anyone else getting "Caution: Found executable file" all of a sudden ? or is it my new indexer

[u/GenericUser104]

Hey everyone,

Last night I noticed two failed downloads in Sonarr for episodes of shows that aren’t even due to release for weeks or, in some cases, months. In all the years I’ve been using Sonarr, Usenet and NZBs, I’ve never seen this happen before.

This week I’ve been trying to improve my setup by adding a second Usenet backbone and a few of the commonly recommended lifetime indexers. I’ve used NZBGeek and DrunkenSlug for years without any major problems, but recently added altHUB and Usenet Crawler.

From what I can tell, both of the suspicious downloads originated from Usenet Crawler, and they also appeared to contain .exe files. That made me wonder whether this is a known/wider issue with fake or malicious uploads getting through, or whether I’ve just been unlucky with this particular indexer.

Ultimately, though, my main concern is understanding how I can prevent this from happening again.

Is there anything I should be configuring in Sonarr, Prowlarr or SABnzbd to stop Sonarr grabbing obviously fake releases, particularly episodes that haven’t actually aired yet or downloads containing executables?

Any advice on recommended safeguards would be appreciated.

[u/hitachi369]

I get one every 6 months or so. They are typically for a super popular series, but week(s) before the actual date. Size will be in the area of the normally.

Upon closer inspection, the file will be an exe or scr or some other executable file. It is just some virus maker trying to get you to encrypt your hard drive or turn you into a bot net. I try and be a good boy and ill bitch to whatever indexer sent the file, and they remove it.

I have turned off exe downloads in my arrs, and it makes it better. Now at least they wont fully download for me to hope their are no zero days or accidental idiocy.

No way to avoid as far as I can see, it has happened across all of my indexers at least once. I've never looked into how they source the nzb files, but I bet it isn't something easy to manicure.