio reported via forum post that the ad wrapper in the CamStudio installer had been removed and that it no longer offers third-party software or installs malware; however, they did not provide evidence of independent verification in the post.[11] In a VirusTotal analysis of the installer acquired from the official download URL on 10 August 2016, AVware, Dr. Web and VIPRE antivirus tools said it was infected with "InstallCore" while the remaining 51 said it was clean.[12][13]

A VirusTotal analysis of the installer acquired from the official download URL on 14 February 2017, 31 out of 55 antivirus tools reported malicious content, mostly showing InstallCore.[14]

A second analysis of the installer acquired from the official download URL on 8 March 2017, 17 out of 60 antivirus tools reported malicious content, mostly showing InstallCore.[15]

In 2019, the installer was still infected, being detected by 22 out of 68 engines.[16] As of 23 September 2019, the installer offered via SourceForge appears to be finally virus-free.[17]

As of 10 March 2020, the installer offered via the official website[18] was reported to be infected by 20 out of 70 engines[19] and the download URL was reported malicious by ESET engine.[20]

As of 27 April 2020, the installer offered via the official website[21] was reported as malware by just 1 of 79 scanners.[22]

gollark: No, that would be ridiculous.
gollark: Ideally *within* my lifetime...
gollark: I hope there will be a day when we have post-material-scarcity, and do not have to do much work.
gollark: Yes, but what usually happens is:- people work in industry- they are put out of work by this industry becoming less useful, or improving technology- these people complain at government- in order to obtain more votes, the government tries to prop up this failing industry or limit automation- people do more work for no good reason
gollark: Well, government be like.

See also

References
  1. "Free Screen Recording Software". CamStudio.org. 2013-10-19. Retrieved 2016-09-18.
  2. "source code for CamStudio v1.0 to v1.25s (archive.org)". Archived from the original on 2002-12-17.
  3. "source code for CamStudio v1.8s is now under GPL (archive.org)". Archived from the original on 2003-02-10.
  4. "Introducing Macromedia Captivate (adobe.com)". Archived from the original on March 27, 2009. Retrieved 2009-10-22.
  5. "Webinar: Captivate + Connect Pro (adobe.com)". 2009-10-19. Retrieved 2009-10-22.
  6. "Introducing Adobe Captivate 2: Changing the way you author interactive content (adobe.com)". Archived from the original on February 10, 2009. Retrieved 2009-10-22.
  7. "Free Screen Recording Software". CamStudio. 2013-10-19. Retrieved 2016-09-18.
  8. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2007-10-27. Retrieved 2007-11-05.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  9. "CamStudio 3.0 - CamStudio Support Forum". CamStudio.org. Retrieved 2016-09-18.
  10. "Antivirus scan for 15611846820c3eb828a7e1ec837f4747b3190e18bc84c45edddf3ac8d8145be9 at 2014-01-12 23:07:32 UTC". VirusTotal. Retrieved 2016-09-18.
  11. "Fantastic News! CamStudio is finally on Google's Compliant Apps List! - CamStudio Support Forum". CamStudio.org. Retrieved 2016-09-18.
  12. "Analysis of the download URL". VirusTotal. 10 August 2016.
  13. "Analysis of the downloaded payload". VirusTotal. 10 August 2016.
  14. "Antivirus scan for a0fd943e186208d0f9c1072967c3c5316d660e97c2afd36080ab1f8c10404f4f at 2017-02-14 15:11:01 UTC - VirusTotal". virustotal.com. Retrieved 2017-02-14.
  15. "Antivirus scan for camstudio.exe". virustotal.com. Retrieved 2017-03-08.
  16. https://www.virustotal.com/gui/file/0d55a96f69dfa23fad4f96bd3309e8b2054fc7c74a8db3e361a78e439f9af0b9/detection
  17. https://www.virustotal.com/gui/file/370209dcb723b18a590430c9c8989f6ecbb2c563cda97442ef74c7766f26fd3f/detection
  18. https://web.archive.org/web/20200310065956/https://camstudio.org/
  19. https://www.virustotal.com/gui/file/3890f0afacefae84faebcec01d0a30acdc5683701e6ae76b6a73d774ccad1977/detection
  20. https://www.virustotal.com/gui/url/61782434ca6910964db38d648f344e58934430b00d3db4a88739eeab0f307205/detection
  21. https://camstudio.org/
  22. https://www.virustotal.com/gui/url/cbb849a405220d8d478ec326ec586962db238f3a83aaf330473a88a4b83b3e5f/detection


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