qBittorent would like to control your computer using accessibility features

MAC OS X specific questions, problems.
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kromatic

qBittorent would like to control your computer using accessibility features

Post by kromatic »

I know that this question has been asked on the forums before, but no resolution was reached on that thread.

I have qbittorrent running on Mac OS Big Sur. Today, I was messing around with the available column names in the main window of the program, when all of the sudden I received the following popup: "qBittorent would like to control your computer using accessibility features". This directed me to go to the Security and Privacy section of System Preferences and grant qBittorrent access under the accessibility category. (I did not do this.) I do not believe that me changing the column categories displayed in the program is what triggered this. Now, the accessibility category in Security and Privacy appears to grant the whitelisted applications permission to control my computer. This is somewhat concerning to me, since I have been using qbittorrent to download some torrents from rutracker.org and since I started doing so my built-in router firewall has notified me of two "IP reputation" attacks originating from Russia and Ukraine. Looking up the Russian ip address revealed it to be a common attacker attempting port scans on target computers. So my main concern, which is hopefully completely paranoid, is that somebody is trying to gain access to my computer through qbittorrent, and they found my ip address through the torrents I have been downloading.

TLDR: I am concerned that qbittorrent trying to "control my computer using accessbility features" is a hacker attack. Please advise as to the credibility of this concern and / or explain why qbittorrent would normally need to control one's computer.
johnny jackhammer
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Re: qBittorent would like to control your computer using accessibility features

Post by johnny jackhammer »

Did you ever get an answer to this?
torrentperson

Re: qBittorent would like to control your computer using accessibility features

Post by torrentperson »

I just had the exact same issue, also while choosing different columns to be visible in the main window. I also denied qB control of the computer. It's in the list of programs that could control the computer using accessibility features, but since it's without a checkmark, it's not able to.
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Re: qBittorent would like to control your computer using accessibility features

Post by pepsiman »

Hi! I just got the same accessibility features request, and knowing I downloaded the .torrent file from a shady website, got paranoid, too. I also got it after adjusting some of the columns in the table. I think this is weird, because having used qBittorrent for years before, I had never stumbled upon this. Of course, I denied access, because everything seems to be working completely fine without it. Rationally thinking, I guess this is probably just a macOS-specific implementation detail of some of qBittorrent's unimportant/optional features.
johnny jackhammer
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Re: qBittorent would like to control your computer using accessibility features

Post by johnny jackhammer »

Could be that qBittorrent is using Qt interface

I don't think it's anything nefarious, just am curious to know what happens if we choose yes OR no... because I like to know these things.

https://www.howtogeek.com/297083/why-do ... -features/
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Peter
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Re: qBittorent would like to control your computer using accessibility features

Post by Peter »

I found pretty old reports regarding this but not the reason. I bet it's some Qt call doing this, but what exactly?
since I have been using qbittorrent to download some torrents from rutracker.org and since I started doing so my built-in router firewall has notified me of two "IP reputation" attacks originating from Russia and Ukraine.
qBittorrent is peer-to-peer. It does not make connections to those IPs, unless you add torrents.
Then it starts making connections to the trackers set for those torrents & trackers you add yourself.
And then you also get the connections through the private tracker - or if it's public, you also get peers from DHT, etc.

Point is, no one is attacking you through qBitorrent. These IPs are just known to be not-good. It's complicated. Most internet providers in the world give you IPs from a pool. Let's say I'm hackerdude69, the 12 year old Ukrainian edge lord, stealing LOL accounts. Cool. I mess with things, I end up on this list. Oh boy. Time to reset my router. Yay, new IP. Now a grandma gets the same bad IP I just ruined, even though she has never done anything bad.

You get the idea? Clients of the ISP just get a random IP.
- This is why these IP bans/lists are usually timed. They only last for a week, X hours, etc.
- You can only circumvent this if you get a static IP. But you getting one will not stop hackerdude69 from messing up IPs you are connecting to. Basically this whole "reputation list" would only work if everyone had a static IP.

Phew. So!

Is there any danger? No.
Did your firewall work as intended? No. It's garbage. Blocking by IP is stupid and pointless. If you get attacked by an IP, sure. That is the correct step. But having any list of "bad IPs" and then pre-emptively just blocking them? That's stupid.
Do Firewalls even work? 99% NO. Okay I'll write more about this on the bottom...
Should you worry? No.

