Malwarebytes major issue may affect you

Mitch Drumm · Post by **Mitch Drumm** » 27 Jan 2018 11:01 am

I know many of us are running Malwarebytes.

In the last couple of hours, they are having a major problem.

You may see symptoms like freezing, very slow response to commands, unexplained shutdowns, very high memory and CPU usage, weird error messages, etc.

Unlike anything I have ever seen. My system would not respond to any command. I could move the mouse around, but poking an icon had no response at all. Couldn't open any app.

Presumably due to a bad file in a Malwarebytes update.

30 page thread on it here at their forum:

https://forums.malwarebytes.com/topic/2 ... -going-on/

Temp fix is to disable your Malwarebytes service within Windows. Most likely you have another protection app running in the meantime--Windows Defender, Trend, whatever.

I don't think there is an ETA for a fix, but the above thread should keep you in the loop.

Dave Potter · Post by **Dave Potter** » 27 Jan 2018 12:52 pm

Yeah, I just saw that. Wife's laptop said Malwarebytes "protection layers" weren't all enabled, so I fooled around with it a few minutes and got everything working, but for a while, things slowed to a crawl and I was about to start doing some resets in other areas. Things normalized so it's over now, I guess.

Wiz Feinberg · Post by **Wiz Feinberg** » 27 Jan 2018 2:04 pm

I just deduced the problem when I saw that some of the realtime protections were disabled and when I tried enabling them, the system became non-responsive.

The same thing happened to my home computer, which I will be fixing when I get home (disable Malwarebytes from starting with Windows).

Anybody can have software issues. They are not the only company to do this to us.

After a while, open Malwarebytes and check for updates. Eventually, they will fix the problem.

Jon Light · Post by **Jon Light** » 27 Jan 2018 2:21 pm

OK! There's nothing like the relief of finding that your problem is not unique.
Yes, this started killing me a few hours ago after a reboot.
Eating all my resources and virtually disabling my computer.

I shut down the real-time protection, Windows Defender automatically took over and I'll just wait for some kind of fix.
.
.
.

Mitch Drumm · Post by **Mitch Drumm** » 27 Jan 2018 2:28 pm

The fix is already being pushed out.

Just update and you should be OK to go.

It's working now for me with the update.

Of course it could recur and it's not clear why their testing procedures did not catch the flaw.

You are fixed if the last 4 digits of the "update package version" on the "about" tab of "settings" are 3803 or higher. I now show 3804.

You may need to shut down and restart MB or reboot a time or two.

Jon Light · Post by **Jon Light** » 27 Jan 2018 2:40 pm

Well....either it's updating or it's just spinning its wheels. Been in progress for 5 minutes and the system resources are reading like my screen shot above. Molasses all around me.
I've got update 3798 at the moment. Fingers crossed.

Mitch Drumm · Post by **Mitch Drumm** » 27 Jan 2018 2:48 pm

Jon:

I suspect they are getting slammed with requests for the download.

Although I got it quickly a couple of hours ago.

You might get some relief by temporarily turning off "web protection" from settings/protection. Toggle it back on later.

Jon Light · Post by **Jon Light** » 27 Jan 2018 2:49 pm

It finished updating, it crashed, it shut down, I restarted it and its update version reads 1.0.0.

This ain't right. Obviously there's a problem. I'll wait it out. btw, I'm running premium. Real Time Web Protection is not working.

Jon Light · Post by **Jon Light** » 27 Jan 2018 2:51 pm

Thanks Mitch--yeah, as long as I've got Defender working, I'll just come back to this later.

Mitch Drumm · Post by **Mitch Drumm** » 27 Jan 2018 2:59 pm

The Malwarebytes forum thread I mentioned at the top of this thread is now locked.

For current info, go here:

https://forums.malwarebytes.com/topic/2 ... ram-usage/

If the fix is problematic on your machine, I guess the last resort would be to uninstall Malwarebytes and then reinstall from scratch to get the current update.

Jon Light · Post by **Jon Light** » 27 Jan 2018 3:51 pm

I'm experiencing total failure with this and I'm going around in circles, rebooting with exactly the same results, MBAM crashing and restarting....

A dimwitted question but I'm drawing a total blank: I know how to uninstall it, no problem. But from where do I reinstall it? Where's the installation package? Do I go to their page? Do I identify myself & my license? I'm a bit fried.

Wiz Feinberg · Post by **Wiz Feinberg** » 27 Jan 2018 3:52 pm

The update problem has been patched. You can try updating Malwarebytes manually, via the Systray icon right click options, or just reboot a couple times and let the program update itself. A reboot is still needed after the final successful update, to flush out the bad definitions and restart the service.

Wiz Feinberg · Post by **Wiz Feinberg** » 27 Jan 2018 4:00 pm

RubbeR DuckY (Marcin, the big cheese) at Malwarebytes has posted an apology and solutions to today's bad updates to Malwarebytes. See his post here.

Mitch Drumm · Post by **Mitch Drumm** » 27 Jan 2018 4:38 pm

Jon Light wrote:I'm experiencing total failure with this and I'm going around in circles, rebooting with exactly the same results, MBAM crashing and restarting....

A dimwitted question but I'm drawing a total blank: I know how to uninstall it, no problem. But from where do I reinstall it? Where's the installation package? Do I go to their page? Do I identify myself & my license? I'm a bit fried.

