url.bin download finished. What is this?

[Alberto Giardino]

Hey,
Just picked up my phone and slided open. I had a message saying url.bin Download finished. What is this or what could it be?
I didn't download anything so im a bit worried.

Can any one explain? Or know what it is?

Thanks

 

[icebike]

I don't know, but I don't like it. This could be malware.

A .bin file is an alternate way of updating the OS, but if it were a real OTA update it would tell you that an update is ready.

This sounds like something a web page might have pushed. You may find the file in your downloads with a file manager.
You can copy it to a safe place, or re-name it to something that does not end in .bin.

Be careful not to tap it or reboot your phone (which might trigger an install it till you know what it is.
Make sure you have Install from Unknowns Sources turned OFF in settings/security.



If it turns out that it is official, the name makes it sound like something done to avoid an Apple Patent of handling URLs in emails and text messages.
That shouldn't apply anywhere except the US, but who knows.

 

[Sethnelson1]

I got one too. Running muzzys aosp 4.2 Nov 20 build... Deleted as soon as it was downloaded... We'll see what happens next.

 

[mobileuser2]

I received a "url.bin" this morning and was shown a notification similar to Alberto's. Am running 4.1.1 and beholden to Verizon. Other than this thread, I don't easily see any other mention of this particular item in terms of Android (the other mentions relate to "visual source safe" aka VSS which is apparently microsoft specific).

 

[mobileuser2]

Also: where in the android filesystem are such downloaded (ostensibly) system files placed? can one rename or delete them without root privileges? thanks.

 

[Mark Huntemann]

I checked it out using a hex viewer and it is a Google file used to smooth out YouTube pass thorough from a browser.

Seems OK.

 

[BruceyBB]

Last night I received a message in my notification area that these files have been downloaded:

st.bin
st-1.bin
st-2.bin

Very weird! Is this a malware?

By the way, my Android phone is a Samsung Galaxy S4

Have a look at more details for st.bin:
Type: File
Path: /storage/emulated/0/download/ (which is my default download folder)
Size: 4.66 KB

st-1.bin and st-2.bin are in the same folder and roughly same size.