ACE (compressed file format): Difference between revisions

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| mime = application/x-ace-compressed

| owner = e-merge GmbH

| released = {{start date and age|1999|7|22}}

| creatorcode =

| genre = [[data compression]]

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An older version of an Unace 1.2b is [[free software]] and licensed under the [[GNU General Public License|GPL]] by the author Marcel Lemke, but it cannot extract ACE archives from version 2.0 and newer.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://packages.debian.org/stable/utils/unace|title=unace: extract, test and view .ace archives|website=Debian}}</ref>

A newer version of Unace 2.5 that supports ACE 2.0 archives is available under a restrictive open [[source available]] license, also by Marcel Lemke.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://packages.debian.org/stable/utils/unace-nonfree|title=unace-nonfree: extract, test and view .ace archives (non-free version)|website=Debian}}</ref>

An older, independent [[C_(programming_language)|C]] implementation is part of [[XAD_(software)|XAD-Master libxad]] by Dirk Stöcker. It is limited to unpacking ACE 1.0 archives.

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==Use for malware distribution==

Since at least 2015, ACE archives have been used to deliver [[malware]] to victims by e-mail. This tactic was viable because popular [[File_archiver|archiving software]] was able to uncompress ACE archives, but support for the ACE format in security products such as [[Email_filtering|mail filters]], [[Content-control_software|web content filters]], and [[Antivirus_software|anti-virus software]] was generally weak.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://blog.frankleonhardt.com/2015/malware-sent-in-ace-format/|title=Malware sent in .ace format|website=Frank Leonhardt's blog|date=5 October 2015 |access-date=2019-03-09}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://exchange.xforce.ibmcloud.com/collection/Spammers-discover-the-7z-archive-format-for-spreading-ransomware-1b8e1aad140a017769c7eba02f500747|title=Spammers discover the 7z archive format for spreading ransomware|website=IBM X-Force Exchange|access-date=2019-03-09}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://medium.com/@seifreed/how-to-deal-with-ace-malware-files-592eb52e7135|archive-url=https://archive.today/20191024094243/https://medium.com/@seifreed/how-to-deal-with-ace-malware-files-592eb52e7135|url-status=dead|archive-date=October 24, 2019|title=How to deal with .ACE malware files?|website=Marc Rivero López' blog|date=24 January 2017 |access-date=2019-03-09}}</ref>

==Security vulnerabilities==

In February 2019 several major security vulnerabilities were found in the unacev2.dll library which is used by [[WinRAR]] and other archiving products. Since WinACE support is [[abandonware]]discontinued, users are advised against opening ACE archives in WinRAR and possibly other products using this library.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://research.checkpoint.com/extracting-code-execution-from-winrar/|title=Extracting a 19 Year Old Code Execution from WinRAR|date=2019-02-20|website=Check Point Research|language=en-US|access-date=2019-02-26}}</ref> WinRAR stopped supporting ACE as of version 5.70, and similar products are following suit.

==See also==

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*[[Comparison of file archivers]]

*[[List of archive formats]]

==References==

{{Reflist}}

==External links==

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* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110121225116/http://www.winace.net/files/wace269i.exe Download link for last Version 2.69i - Web Archive Snapshot from 21.01.2011]

==References==

{{Reflist}}

{{Archive formats}}