Antivirus detects `uv` installer as malicious on Windows

[ShaiAvr]

I wanted to give a try to uv to see if I like it as a project and dependencies manager. I tried installing it on my Windows 11 PC using the command: powershell -ExecutionPolicy ByPass -c "irm https://astral.sh/uv/install.ps1 | iex"
However, I get an error stating that this script contains malicious content and has been blocked by my antivirus software:

My antivirus (BitDefender) indeed believes this script is malicious:

Why does this happen? How can I fix this and install uv on my Windows system?

[FishAlchemist]

I remember that the UV team actually couldn't do much about it, so you could try downloading the UV using other tools.

e.g. from PyPi
https://docs.astral.sh/uv/getting-started/installation/#pypi

[ShaiAvr]

Weird. Other tools like pdm and rustup also have installer scripts and I never had problems with them.

[FishAlchemist]

@ShaiAvr Perhaps the downloaded content triggered the virus detection? Since you're using a Windows 11 PC x86-64, this should be the correct link. Could you please scan this file?
https://github.com/astral-sh/uv/releases/download/0.5.11/uv-x86_64-pc-windows-msvc.zip

Edit:
Since PDM installer is essentially a Python script, it's not typically flagged by virus scanners.
As for Rustup, given its widespread use, I assume many antivirus programs have already scanned and added it to their virus databases.

[zanieb]

Nothing we can do here but it submit it as valid software to the antivirus

• On Windows 11, it will cause virus error. #4300
• Windows security check issues from UV 0.5.1 to 0.5.2. #9144

[Stokestack]

For what it's worth, I just got the same thing:

[Rykarix]

I wouldn't be surprised if it's related to how uvx is the tool of choice for mcp servers which commonly demonstrate that you can run python code from anywhere by simply doing uvx --from git+....

since ai + mcp server prolification I'm not surprised...

It's caused by Smart App Control which is part of windows (you can search for this by simply pressing the winkey and typing "Smart App Control". If you turn it off uv and others no longer get blocked but I don't recommend this for obvious reasons. Unfortunately windows doesn't appear to provide an obvious way to control this. Perhaps another user can offer a more sensible suggestion