Adblock Plus: ad blockers can serve as a gateway against malware



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Ad blocking agents could potentially become a sling of malware. This is reported by a security expert, referring to experiments with the Adblock Plus integrated for some time called "rewrite" function. The lists of lists used to block advertising URLs would, under certain circumstances, be capable of executing arbitrary code.

According to The Register, citing data from security specialist Armin Sebastian, a feature of Adblock Plus version 3.2 introduced in mid-2018 could, under certain conditions, be misused to execute arbitrary code on sites Web. In fact, the like rewrite $ designated filters are used to remove URL tracking data, for example, to avoid Google's AMP pages.

Meanwhile, $ rewrite is also part of AdBlock and uBlock (and not uBlock Origin). Blocking list providers can therefore rewrite some URL parameters according to their needs. According to Sebastian, websites can be vulnerable if, for example, they load certain JavaScript strings via "XMLHttpRequest" or "Fetch" and execute the code then provided. In his blog, the developer also calls some other scenarios in which a list provider could in turn introduce a manipulated filter string to execute arbitrary code.

Google reportedly responded to $ rewrite's problems by stating that it was a desired behavior rather than a bug. Adblock Plus said that he was taking the problem seriously and was currently checking out the risks for users in order to take the best possible countermeasures. At present, it is not clear whether the potential vulnerability of popular ad blockers is actively exploited.

According to Adblock Plus publishers, it is unlikely that the vulnerability can be exploited with their ad blockers available for Chrome, Firefox and Safari. The reason is the revision of blocking list providers used by Adblock Plus at the factory. In addition, these blocking lists would be checked regularly to prevent possible abuse.

Android, App, Adblock Plus

Android, App, Adblock Plus
AdBlock Plus

2019-04-16T22: 38: 00 + 02: 00

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