Redirects in the Playground

[tonberrian]

This started in the past few minutes, but I started getting redirects clicking on internal links on gitp. Now whenever I try to go back to a page in the playground I also get a redirect to somewhere else instead of where I was trying to go back to. This only appears to be happening here in the playground.

[AvatarVecna]

I'm getting this too. Not sure if it's related to the pop-ups issue that started within the last few minutes.

Admin note: This workaround is no longer required.

This was sent to me by somebody more technically experienced than myself. I can confirm that these alterations have allowed me to access the site uninhibited on both my PC and my phone. Of note is that, due to this change, the toolkit above the post box is gone, and the post box has returned to it's original size from my pre-existing setting, which is slightly annoying, but not nearly so much as the pop-ups and redirects. Additionally, I seem to be incapable of directly opening spoilers, and have to resort to having my forum settings default to "show all spoilers", which is also going to annoy me.


For Chrome this is found under:

Settings > Show advanced settings... > Privacy > Content Settings > JavaScript

You can either "Do not allow any site to run JavaScript" or click "Manage exceptions..." and block "www.giantitp.com".

and for mobile here:


3 dots on top right > Settings > Site settings > JavaScript > Blocked

Unfortunately, unlike Chrome desktop, Chrome mobile does not let you selectively block JavaScript from certain sites.

[Kelb_Panthera]

same here Voltads.com or some such

[McNum]

Got the same thing until I turned on uBlock here. Got a pop-under with sound, too.

But I bring gifts, as uBlock is quite explicit in what it blocks and since the pop-unders stopped... it may be one of these.

The offsite scripts blocked by uBlock are:

http://www.projectwonderful.com/pwa.js
http://contextual.media.net/nmedianet.js?cid=8CUIOEB4F
https://www.voltads.com/adcode.js.php?id=2678&w=815&ad=2846
The Project Wonderful one is likely not the culprit, since the usual ad banners have that Project Wonderful message under them, but the other two might be worth looking into. I suspect Voltads. But I'll leave it up to those who know what offsite scrips are supposed to run to untangle this.

I've seen another forum get infected due to a vBulletin vulnerability earlier this year, though. I hope this is useful info.

[Hiro Protagonest]

Aye, I did a malware scan on my PC, and when nothing showed for it, I went to this section. I guess I'll turn on my adblocker for now.

[BannedInSchool]

I also had a spat of 503s, IIRC, just before clicking anywhere would redirect.

[CoffeeIncluded]

I've been getting this too on my cellphone. Haven't checked on my Laptop yet. What's going on?

[tonberrian]

On further checking, I can only duplicate it in the forums. The comic doesn't appear to have this issue.

Edit: Whenever I click on the go to latest unread post button, I'm getting "http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php" to appear in my browser. Same thing after I post. And when I edit a post I get "http://www.giantitp.com/forums/editpost.php" to appear to be my location, rather than the address for editing that particular post.

[Ajadea]

I've been seeing this too, especially when I try to hit the back button.

[Destro_Yersul]

was having the same issue with redirects, turned my ad blocker back on and that seemed to fix it. I'll turn it back off once the issue is resolved, because I want to support the site, but for now it seems like the best option.

[Carl]

ditto, also right click and ctrl+click functonality dosen't work. google chrome browser btw. Again like others specific to GITP.

[Fosco the Swift]

Same problems here. Especially when hitting the back button.

[Grand Arbiter]

back-button issues on my end as well. I hit the back button and it tried to have me download something flash-player based.

[lunaticfringe]

Yep it's the Forums. No problems elsewhere on the webs (that I frequent anywho).

[Morquard]

Same problem for me. Usually those codes are injected through the banner, I think.

Currently it's showing a banner for "The worst things for sale" with a link to http://www.projectwonderful.com/out.php?go=176661561&_r=

Activating adblock again now.

[Porthos]

It's absolutely a redirect ad. I've scrubbed the cookies off my computer, but I saved partial info from them if the Admins want them.

Not going to copy them here because, as I understand it, the Staff doesn't want it out in the open where Google Searches and bots might pick them up.

[Bad Wolf]

Yup, me too.

