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New Ad Attack: Long URL + Audio Pop-up

  • 5 replies
  • 5 have this problem
  • 6 views
  • Last reply by Happy112

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Lately I've found a new "advertisement" attack to firefox:

A pop-up opens with an extremely long URL. This blocks firefox completely until I force close. Meanwhile they introduce an audio file in the background and a javascript alert with a telephone.

The main issue is not the ad itself, the alert, or the popup. The issue is that they are exploiting some type of firefox vulnerability, that blocks the whole browser intentionally.

It's there a way, to stop long urls from loading?

Lately I've found a new "advertisement" attack to firefox: A pop-up opens with an extremely long URL. This blocks firefox completely until I force close. Meanwhile they introduce an audio file in the background and a javascript alert with a telephone. The main issue is not the ad itself, the alert, or the popup. The issue is that they are exploiting some type of firefox vulnerability, that blocks the whole browser intentionally. It's there a way, to stop long urls from loading?

All Replies (5)

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¡Hola!

Could you please provide the URL this malvertising is using?

¡Gracias!

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alex_mayorga dijo

¡Hola! Could you please provide the URL this malvertising is using? ¡Gracias!

Impossible. It's an extremely long URL with random chars, but since the browser collapses, I'm not able to even copy that url

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I'm no expert, but it seems like just the domain could be helpful?

I see you're on Windows. Why don't you add the domain to your HOSTS file? If you don't have a hosts file, I would recommend MVPS Hosts file: http://winhelp2002.mvps.org/hosts.htm

Note - There are other hosts files out there. Also, if you do Not want ads blocked, don't use it!

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How often does this come up? From the same site, different sites?

Go to the Mozilla Add-ons Web Page {web Link} (There’s a lot of good stuff here) and search for a good ad / pop-up blocker.

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@SirLouen :

Good for you to be on the alert  !

Would you plase take a look at this article :

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/avoid-and-report-mozilla-tech-support-scams

You might also consider installing uBlock Origin :

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/ublock-origin/