Jon:

I'd assume you'd go here:

https://www.malwarebytes.com/products/

BUT BUT, before you do that, make sure you have your license info at hand as you will likely have to re-enter your activation code. I'm assuming you are using the paid version.

As far as I know, the link above provides a working "free" version and you would convert it to your paid version manually after getting the free version up and running.

Jon Light · Post by **Jon Light** » 27 Jan 2018 5:03 pm

I uninstalled it. I couldn't even access the 'my account' tab to find a license code or activation # without getting an error message or a crash. Total meltdown.
I have my password & security info so hopefully that'll get me where I need to get. Some other time. I've had it with MBAM for today.

Jack Stoner · Post by **Jack Stoner** » 28 Jan 2018 3:10 am

I had a problem with Malwarebytes (registered version) of
Realtime Protection turned off and wouldn't restart. It popped up all of a sudden. I had made a full disc image backup two days ago (and nothing changed) so I restored from the disc image and no more problems.

Mitch Drumm · Post by **Mitch Drumm** » 28 Jan 2018 7:11 am

Jon:

Here's a direct link to the fixed version if you need it. This is 3803. Use it if you can't succeed otherwise.

https://downloads.malwarebytes.com/file/mb3

Jon Light · Post by **Jon Light** » 28 Jan 2018 7:32 am

Thanks Mitch. I appreciate your help!
I may just go straight to that and see how it goes down. I'll wait until after hours during my free Satellite data time.

One thing I can say--my system is a lot more nimble without this program. I had forgotten that it was a noticeable burden when I bought in. Worth it, I'd decided (it was during the height of the ransomware scare).
I've got around 120 days left in my subscription. I'll have some deciding to do when it's time to re-up.

Mitch Drumm · Post by **Mitch Drumm** » 28 Jan 2018 8:01 am

Jon:

It shouldn't be much of a burden if it's working as intended.

I just looked and right now it is using only 218 MB of RAM on my PC.

And no more than 1/10 of 1 percent of the CPU.

I'm up to version 3808 as of right now.

Version 3803 from that link I posted can supposedly be installed right on top of your existing installation.

Jon Light · Post by **Jon Light** » 28 Jan 2018 8:13 am

Ah. I misstated that. My browsing is a lot more nimble. There was a bit of lag time--presumably from the real-time malicious website protection. My satellite link is already a bit pokey (especially compared with the fibroptic setup I used to have). It seems quite a bit quicker to hit URL destinations and load them right now. When I get MBAM back up & running I'll see if it reverts to the slower response and I can confirm this difference.

Jon Light · Post by **Jon Light** » 29 Jan 2018 4:28 am

Reinstall went fine & easy and it knows me & my computer so I don't have to do anything about the license. Just had to set it up, again, to scan for rootkits which, by default, is unchecked in the scheduler.
Browser runs fine--maybe a clean reinstall was just what it needed.

Thanks for the help.

Richard Sinkler · Post by **Richard Sinkler** » 29 Jan 2018 10:47 am

I'll have to see what version ofMBAM I am using. I was getting pop ups saying the realtime protection was disabled. I would try to enable it, but it would immediately go back to disabled. This has been going on for over a month. I think I might need an upgrade.

Mitch Drumm · Post by **Mitch Drumm** » 29 Jan 2018 11:25 am

Richard Sinkler wrote:I'll have to see what version ofMBAM I am using. I was getting pop ups saying the realtime protection was disabled. I would try to enable it, but it would immediately go back to disabled. This has been going on for over a month. I think I might need an upgrade.

Yeah, Richard---real time protection not staying on is one of the symptoms of the acknowledged problem.

If you are a paying customer, you presumably have some version of Malwarebytes Premium 3.0.

I now show as version 3.3.1 in the main window.

With settings/about showing version 3.3.1.2183.

And "update package version" now showing 1.0.3814. You need to get this to read at least 1.0.3803. It's normally updated several times a day.

Sonny Jenkins · Post by **Sonny Jenkins** » 29 Jan 2018 1:24 pm

Very interesting!!! This happened to me Saturday (27),,,contacted HP yesterday and insisted they repair it under warranty. They agreed and are sending return instructions. I just now powered up the HP and seems to be working fine,,,except for a very loud fan noise that has always been present,,,so I am still sending it back to have that corrected.

FWIW,,,,I have 2 older laptops running XP home and XP proffessional,,,both have MB on them,,,,neither were affected at the time. Just checked and all have updated to 3818.

Richard Sinkler · Post by **Richard Sinkler** » 30 Jan 2018 8:42 am

Mitch Drumm wrote:
Richard Sinkler wrote:I'll have to see what version ofMBAM I am using. I was getting pop ups saying the realtime protection was disabled. I would try to enable it, but it would immediately go back to disabled. This has been going on for over a month. I think I might need an upgrade.
Yeah, Richard---real time protection not staying on is one of the symptoms of the acknowledged problem.

If you are a paying customer, you presumably have some version of Malwarebytes Premium 3.0.

I now show as version 3.3.1 in the main window.

With settings/about showing version 3.3.1.2183.

And "update package version" now showing 1.0.3814. You need to get this to read at least 1.0.3803. It's normally updated several times a day.

Thanks. I am a paying customer and will check it out.