Here's ChatGPT's thoughts on the topic. It also gave me a bunch of suggestions for steps I can take, so I'll be trying those out this weekend and reporting back what I can learn:
Possible Causes
- Heuristic Detection:
- Some antivirus programs use heuristics to flag behaviors that might resemble malware, such as:
- Frequent updates or changes to the executable.
- Accessing low-level system resources.
- Packing or compressing the executable to reduce size.
- Some antivirus programs use heuristics to flag behaviors that might resemble malware, such as:
- New Build Misidentification:
- If the recent build contains code that is new or altered in a way unfamiliar to antivirus databases, it might mistakenly flag it as a threat.
- Generic Threat Name:
- The designation "DefenseEvasion.A!ml" suggests Windows Defender or another antivirus has classified the program as a generic potential threat, often without specifics. It may just be that certain code patterns or file behaviors resemble malware.
- Executable Compression or Obfuscation:
- If you're using tools like UPX to compress your executable, antivirus software can incorrectly flag it as malicious because such tools are often used by malware creators to hide their code.