Alright, so this is my first post so I apologize for any errors. I'm not sure if I should post this here, or on the security thread.
Basically, I'm wondering how safe the steam workshop actually is. Don't get me wrong, I've been on steam for a long time and have gained several thousand hours on some games, but I'm still curious if there is any chance of getting a virus from steam workshop mods. I've researched this question a bit before, and I have seen answers saying "Steam scans the stuff on the workshop" (which i kinda doubt) or answers such as "The game is running the file, and therefore can't make any changes to the system its self, the worst the mod can do is crash your game or delete game data"
I kinda wish this was easy to believe, but I've read you can get a virus or malware from the meta data of a picture (hasn't happened to me personally). The picture is opened in a program that I don't see any reason should be able to change anything on the system, yet it can give you a virus. Therefore, I don't really see how the game will not be able to infect the computer.
Also, I wonder the same thing about joining servers in games such as tf2.
Please tell me if I'm wrong on anything, or did anything wrong. The more detailed answers the better, and thanks ahead of time.
Best Answer
I don't think you're going to like the answer, but...
...it depends entirely on the game. Or more specifically, on how the game developer integrated workshop features.
The more a game allows workshop items to do, the more likely it is that someone could slip something hostile into it.