I want to know if while trying to connect to a file with OlEDB and this file contains malware, if this malware can be activated.
Even if the answer is yes or no, could you please explain me why and/or how this happens?
I read the sentence below in this article but I’m not sure that while trying to connect with OLEDB that this connection will not activate the entry point of the exe hidden under the xls file in my case:
Almost all viruses are attached to an executable file, which means the virus may exist on a system but will not be active or able to spread until a user runs or opens the malicious host file or program. When the host code is executed, the viral code is executed as well.
Note that I use OLEDB in c# with System.Data.Oledb and with a connection string like this one:
Provider=Microsoft.ACE.OLEDB.12.0;Data Source=c:\myFolder\myExcel2007file.xlsx;
Extended Properties=”Excel 12.0 Xml;HDR=YES”;
Thank you.
In order to do so, you must understand how malware works. Just like any regular program, it must be executed in order to do its damage. You can rename an infected .exe to .jpg and open it in a photo viewer, nothing will happen.
The same goes for your data source. If you just display its contents, nothing will happen. Unless of course the malware is targeting the display system, which is frequently used for dropping malware: for example known buffer overflows in PDF-, photo- or other document viewers, where a specially crafted file leaks executable code into the stack of the hosting program, so it can run its “installer” or do its damage by running once.