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WatchingThePain
March 18th, 2009, 12:07 PM
Hi,

Does anybody know..

Say for some reason I installed an OS in virtualbox.
Suppose that that OS was something like windows.
If the windows gets a virus, can that virus leave the Virtualbox and cause problems on the host OS (Linux), or is virtualbox like a fully contained sandbox?.
tribaal
March 18th, 2009, 12:17 PM
In short: No.

VMs are fully sandboxed, as far as virus goes. There might be exploitable bugs in the hypervisor, but that's quite unlikely.

- Trib'
WatchingThePain
March 18th, 2009, 12:20 PM
Thank you for that tribaal.
Nxion
March 19th, 2009, 06:36 PM
In short: No.

VMs are fully sandboxed, as far as virus goes. There might be exploitable bugs in the hypervisor, but that's quite unlikely.

- Trib'

I kinda agree and disagree with this. While your are kinda right. It would also depend on how he had the networking setup in Virtualbox? Was it setup as host networking or bridged? The difference is on host networking it really doesn't go anywhere, it is kinda like its own separate virtual LAN.

If it was bridged, then this mean that the virtual machine is acting like its own computer. I mean that it has its own IP address from the router. The problem with this is that if this virus came over the internet, it is possible that it could be spread over the network to other computers. I know that Ubuntu wont be affected but if you have other Windows machine, then it is possible that they can be affected.
marco123
March 19th, 2009, 06:41 PM
Hi,

Does anybody know..

Say for some reason I installed an OS in virtualbox.
Suppose that that OS was something like windows.
If the windows gets a virus, can that virus leave the Virtualbox and cause problems on the host OS (Linux), or is virtualbox like a fully contained sandbox?.

See my thread: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1100531

I'm trying desperately to infect my XP virtual machine and I just can't do it.:( I don't know if it's because it's a virtual machine running on top of linux, or if my Router's firewall is killing my dream?

Cheers, Marco.
dacorr
March 19th, 2009, 06:44 PM
Nxion is correct in the term that a virtual machine is not protected from viruses that propagate through networks, they can get infected like anyother computer. however direct infection from guest os to host os would be unlikly unless the virus specifcally targeted the virtual machine control software. There are hidden back doors in VM but they require user action.

It would be likely to obtain a virus from a network share or removeable media

Dac