The JSONView extension on Firefox was targeted a while ago. (2017?)
I only found out because Mozilla forced an uninstall with a warning and then I had to go down Bugzilla to find the impact (it leaked browser visit URLs).
JSON formatter Chrome plugin now closed and injecting adware
11–20 of 146 posts
Re: JSON formatter Chrome plugin now closed and injecting adware
#12Noticed a suspicious element called give-freely-root-bcjindcccaagfpapjjmafapmmgkkhgoa in the chrome inspector today. Turns out about a month ago, the popular open source [JSON Formatter chrome extension]( https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/json-formatter/bcji... ) went closed source and started injecting adware into checkout pages. Also seems to be doing some geolocation tracking. I didn't see this come up on h…
Thanks for posting this. I think it's such a shitty thing to do. I don't have much of a problem if an original author wanted to do a closed fork of an open source project, but to start injecting ads, without warning, to folks who have already installed your generic JSON formatter and phrase it as "I'm moving to a closed-source, commercial model in order to build a more comprehensive API-browsing tool with premium fea…
We could use llms to scan source code and list all of the behavior not listed in the extensions page, like adware and geolocation tracking for example. Then another LLM locally to disable it and warn you with a message explaining the situation.
Re: JSON formatter Chrome plugin now closed and injecting adware
#13Guy talks about switching to the "Classic" version if
> you just want a simple, open source, local-only JSON-formatting extension that won't receive updates.
Wow that sounds like a tough choice. JSON formatting is moving at such a fast pase that I don't know if I should pay a JSON formatting SaaS a monthly subscription, or if I really can live without updates.
Re: JSON formatter Chrome plugin now closed and injecting adware
#14Guy talks about switching to the "Classic" version if > you just want a simple, open source, local-only JSON-formatting extension that won't receive updates. Wow that sounds like a tough choice. JSON formatting is moving at such a fast pase that I don't know if I should pay a JSON formatting SaaS a monthly subscription, or if I really can live without updates.
Depends on how many JSON tokens you need to format. I recommend getting JSON ForMAX+ with 200k tokens and 100k sign in bonus.
Re: JSON formatter Chrome plugin now closed and injecting adware
#15Noticed a suspicious element called give-freely-root-bcjindcccaagfpapjjmafapmmgkkhgoa in the chrome inspector today. Turns out about a month ago, the popular open source [JSON Formatter chrome extension]( https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/json-formatter/bcji... ) went closed source and started injecting adware into checkout pages. Also seems to be doing some geolocation tracking. I didn't see this come up on h…
How did you "notice" a suspicious element in the inspector? Do you routinely look at the DOM?
Re: JSON formatter Chrome plugin now closed and injecting adware
#16I actively try to get coworkers to audit, remove and work without browser extensions. Google and Firefox clearly do not care to spend even a modicum of effort to police their marketplaces. There's only a few I would trust and assume all others to be malware now or at some point in the future.
Re: JSON formatter Chrome plugin now closed and injecting adware
#17Noticed a suspicious element called give-freely-root-bcjindcccaagfpapjjmafapmmgkkhgoa in the chrome inspector today. Turns out about a month ago, the popular open source [JSON Formatter chrome extension]( https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/json-formatter/bcji... ) went closed source and started injecting adware into checkout pages. Also seems to be doing some geolocation tracking. I didn't see this come up on h…
> I feel like browser extension marketplaces are a failed experiment.
People rightly criticize all of the problems around vendor-lock-in and rent-seeking with platform app stores, but this is a good example that they do indeed provide some value in terms of filtering out malware.
The degree to which they are successful at that and add enough value to overcome the downsides is an open question. But it's clear that in a world where everyone is running hundreds of pieces of software that have auto-update functionality built in and unfettered access to CPU power and the Internet, uncontrolled app stores a honeypot for malicious actors.
Re: JSON formatter Chrome plugin now closed and injecting adware
#18I guess you really need to unpack each and every extensions before installation and carefully inspect the code manually to see if it only would be doing what the extensions is advertising.
Darn…
and I thought that the JSLibCache extension was forcing every site into UTF-8 mode (even those that need to run with a legacy codepage) was a critical issue. A problem I encountered yesterday… took me a while to figure out too.
Re: JSON formatter Chrome plugin now closed and injecting adware
#19Noticed a suspicious element called give-freely-root-bcjindcccaagfpapjjmafapmmgkkhgoa in the chrome inspector today. Turns out about a month ago, the popular open source [JSON Formatter chrome extension]( https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/json-formatter/bcji... ) went closed source and started injecting adware into checkout pages. Also seems to be doing some geolocation tracking. I didn't see this come up on h…
How did you "notice" a suspicious element in the inspector? Do you routinely look at the DOM?
The extension injects its ”gimme money” elements even on localhost pages.
Re: JSON formatter Chrome plugin now closed and injecting adware
#20Guy talks about switching to the "Classic" version if > you just want a simple, open source, local-only JSON-formatting extension that won't receive updates. Wow that sounds like a tough choice. JSON formatting is moving at such a fast pase that I don't know if I should pay a JSON formatting SaaS a monthly subscription, or if I really can live without updates.
Depends on how many JSON tokens you need to format. I recommend getting JSON ForMAX+ with 200k tokens and 100k sign in bonus.
I heard that JWTs are 5x the price of JSON tokens but only 3x if you have JSON ForULTRA+ (new) (for work or school).