can windows virus affect Linux machine through wine?

Question

When we use wine on Linux PC windows Virus can affect folders of wine?
I think may be not;
But I still Confuse about that. What is accurate answer?
Wine is emulator of windows then some question occurred.
1) why windows virus are not affect or affect Linux machine?
2) Is it possible some special viruses are can be able to affect wine?
[i.e.Virus can be affect into Wine area. Because Virus also a program.
May be possibility it may affect.
Some Key points:-
1)When we install Windows Antivirus in to Wine many (Almost all) antivirus not work properly. Why?
2)Many Programs like Key-logger, worm also not work generally.
3)If we create any program with desire output Delete all .deb .run files. If it work perfectly on wine. Then it can delete hole Linux or partial or not do anything out of wine. Some programs can access Linux Directory out side of Wine.
ex. Google book Down-loader can access Ubuntu desktop.
I read link :
Can a Windows virus transfer to Ubuntu?

Can Ubuntu/Linux machines be infected by the Shylock trojan?
But still Confuse here many answers with many views.

Maximum what a wine app can to is to spoil your home folder, it does not have access to system files. — Pilot6, May 28 '15 at 19:58
@Pilot6 thanks. that mean we not worry from windows viruses. — Madhav Nikam, May 28 '15 at 20:01
@Pilot6 But again i question home folder is outside of .WINE folder if virus can affect Home then it can be spread everywhere? — Madhav Nikam, May 28 '15 at 20:04
What do you mean "spread"? It can't affect program files. Even user without sudo password can't do it. — Pilot6, May 28 '15 at 20:06
@Pilot6 No more question doubt clear. i.e. Without ROOT privilege no virus can affect Linux system. — Madhav Nikam, May 28 '15 at 20:10

score 12 · Accepted Answer · answered May 28 '15 at 19:50

If you're using PlayOnLinux with WINE, each program usually has its own virtual folder, meaning that only the program that the virus comes from will be affected. - With PlayOnLinux, you're pretty safe.

If you're using WINE without PlayOnLinux, a virus could affect all programs that are running inside WINE. - WINE without PlayOnLinux could be vulnerable, but only to other WINE programs.

In both cases, if the configuration for a WINE virtual drive allows access to your real system, then your files could be modified, but it's unlikely that your system will be affected, because the virus is designed for Windows. - With access to your real system, files could be affected but the system itself is unlikely to be affected.

If you want to be safest, use separate drives for each program (you can do this with PlayOnLinux) and disable access to your real system or home folder, through the WINE configuration program.

However, despite it being unlikely getting an infection through WINE, you should backup your system if you want to be able to roll back if something goes wrong.

Nice answer. Btw PlayOnLinux ads much more goodies and it's easier to manage, even if you can create prefixes manually. One thing that usually nobody notices is the virus afecting other windows program at same wine via config files, etc. — m3nda, May 23 '17 at 23:41
This is unfortunately utterly and completely wrong. WINE quite literally "is not an emulator" - it runs the machine code contained in the EXE file directly on your CPU. This means that a malicious EXE file could absolutely make syscalls to the Linux kernel, just as every normal Linux program can. Do not rely on Wine to magically protect you from malware. — Martin von Wittich, Jun 14 '22 at 23:29

can windows virus affect Linux machine through wine?

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