How can you ACTUALLY protect yourself?
- Use AdBlock in your browser. UBlock Origin is the best. No I don't care if your IT shop dude told you otherwise. I'll go there and slap him with a trout. uBlock Origin. IT IS FREE.
- You can, and you should use a good DNS server. You can set this in your OS, your router, etc. You should set it everywhere in fact! https://adguard-dns.io/en/public-dns.html IT IS FREE. With this, you block bad actors before you even load them.
Note: I usually put AdGuard's DNS as first, then Quad9 (9.9.9.9) as secondary. Why Quad9? Because it is a blocking provider, also offering protection just no adblock.

That's it.

Firewalls con'td:
- Software firewalls: The whole concept is dumb. Unless you connect to the internet via PPPOE, ie.: your PC acts as the modem so to speak; there is literally no point because the router you have is firewalling you. That's why you have to port forward in the first place to properly use qBittorrent and other p2p programs.
So all the anti-virus programs offering firewalls? That's junk. Snake oil. Just crapware. Not
- Hardware firewalls: But wait you can also buy hardware firewalls. These kinda make sense. In an office setting for example, renting one can offer some protection in case you have some outdated system. But honestly, it's just not a good practice to rely on a firewall, regardless of how expensive it is. It's a good extra protection but having up-to-date software, good IT rules, policies is not something a firewall can replace.

Hope that helps and I hope didn't just confuse the heck out of y'all.
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Peter
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Re: qBittorent would like to control your computer using accessibility features

Post by Peter »

Here is a relevant report to this: https://bugreports.qt.io/browse/QTBUG-6 ... Status=All
Maybe it's this? It's an old one and for Qt5. I wonder why it didn't receive more attention.
johnny jackhammer
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Re: qBittorent would like to control your computer using accessibility features

Post by johnny jackhammer »

Yes user assignable shared IPs are pointless to block and some IPs aren't in user space at all, and should be blocked. Bogons being one category.

I block Bogons and static IPs assigned to companies, governments, etc and ports below 1024. You would be surprised how many filtered IPs and ports I see in the log .
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Re: qBittorent would like to control your computer using accessibility features

Post by johnny jackhammer »

Peter wrote: Sun Oct 29, 2023 10:14 pm Here is a relevant report to this: https://bugreports.qt.io/browse/QTBUG-6 ... Status=All
Maybe it's this? It's an old one and for Qt5. I wonder why it didn't receive more attention.
Yes, that was most likely it.
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Peter
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Re: qBittorent would like to control your computer using accessibility features

Post by Peter »

johnny jackhammer wrote: Mon Oct 30, 2023 4:13 am Yes user assignable shared IPs are pointless to block and some IPs aren't in user space at all, and should be blocked. Bogons being one category.

I block Bogons and static IPs assigned to companies, governments, etc and ports below 1024. You would be surprised how many filtered IPs and ports I see in the log .
My friend was an admin at a big site and you'd be surprised how many government blocks will seed stuff .The IT staff, the employees, they torrent too. I find IP blocks just useless. If you are worried for safety, use a VPN with port forward (PIA does it I think, Windscribe has it). Or if it's tedious (because often it is), then a seedbox is also great. I'd pick ultra.cc - I had great experience with them. No referral link or anything, I/we are not associated with anything like this.
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Re: qBittorent would like to control your computer using accessibility features

Post by johnny jackhammer »

I wouldn’t recommend or suggest a free VPN for privacy. PIA seems to be a decent option- they do have port forwarding.

I looked into your suggestion for hosting a seed box. Quite pricey. Minimum plan is $16 month for Plex/jellyfin/kodi, and I think I have to use a VPN to connect via Canada or Netherlands? Didn’t understand that part.
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Peter
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Re: qBittorent would like to control your computer using accessibility features

Post by Peter »

johnny jackhammer wrote: Tue Oct 31, 2023 9:31 pm I wouldn’t recommend or suggest a free VPN for privacy. PIA seems to be a decent option- they do have port forwarding.

I looked into your suggestion for hosting a seed box. Quite pricey. Minimum plan is $16 month for Plex/jellyfin/kodi, and I think I have to use a VPN to connect via Canada or Netherlands? Didn’t understand that part.
PIA: I mean for torrent they are OK. If you are committing international crimes, you may be better off with some other provider. Windscribe is OK but they cost more.
Ultra: It just states where the server is located. You'd probably want the closest.
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