[JeminiZero]

I am getting the similar issues:
1) For whatever reason, I can't right-click (which also prevents me from opening new tab) both in chrome browser and mobile

2) There seems to be a subtle redirect script running (tested in Chrome). Whenever you click a link, it first brings you to that page, AND THEN it redirects you to the same page, so you aren't even aware you got redirected.

Case in point: Open a new tab, paste "http://www.giantitp.com/forums/" into the address bar, and go. Now check your back button history. You will see that you were sent to "Giant In The Playground Forums" on the immediate previous page, and "new tab" is 2 pages back.

2b) And whoever wrote that redirect script neglected to grab the full query string, so you occasionally end up with "www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php" without the "?509184-Redirects-in-the-Playground" at the back, which gives you the "No Thread specified" error page.

3) Following from the above, if you do go back to the immediate previous page (which you skipped over), it instead redirects you to some ad.

4) While I recognize that advertising is necessary, some of the ads in question are REALLY BAD. Like fake-warning-your-computer-is-infected/broken-and-you-need-to-install-our-totally-not-malicious-software bad.

For now I have solved the issue by disabling JavaScript. For Chrome this is found under:

Settings > Show advanced settings... > Privacy > Content Settings > JavaScript

You can either "Do not allow any site to run JavaScript" or click "Manage exceptions..." and block "www.giantitp.com".

[ZamielVanWeber]

Any way to deal with this on Mobile? It just started be redirects me at every turn. I can use my bad add blocking browser, but Chrome normally works fine for me but this is doing me a concern.

[JeminiZero]

Any way to deal with this on Mobile? It just started be redirects me at every turn. I can use my bad add blocking browser, but Chrome normally works fine for me but this is doing me a concern.

3 dots on top right > Settings > Site settings > JavaScript > Blocked

Unfortunately, unlike Chrome desktop, Chrome mobile does not let you selectively block JavaScript from certain sites.

[DarkOne-Rob]

Just posting to say that I am having issues similar to those reported above also. Google Chrome browser, no indications of viruses on my computer, no issues on other websites.

[bcool999]

*A fix for everything I have been raging about for the last half hour*

Thank you kind sir! Much appreciated.

[Yuki Akuma]

Oh, good, blocking JavaScript works so I don't need to block all the ads.

[Blackhawk748]

Ya, im getting it to, and its not me cuz i just did a scan and i got nothing. Also it tries to reroute me everytime i click refresh

[ZamielVanWeber]

3 dots on top right > Settings > Site settings > JavaScript > Blocked

Unfortunately, unlike Chrome desktop, Chrome mobile does not let you selectively block JavaScript from certain sites.

Big thanks. This fixed it without disabling adds. The adds here are actually relevant from time to time plus I would just feel badly. I normally make an exception on Ublock for this site because I actually want to support it, but this is absurd.

[golentan]

On a mac it has been redirecting to an obviously fake update site "warning" about viruses.

[TechnOkami]

I'm also getting this on my cellphone, but it's for any time I move to a new page using any button.

I'm not sure about my desktop browser yet.

[Chromascope3D]

I'm also getting this on my cellphone, but it's for any time I move to a new page using any button.

I'm not sure about my desktop browser yet.

This is the problem I'm having as well.

[Volthawk]

Yeah, been getting plagued by them on mobile - in particular to one of those "google play has detected viruses, install this antivirus or you'll lose your number" malware scams.

[danielxcutter]

So it wasn't just me... What in the nine hells? The tablet I'm using kept redirecting me to the app store... Guess this was why.

[Elbeyon]

I keep getting re-directed on this site only too.

[PetrifiedWalnut]

Yet another verification of the issue happening to users. I also cannot right-click on internal links within the forum.

[Grytorm]

Same thing here. Kind of glad the problem is not on my end. But still to bad that it is happening.

[Athedia]

I was on my desktop and a friend in one of my games reported those issues but I didn't see anything.

I just moved to my laptop and was getting a bunch.

This is worrisome since this is my most frequently used website.

EDIT: Adblock got mentioned on the mobile thread and I realized that the difference in computers is that the desktop has adblock on for Giantitp, but the laptop (where I do most of my posting) does not.

[TurboGhast]

Also have veen experiencing this on Mac & Safari.

Has anybody been redirected on other sites using Project Wonderful?

[Chambers]

Just a quick note to say that I am aware of the issue, having experienced it myself. Please stand by for a more technical explanation from our Technomancer Mods.

