Linux Ghost Typing

[siarune]

I don't know the best place to look for answers to this, but here's a strange problem I've encountered recently and was wondering if anyone had heard of anything similar.

So a few months ago, my computer started randomly typing "ws7890" for no apparent reason. It annoyed me endlessly, but then just stopped before I could do much. And now it's back.

The typing is slow, and happens at an rough interval of about six minutes. It doesn't interrupt normal input, but interacts with applications as if the button were pressed (anything listening for keycodes).

If anyone could offer some insight into this, I would appreciate it very much. For now, I will list some system info on a pastebin and look into any unwanted processes that may be running in the background. (https://paste.sr.ht/~siarune/7fd1a9a34dbe9a744a1e2bcbe25bbafa35aaa68d)

[Nextgrid]

Boot into a Linux live CD/USB and see if the problem persists there. If it does, it's a hardware problem, if not, might be software.

[layer8]

Looks a bit like a hardware problem to me, since “ws” and “7890” are two groups of adjacent keys. Did you try a different keyboard?

[greggarious]

OP did you spill water on your keyboard? (Or turn the canned air upside down?)

[97-109-107]

I'd look into any hardware connected and try swapping it one-by-one. I wouldn't have suggested this if it wasn't for the article below:

[Corsair keyboard bug makes it type on its own, no malware involved](https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/corsair-keybo...)

[account-5]

Or it might be something related to this: https://www.teamten.com/lawrence/writings/coding-machines/

[KomoD]

Sounds like a dead keyboard.