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Windows runtime integrity and antivirus reports

Status: Current source; release qualification pending Scope: Windows CLI installation, update verification, and operator diagnostics Last reviewed: 2026-09-17 Owner: AX Code runtime maintainers

AX Code uses separate controls for publisher identity, distribution integrity, installed-file verification, and antivirus qualification. None is a guarantee that a behavioral antivirus engine will accept every operation.

Release and update verification

Windows CLI release builds sign previously unsigned PE files using the project’s Azure Key Vault certificate, require valid signatures and timestamps, and audit the expected DEFAI certificate on first-party native modules. The bundled Node executable must retain a valid OpenJS/Node.js Foundation signature. Invalid existing signatures fail the build; they are not repaired by re-signing.

The release publisher creates runtime-integrity.json after native signing, covering the final JavaScript and native payload bytes. Its detached Minisign signature is included in the ZIP before the final archive is signed. The older runtime-manifest.json remains a non-native Desktop staging contract; it is not the installed runtime’s trust anchor.

The Windows installer verifies the archive before extraction, then authenticates the integrity manifest and verifies the payload before executing the candidate. It checks staged copies again and keeps the metadata in the installed runtime. Older signed releases without this metadata remain installable with an explicit legacy diagnostic. An invalid manifest or signature is never treated as a legacy release. The existing explicit signature-verification opt-out also disables manifest authentication with a warning; hash comparisons still run and do not establish publisher trust in that mode. Existing installation locks, versioned generations, and rollback remain in effect.

Self-updates verify the versioned installer script’s Minisign signature using the pinned release public key before executing it, on Windows and Unix. SHA-256 sidecars remain an additional corruption check. Missing signatures fail closed; they do not fall back to unsigned execution.

These checks protect installation and update admission. They do not enforce signature validation on every Node module load, and they do not prevent a local attacker with write access from replacing the launcher or verifier. A separately signed native launcher would be an additional control, not a prerequisite for verifying downloaded updates.

Antivirus qualification

The Windows Installer Qualification workflow tests x64 and ARM64 installation and rollback. Its manual defender_scan input additionally requires enabled Defender protection, scans the installed runtime without scan-triggered remediation, and records engine/database versions, file hashes, and scanner output. An unavailable scanner fails this requested check. This is a Defender scan snapshot, not evidence of Kaspersky compatibility.

For Kaspersky behavioral qualification, use an isolated Windows VM with current protection and no exclusions. Record the exact AX Code artifact/version and hash, Windows build, Kaspersky product/engine/database versions, and settings. Exercise fresh install, TUI startup, Enter and Shift+Enter, a normal shell/PTY operation, update while another session remains open, rollback, and uninstall. Capture the detection event and process ancestry. Retest the same scenario after a change; changing packaging without a reproducer does not establish a fix.

Kaspersky’s false-detection guidance requests a GSI report for Windows PDM detections. Developers can evaluate the Kaspersky Allowlist Program for proactive software review. Keep submissions limited to the relevant public release files and reviewed diagnostic evidence. Filing a request is not a clean verdict, and a clean static scan is not behavioral acceptance.

Do not disable protection, add broad installation-directory exclusions, or restore quarantined files automatically as a product workaround.