[Qwertystop]

Same here. Redirects opening newest-post links in new tabs by ctrl-click. It also tries to redirect on following links that automatically open in new tabs (not by ctrl-click) but only partially succeeds - the URL loses the thread ID but the page still opens?

I have Adblock off here, and Noscript blocking XSS but not blocking scripts in general. Having Noscript block voltads.com and media.net stopped it; I don't know whether both were necessary.

[Carl]

Has anybody been redirected on other sites using Project Wonderful?

No and i browse one regular.

[PallentisLunam]

I was writing a rather long post and got a redirect when I manually clicked another spot in the post to fix a typo. Also getting bounced sometimes when I try to grab the scroll bar. :smallconfused:

[Grey Watcher]

i'm getting a new tab opening to something that, based on the brief glance I get before closing said tab, is some kind of movie/video streaming service of dubious legality/existence-as-more-than-a-phishing-scheme.

[Bohandas]

This started in the past few minutes, but I started getting redirects clicking on internal links on gitp. Now whenever I try to go back to a page in the playground I also get a redirect to somewhere else instead of where I was trying to go back to. This only appears to be happening here in the playground.

I've had this issue too, I think. It it limited to a few specific pages?

I had an issue where trying to go to http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?477854-Decapodians-and-Donbots-Futurama-in-3-5 instead brought me to http://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/10-mad-scientist-fails.htm and trying to access http://www.giantitp.com/forums/newreply.php?do=newreply&p=21245582 instead brought me to http://www.diefordethklok.org/episodes/ep12.html

But only on my laptop computer. I initially thought that my laptop had a virus, but scans with at least three different programs (Spybot, Windows Defender, and Norton Internet Security (and possibly avast and/or malware bytes as well)) turned up nothing.

Here's a link to the thread I started about the issue:

http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?485625-Possible-virus

[kalos72]

Same here...thanks for taking a look! :)

[Carl]

Okay, update, it's now happening to another site i frequent, they also use project wonderful. No shared adds though.

[Stegyre]

Just a quick note to say that I am aware of the issue, having experienced it myself. Please stand by for a more technical explanation from our Technomancer Mods.
We wait with baited breath. The problem is making the site close to unusable for me (accessing using an iPad) and probably for most other mobile users.

[Emperor Ing]

I'm using the site from a laptop. Good to know it's not just me, but seriously what's going on?

[AvatarVecna]

I have updated the second post in this thread with a solution that was forwarded to me by another long-time user; I have tested them out and can confirm that things seem to be working as normal for me on both my PC and phone, although not without some slight side effects (no toolbox for the "reply to thread" post box). Looking forward to when a more permanent solution comes from on high. :smallsmile:

[Carl]

I'm using the site from a laptop. Good to know it's not just me, but seriously what's going on?


Best guess, Project Wonderful's got hacked.

That or a Vbulletin security flaw.

[Morquard]

Best guess, Project Wonderful's got hacked.

That or a Vbulletin security flaw.

I assume the Giant is using an ad-provider that decides what ads to show at times. So it's possible that provider got hacked, and the inject script just gets uploaded with any ad, which just happens to be projectwonderful at this point. Of course it might be as you say and they got hacked directly. If it was a security flaw on this board, I don't think simply disabling the ads would work.

[Aotrs Commander]

Right-click seems to be back - when it started last night, that appeared to be disabled (though one cannot hazard how logn this state of affairs might last).

[Rawhide]

I've had this issue too, I think. It it limited to a few specific pages?

I had an issue where trying to go to http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?477854-Decapodians-and-Donbots-Futurama-in-3-5 instead brought me to http://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/10-mad-scientist-fails.htm and trying to access http://www.giantitp.com/forums/newreply.php?do=newreply&p=21245582 instead brought me to http://www.diefordethklok.org/episodes/ep12.html

But only on my laptop computer. I initially thought that my laptop had a virus, but scans with at least three different programs (Spybot, Windows Defender, and Norton Internet Security (and possibly avast and/or malware bytes as well)) turned up nothing.

Here's a link to the thread I started about the issue:

http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?485625-Possible-virus

Your issue is entirely unrelated and has nothing to do with the site.

[Rawhide]

Please see statement here. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?509230-Statement-on-Recent-Advertising-Hijack)