File verdict·Decided by the MT AI Engine
Our call

Safe

Tiny unsigned autorun.inf file with one generic engine flag and an NSRL game reference.

Trust score85High trust
autorun.inf
54 B
1b4cc8dec471d72a7a5a6ba21b94
Antivirus engines
1 of 75 flagged
Code signing
Unsigned
Age
First seen 4y ago
MT AI Engine · Verdict analysis

The reasoning behind this verdict

The MT AI Engine weighs every signal from this scan — antivirus detections, sandbox behaviour, code signing, prevalence and historical matches — to reach a single, evidence-based verdict.

82%Confidence
High
Reasoning

A lone tier-1 generic label on an unsigned metadata file of this age and size is typical of legacy false positives rather than active malware. The NSRL reference and known-distributor tag point to a benign game component. No dropped children, contacted hosts, or behavioural data exist to contradict that assessment. Medium prevalence across four submitters further supports commodity rather than targeted malicious use.

Key signals · 4

Each signal cites a concrete token from the evidence the arbiter saw — engine name, MITRE technique, signer string, or an exact count.

  1. McAfee tier1 engine flagged Generic!atr.b (1/75 total)

  2. externalIntel.circl.hit=true, productName='RollerCoaster Tycoon 2', knownMalicious=null

  3. prevalence.classification=medium, 4 submitters, tags=['known-distributor']

  4. file.fileName=autorun.inf, size=54 bytes, unsigned, ageDays=1287

Points in its favour
  • CIRCL NSRL reference to RollerCoaster Tycoon 2
  • Medium prevalence with known-distributor tag
  • No sandbox, network, or child-file activity
Recommended action

Treat as benign legacy game metadata; no security action needed.

What to do now

This file looks safe based on everything we checked.

  1. This file is safe to use.

  2. Good habit: only download files from the official website or an app store.

  3. Keep your antivirus and Windows updates switched on so you stay protected.

Sources disagree

1 contradiction resolved by the scoring engine

CIRCL reference DB lists this as a known-good file
but 1 VT engine flagged it. Common cause: heuristic FP on signed/system binaries.
Resolved as SAFE — reference-DB hit + low engine consensus.
External threat intelligence

1 corroborating signal from researcher-curated sources

CIRCL hashlookup HIT·known-good reference DB·trust 50/100View on CIRCL
nsrl_legacyRollerCoaster Tycoon 2· autorun.inf
Cross-referenced against MalwareBazaar (abuse.ch), YARAify, and the CIRCL hashlookup reference DB.
Antivirus engine breakdown

1 detection across 75 engines

1 malicious0 suspicious74 clean
Tier-118 engines
1flag
Top commercial AVs (low FP rate)
Tier-242 engines
0flag
Mainstream engines with mixed FP rates
Low-trust15 engines
0flag
Heuristic / generic-AI engines (high FP rate)
McAfee
malicious
Generic!atr.b
Hash 1b4cc8dec471… cross-referenced against 75 AV engines via our AV network.
Prevalence

How widely this file has been seen

Moderate prevalence — neither rare nor common. No strong prior applies.

Medium
Unique uploaders
4
Moderate upload volume.
Total submissions
4
Includes repeat uploads by the same source.
First seen
4y ago
Jan 9, 2023
Prevalence quadrant
Rare · New
Targeted malware lives here
Common · New
Just-released software
Rare · Old
Niche or internal tooling
Common · Old
Trusted legitimate binaries
File identity

Forensic fingerprint

File biography
First seen (VT)
1/9/2023, 2:13:43 PM
First seen (MalwareBazaar)
Last analysis (VT)
1/9/2023, 2:13:43 PM
Scanned here
7/19/2026, 8:40:02 AM
File name
autorun.inf
Size
54 B
MIME type
(unknown)
Detected type
unknown
SHA-256
1b4cc8dec471d72a7a3a7bd7b5c3fffee8bbffdf14a3e2cdcd60b05a6ba21b94
MD5
96259f88b099f32c1c1d564a4a286ce8
SHA-1
da5f9471b71df9d08956e5d3e032ff910a2acdf4
First seen (VT)
1/9/2023, 2:13:43 PM
Last analysis (VT)
1/9/2023, 2:13:43 PM
First scan (MalwareTips)
7/19/2026, 8:40:02 AM
Last scan (MalwareTips)
7/19/2026, 8:40:02 AM
Behavior tags
known-distributor
Frequently asked

Safety FAQ

Common questions about autorun.inf, answered from the scan data above.

  • autorun.inf appears safe. 74 of 75 antivirus engines report it clean, with only 1 low-confidence detection that read as false positives. As a habit, only open files you downloaded from the official source, since attackers sometimes distribute trojanised copies of legitimate software under the same name.
  • autorun.inf is a file, about 54 bytes. Our analysis found no threat indicators for it. A file's name can be reused by different files, so we identify it by its cryptographic hash (below).
  • 1 of 75 antivirus engines flagged autorun.inf, 1 of them as outright malicious. A small number of detections can include false positives, so we weigh which engines flagged it and what else the file does, not just the raw count.
  • The SHA-256 hash of autorun.inf is 1b4cc8dec471d72a7a3a7bd7b5c3fffee8bbffdf14a3e2cdcd60b05a6ba21b94, and its MD5 is 96259f88b099f32c1c1d564a4a286ce8. This hash is the file's unique fingerprint — two files with the same SHA-256 are identical. Use it to confirm you're looking at exactly this file (not just one with the same name) when comparing against antivirus databases or a download's published checksum.
  • Based on this scan, yes — autorun.inf shows no threat indicators. The important caveat is source: make sure you downloaded it from the official website or a trusted store, because attackers sometimes distribute malware-laced copies under a legitimate file's name. If your own antivirus flags it while we report it clean, that is most often a false positive, but verify the source before overriding your antivirus.
  • This report reflects the scan run on July 19, 2026. Because a file's hash never changes, the identity of autorun.inf is fixed — but antivirus coverage improves over time, so a file that looks clean today can pick up detections later (and vice-versa). If you need the latest picture, MalwareTips staff can re-run the analysis from scratch.
Community classification

Reviews & malware reports(0)

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Files are processed in a streaming pass-through — MalwareTips never stores the binary on its servers. Only the scan result (hash, detections, verdict) is retained so the next person who scans the same file gets an instant answer. If you ran this file on your computer and are worried, scan your system with an up-to-date antivirus and change critical passwords from a different device.